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In a Scrum project, each sprint kicks off with a Sprint Planning Meeting, focusing solely on planning the sprint. It's crucial that the meeting is attended by all team members, including the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the entire Scrum Team. Additionally, part-time resources may also participate in this meeting. This ensures an essential opportunity for the Scrum Team to determine the amount of work they can undertake in the upcoming sprint.

Based on the Guide to Scrum Body of Knowledge (SBOK Guide), it is time-boxed to eight hours for a one-month Sprint and is divided into two parts – Objective Definition and Task Estimation.

1. Objective Definition—during the first half of the meeting, the Product Owner explains the highest priority User Stories or requirements in the Prioritized Product Backlog to the Scrum Team. The Scrum Team in collaboration with the Product Owner then defines the Sprint goal.

2. Task Estimation—during the second half of the meeting, the Scrum Team decides “how” to complete the selected Prioritized Product Backlog Items to fulfil the Sprint goal.

During Sprint Planning Meetings, the User Stories, which are approved, estimated, and committed are taken up for discussion. Each Scrum Team member does a quick estimation of tasks using tools such as planning poker. If the discussions start taking more time, it would mean that the User stories were not completely ready to be taken up for the sprint. Each Scrum Team member also uses Effort Estimated Task List to select the tasks they plan to work on in the Sprint, based on their skills and experience. The team reaches a consensus about the amount of work that needs to be put in this sprint. The Scrum Team also creates the Sprint Backlog and Sprint Burndown Chart using the User Stories and the Effort Estimated Task List during the Sprint Planning Meetings. The team can give a verbal commitment to complete the tasks planned for the sprint.

Try to avoid doing the following tasks during the meeting. They help you with preparation and should be prepared before the start of the meeting.

Refining: Refining helps ensure that there is a clarification of requirements and their User Stories. Its done in advance of the Sprint Planning Meeting so that the team has a well-analyzed and clearly defined set of stories that can be easily broken down into tasks and subsequently estimated.

Updates/Revisions: Updates can include revisions to the original User Story estimates based on task creation and complexity factors discussed during the Sprint Planning Meeting.

In essence, adhering to these points will enable you to conduct effective planning without investing excessive time.