How to Run a Sprint in Proman from Start to Finish

Running a sprint sounds complicated until you’ve done it a few times. Here’s the whole cycle — from backlog to retrospective — using Proman.

Step 1: Build Your Backlog

Before a sprint starts, all potential work lives in the backlog. In Proman, the backlog is a flat list of tasks ordered by priority. Each task should have:

A clear title (what needs to happen)
A priority level (High, Medium, or Low)
An estimated scope (not hours — just relative size)
An assignee, if known

Don’t overthink it. The backlog is a holding area, not a commitment. Move tasks in freely and sort them by what matters most right now.

Step 2: Plan the Sprint

Sprint planning is the meeting where your team decides what moves from the backlog into the active sprint. In Proman:

Open the Backlog view
Review the top items with your team
Drag the tasks your team can realistically complete into the current sprint

A common mistake is overcommitting. Take 80% of what feels achievable. Leave room for things that take longer than expected — they always do.

Set a sprint duration (one or two weeks is typical) and a goal — one sentence describing what “done” looks like at the end of the sprint.

Step 3: Run the Sprint on the Board

During the sprint, work lives on the Kanban board. Your columns should reflect your team’s workflow — something like:

To Do — committed but not started
In Progress — actively being worked on
In Review — waiting for review or QA
Done — complete

Move cards as work progresses. Encourage the team to update card status themselves — don’t make it a manager’s job to move cards.

Use the board’s AI summary feature to get a quick status read at any point: who’s blocked, what’s overdue, where the bottlenecks are.

Step 4: Handle Blockers Fast

Blockers stall sprints. When something is blocked, flag it immediately — don’t let it sit in “In Progress” for three days without movement.

In Proman, you can:

Add a note to the card explaining the blocker
Reassign the card to someone who can unblock it
Use the ⌘K command palette to ask the AI to summarize what’s holding up the column

The sprint board is visible to everyone. Visible blockers get resolved faster.

Step 5: Sprint Review

At the end of the sprint, look at what got done. In Proman, filter the board to “Done” and review completed cards with the team.

What shipped? What didn’t? What moved from one sprint to the next?

Don’t use this time to assign blame. Use it to calibrate: if 60% of tasks completed, your estimates were off — not your team.

Step 6: Retrospective

The retrospective is separate from the review. It’s about the process, not the output.

Three questions:

What worked well?
What slowed us down?
What do we change for next sprint?

Keep it short. Pick one thing to improve and actually do it next sprint. Retrospectives that produce no changes are just meetings.

Back to the Backlog

After the retrospective, move unfinished tasks back to the backlog, re-prioritize, and start the next sprint planning session. The cycle repeats.

Sprints work best when they’re short enough to stay focused and long enough to finish something meaningful. Start with two weeks. Adjust from there.

Proman includes sprint planning and backlog management on all plans. Start free →