How to Use Microsoft Planner for Agile and Scrum Projects

Quick summary

Microsoft Planner supports Agile and Scrum workflows by letting teams create structured plans with Scrum-stage buckets, labeled work item types, and task checklists. This guide walks through creating a new plan from a template, configuring it for Scrum, and managing tasks with your team.

Steps

1. Navigate to the bottom-left section and click New Plan to start creating a project.
2. Select Simple Plan from the available plan type options.
3. Click Use Template to apply the selected plan template and proceed.
4. Enter a unique plan name in the input field and choose a group from the drop-down menu.
5. Click Create to finalize and generate the new plan.
6. Rename the buckets to match Scrum board stages — such as Backlog, To Do, In Progress, Testing, and Done.
7. Rename the labels to reflect work item types, such as User Story, Bug, and Epic.
8. Use the checklist section within a task to break it into sub-assignments by clicking Add an Item and entering the details.
9. Begin adding, assigning, and managing tasks with your team members across the Scrum board.