Notion's Core Platform team is missing sprint commitments and carrying too much unrefined work into planning. Over the last 6 sprints, average sprint completion has fallen to 62%, and engineering leaders want a more predictable planning and backlog grooming process before the next quarterly roadmap review. You are the program manager supporting a 10-person cross-functional team responsible for permissions, search infrastructure, and internal developer tooling.
The Engineering Manager wants higher predictability and fewer mid-sprint changes. The Product Manager wants flexibility to respond to customer escalations and leadership requests. The Staff Engineer wants better technical breakdowns before work enters a sprint. Customer Success is pushing for 3 enterprise escalations to be prioritized immediately, even though they were not in the quarterly plan.
The team runs 2-week sprints and has 8 weeks before the QBR. Budget is capped at $40,000 for tooling or contractor support, and no additional full-time headcount is approved. Two engineers spend 20% of their time on production support. The team currently has 146 backlog items, but only 28 have acceptance criteria and effort estimates. Leadership expects the next 4 sprints to show measurable improvement in delivery reliability.