Understanding and Apply Scrum [P6]: Sprint Goal - Myth: having a sprint goal is optional in scrum

Question 1

What does the Scrum Guide say about having a clear focus point?

Answer 1

A Sprint is [ … ] the smallest possible time-box for a Scrum Team to deliver a coherent set of valuable features without losing focus

Question 2

What happens in sprint goals are not used?

Answer 2

Without sprint goals, the whole framework unravels;

Scrum Events lose their purpose, Scrum Teams have little reason to collaborate and organizations don’t start to think in terms of value

Question 3

What is a sprint goal?

Answer 3

an objective for the sprint that will be met through implementing selected work from the product backlog

Question 4

How does the scrum guide describe the sprint goal?

Answer 4

one coherent function achieved by a selection of the product backlog items OR any other coherence that causes the team to work together rather than on separate initiatives

Question 5

What does the sprint goal offer the team?

Answer 5

Guidance on why it is building the increment

Question 6

How is the sprint goal involved in sprint planning as per the scrum guide?

Answer 6

Sprint Planning is used to craft a Sprint Goal

Question 7

How is the sprint goal involved in the daily scrum as per the scrum guide?

Answer 7

The Daily Scrum is used by the “The Development Team [..] to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal”

Question 8

How is the sprint goal involved in the sprint review as per the scrum guide?

Answer 8

The Sprint Review is about inspecting the Increment that resulted from work on the Sprint Goal

Question 9

How is the sprint goal involved in sprint retro as per the scrum guide?

Answer 9

Sprint Retrospective is about inspecting how the team collaborated to do that work

Question 10

What three important purposes does a sprint goal have?

Answer 10

1) guidance - on objective that the team wants to achieve in the sprint, as well as why that is important

2) focus - on what work is important and what is not

3) collaboration - one clear purpose to work on, instead of separate initiatives

Question 11

Is the sprint goal an artifact in scrum?

Answer 11

No - just a requirement, like DoD

Question 12

Is DoD an artifact in scrum?

Answer 12

No

Question 13

What are some observations you’ll likely find if there is no scrum goal?

Answer 13

• patchwork, representing different groups of stakeholders, different functional areas —> implicitly creating different promises to different stakeholders
• sprint backlog is likely what the dev team implicitly (or explicitly) commit to instead —> each item acts as a promise of something to deliver by the end of the sprint, regardless of value —> feature factories of unrelated features rather than product development teams
• no obvious incentive to collaborate —> team pick up “their own” items from the sprint backlog —> limited self-organization + members specialize
• Daily Scrum takes the form of a status meeting —> focus on own items, more “I” than “we”, taking turns rather than creating collaborative strategies
• members will complete ‘all their work’ at different moments during the Sprint —> with no goal the team is less likely to identify opps to help each other —> work on items elsewhere on the product backlog, over-engineer or waste time on non-team work
• hard to know who to invite for the Sprint Review —>goal sheds light on relevant stakeholders —> waste stakeholders’ time when showing irrelevant work, less likely to attend as purpose isn’t very clear
• Development Team doesn’t have guidance on how to decide about how to deal with problems that arise during sprint —> not sure if relevant for sprint, where to invest time and what to let go of —> everything considered equal
• hard to know when a Sprint is successful —> usually backlog becomes goal and backlog will likely change during sprint and items left over and fewer opportunities to celebrate
• People are likely tocomplain that Scrum Events take a lot of time and feel ineffective —> no objective that ties all convos together —> scrum events become more like meetings and some are irrelevant to some people
• all sprints become the same —> “complete all the work” —> people feel that sprints are artificial

Question 14

What sort of language indicates collaboration in Daily Scrums?

Answer 14

e.g. “If we do this … then I can …. so that you can … “

Question 15

How does scrum propose to reduce the risks of complex and unpredictable work?

Answer 15

by working in small timeboxed steps which act as experiments which learn from

Question 16

What are sprint goals intended for?

Answer 16

• help org break from output-driven approach (sprints as containers to fill -with work)
  • focus lies on efficiency and getting as much work done as possible, by focusing on valuable outcomes and experiment mindset

Question 17

What are common reasons teams don’t have sprint goals? [impediments for working empirically]

Answer 17

• PO lacks power to do their job —> Product Owners don’t have the mandateto decide what goes on the Product Backlog and in what order. Instead, they are required to pass on “feature requests” or issues from stakeholders;
• PO lacks vision —> Product Owners don’t have a vision or strategy for the productthat guides the formulation of objectives and Sprint Goals;
• Messy product backlog —> Scrum Teams struggle with the formulation of objectives and Sprint Goals when theirProduct Backlogs span thousands of items. How do you decide what is important then?;
• Team too big —> Scrum Teams may be too large, making stakeholders and the Product Owner scramble for enough work to keep everyone busy;
• Multiple products/projects —> Scrum Teams may work on different products or projectsat the same time, making it hard to identify one singular goal for a Sprint;
• Sprint length —> Sprints may be too short or too long, making it hard to define concrete, tangible Sprint Goal that can be achieved within a Sprint;
• component teams rather than full slice —> Scrum Teams may be organized as ‘component teams’, working only on certain layers or components of the application (e.g. database, a specific web service or the UI). This makes it hard to craft Sprint Goals that explain the functional purpose of a Sprint;
• incorrect goal creation method —> During Sprint Planning, Scrum Teams often start with the Sprint Backlog and try toreverse-engineer a Sprint Goalfrom there;
• Some teams do work that is not suited to the time-boxed and purpose-driven nature of Sprints.For example, Support Teams that are responsible for many different products or services probably won’t benefit from using Sprints as ‘value-creation timeboxes’;

Question 18

What are some tips with helping create spring goal?

Answer 18

• 1) Help Product Owners plan ahead by identifying potential objectives for upcoming Sprints
• 2) use the Liberating Structure —> keep asking “Why?” to get to heart of why something is wanted by the PO + purpose of a sprint —> during spring planning
• SM - ask powerful questions to help Product Owners dig deeper into the “Why” of their decisions
• The Sprint Review offers potential objectives for the next Sprint(s) → gather feedback from stakeholders and debrief → Liberating Structure likeWhat, So What, Now What- asks groups to start from observations, interpret, decide on potential sensible steps
• Use a template to craft Sprint Goals
• Make your Sprint Goal transparent
• Begin each Scrum Event by stating the Sprint Goaland by tying it to the purpose of the event
• Don’t worry if you can’t relateallthe items on a Sprint Backlog directly to the Sprint Goal —> e.g. planning issue or external dependency - BUT be skeptical
• find Sprint Goals that offer guidance during the Sprint and promote collaboration in your team

Question 19

What are questions a SM can ask the PO to understand the “Why” of their decisions?

Answer 19

• “If the entire Product Backlog was lost, what would be the first things you would bring back at this moment in time? Why?”
• “What do you hope this objective makes possible for stakeholders or in this organization?”
• “What opportunity would be lost if don’t do this item this Sprint?”

Question 20

What are examples of templates to help create a sprint goal?

Answer 20

• “This Sprint exists in order to …” or “This Sprint, we promise to … “
• ideally - NO ‘and’ or comma’s to chain together multiple objectives

Question 21

What questions should be asked if a team wants take on work not relevant to the sprint goal?

Answer 21

“What is lost if we do thisnextSprint?” or “How we will make sure to keep the focus on the Sprint Goal?”