There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if there is no Sprint Goal — Sprint after Sprint? What if the Scrum team is always only working on a random assortment of work items that seem to be the most pressing at the moment of the Sprint Planning?
Join me and delve into the importance of the Sprint Goal for meaningful work as a Scrum team in less than two minutes.
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According to the Scrum Guide, the Sprint Goal serves the following purpose:
The Sprint Goal is the single objective for the Sprint. Although the Sprint Goal is a commitment by the Developers, it provides flexibility in terms of the exact work needed to achieve it. The Sprint Goal also creates coherence and focus, encouraging the Scrum Team to work together rather than on separate initiatives.
The Sprint Goal is created during the Sprint Planning event and then added to the Sprint Backlog. As the Developers work during the Sprint, they keep the Sprint Goal in mind. If the work turns out to be different than they expected, they collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the scope of the Sprint Backlog within the Sprint without affecting the Sprint Goal.”
Source: Scrum Guide 2020.
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The Sprint Goal is many things to the Scrum team: a beacon showing how to create more value for customers and the organization, a rallying cry to collaborate as a team, and a measure to figure out whether the Sprint was successful.
Successfully identifying the Sprint Goal is thus a mission-critical step for every Scrum team. The Sprint Goal turns a Sprint into a team endeavor founded on cohesion, collaboration, and self-management. Anything less is merely toiling on an “assembly line,” probably leading to becoming a feature factory.
In my experience, there are three main reasons why a Scrum team is not capable of creating a Sprint Goal during the Sprint Planning:
The Consequences: If not identifying a Sprint Goal is the natural way of finishing your Sprint Planning, you probably have never embraced Scrum as a framework in the first place. Or, you have outlived the usefulness of Scrum as a product development framework. In the latter case, depending on the maturity of your product, Kanban may prove to be a better solution. Otherwise, the randomness may signal a weak Product Owner who listens too much to stakeholders instead of aiming to accomplish the Product Goal, composing and ordering the Product Backlog appropriately.
The Solution: Go back to the basics of the framework by pursuing the original goal the Sprint Planning: Align the Developers and the Product Owner on what to build next, delivering the highest possible value to customers. First, the Product Owner points to the team’s Product Goal and introduces the business objective of the upcoming Sprint. The Scrum Team then collaboratively creates a Sprint Goal, considering who is available and the target the team shall accomplish. Next, the Developers forecast the work required to achieve the Sprint Goal by picking the right items from the Product Backlog and transferring them to the Sprint Backlog. Also, the Developers need to create a plan on how to accomplish their forecast. While this sounds straightforward, it may take time to get there, starting with creating a Product Goal and subsequently the corresponding Product Backlog as pre-requisits for Sprint Goals. No one said getting Scrum up and running for your team would be simple.
We do not get paid to practice Scrum but solve our customers’ problems within the given constraints while contributing to the organization’s sustainability. However, if you conclude that Scrum can support your team on that path, embrace Scrum’s first principles and checks & balances. For a Scrum team to be successful, it needs a Sprint Goal. Moreover, creating the Sprint Goal is a collaborative exercise of the complete Scrum team. If you cannot identify unifying goals, maybe Scrum is not for you.
Have you encountered Scrum teams that try working without Sprint Goals? Please share your learnings with us in the comments.
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