Emel Yayla Yavuz // Allianz Türkiye – Agile Coach
Setting the goal in the planning phase of a sprint allows all members of the team to focus on the value they will create and set their priorities correctly. The purpose of this article is to remind the importance of the sprint goal that we put into the background…
We all know that when planning a sprint, we determine the work to be done as a team. We also have a considerably long list of jobs. There is another item that is as important as determining the backlog during planning, and that is setting the sprint goal. But most of the time, we leave setting the sprint goal until last minute, or it is rushed at the end of the planning or added later. However, it is very important to set the sprint goal. Let's take a closer look at the reasons in a few articles.
- It is the sprint goal to be determined by the team that will give meaning to the list of work items that the team planned. The goal is basically the "reason" of a sprint.
- The team commits to achieving the sprint goal. It focuses on this goal and takes action to eliminate obstacles.
- The sprint goal gives flexibility to the work in the sprint. It helps the team to organize the priority tasks.
- Especially when things get complicated or unclear within the sprint, the team can re-evaluate their work lists by focusing on their goal and give the flexibility to re-order based on the situation. Otherwise, the goal would be to do all the tasks in the work list as is.
- A feature of the sprint goal is that it reminds the whole team why they're running this sprint in between daily chores and is useful to keep them on track.
- It enables the team to focus on the value they will create rather than completing the backlog.
- When non-sprint, urgent or priority tasks come during the sprint, the sprint goal guides the decision whether to include these works in the sprint.
- It makes it easier to maintain communication and align with stakeholders about what the sprint output will be.
- It increases cooperation within the team and the motivation to pursue a goal.
The sine qua non of benefiting from all these advantages I mentioned is that the sprint goal is understandable clear, value-oriented and attainable during the sprint for the whole team.
These are the tangible contributions of determining the sprint goal. But have you had any experiences of setting the spring goal that you thought were useful?
P.S. You can contact us by clicking here to share your experiences and ask questions about the agile working method.
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