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If you’re exploring the world of Scrum to see how all the parts work together, you’ve come to the right place.
Learning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum, and sometimes we don’t feel confident we’re using the right words. You may find yourself asking:
What exactly is the sprint goal, and what’s its role in Scrum?
The sprint goal plays a crucial role in Scrum, and this article will cover three essential topics to help you.
- What exactly is the sprint goal?
- How does the sprint goal help the Scrum team?
- What are the qualities of a good sprint goal?
What exactly is the sprint goal?
As a new sprint begins, the product owner shares their vision for the sprint. This vision includes what new value the sprint will create, how it will help the customer, and how it relates to the previous and following sprints.
The sprint goal encapsulates the vision into a concrete statement to measure the sprint against.
The development team interacts with this vision during sprint planning to have a shared understanding with the product owner. The sprint goal encapsulates the vision into a concrete statement to measure the sprint against.
The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together.
How does the sprint goal help the Scrum team?
The sprint goal provides the team with a balance of clarity and freedom. It defines the where and what but leaves the how up to the team. The team has clear boundaries by which to judge what they produce, and they also have the freedom to be creative within those boundaries.
This kind of freedom leads to better solutions and better integration of value produced from different sprints before or after the current sprint.
The balance of ownership and freedom invites them to craft rather than merely produce.
Because the sprint goal focuses the team by creating a theme, they are more likely to identify more holistic ways to deliver the desired value to the end-user. The balance of ownership and freedom invites them to craft rather than merely produce.
The sprint goal isn’t just for the sprint planning session. It should guide decision-making every day during the standup. It will also play a prominent role during the sprint review, where it stands in the backdrop as the product owner accepts or rejects what has been created during the sprint.
Related Guides
What are the qualities of a good sprint goal?
So you know why you should have a sprint goal and what it will do for your team. Now let’s get down to how to create one.
The sprint goal provides a visible theme for the team to see how everything works together. Suppose you’re building a banking app. The features selected for the sprint might include allowing your persona, we’ll call him Bill, to log in and the ability to display the account balance and recent transactions. The sprint goal might be something like, “Bill can check in on his funds on the go.”
This kind of sprint goal lets the whole team envision how these features come together to be valuable for the end-user. They can also now envision a clear finish line of success.
If Bill can’t check in on his fund using the features completed by the end of the sprint, they didn’t reach the goal. The whole team would need to evaluate why that happened and make the necessary adjustments.
Leaning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are many new terms and concepts in Scrum.
Well we’re here to help.
Related Guides
I hope you now have a better understanding of what the sprint goal is and how it fits into the Scrum framework.
Action Plan
If you want to know more about the role of the product owner of the different Scrum events, check out the links below. Also, take a look at my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
Still not sure about your next step with Scrum? I offer a couple of free coaching sessions each month. You can signup for a free 30-minute coaching session, and we can work together to identify a good next step for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scrum design
What are the three pillars of Scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars, and each leads the team to ask a critical question.
- Transparency. How does this make things more visible?
- Inspection. Where does this create space to evaluate?
- Adaptation. When does this encourage growth?
Learn how to apply the three pillars of Scrum and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What are the values of Scrum?
There are five values critical to the practice of Scrum: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.
- Commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
- Courage to do the right thing and work on challenging problems.
- Focus on the Sprint's work and the Scrum Team's goals.
- Open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
- Respect each other to be capable, independent people
Learn how to align Scrum values with your organization and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What is the sprint goal in scrum?
The sprint goal encapsulates the product owner’s vision into a concrete statement for the development team to measure the sprint against. The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together.
Learn more about the role of the sprint goal in scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.
What is Scrum?
What is the definition of scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars leading teams to ask the following questions:
- How does this make things more visible? (Transparency)
- Where does this create space to evaluate? (Inspection)
- When does this encourage growth? (Adaptation)
Further explore the definition of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is Scrum hard to learn?
This is because Scrum’s simplicity makes learning easy, but Scrum truly changes how you work, and that adjustment can be difficult. It changes power dynamics and expectations within the team and between the team and the rest of the organization.
You can explore further is Scrum hard to learn, along with the pros and cons of Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When did Scrum start?
Scrum was initially used as a term related to project management in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their paper “New New Product Development Game” In the Harvard Business Review. The first recorded Scrum project came a little later in 1993 from Jeff Sutherland.
You can learn more about Scrum’s backstory. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What do all the scrum words mean?
Learning Scrum for the first time can be overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum. I’ve listed the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
How to use Scrum
Why use Scrum?
It forces clarity and prioritization, which provides the focus necessary for teams to be effective. Scrum embraces complexity and change by keeping many things simple and iteratively evaluating and adapting.
You can learn more about why to use Scrum and three challenges Scrum solves. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When does Scrum not work well?
Scrum isn’t always the best option for teams. Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values. It also depends on the nature of the work you do. If you work if very linear, predictable and tightly defined, you may not experience many benefits Scrum provides.
Find out more about aligning your organizational values with Scrum or how Scrum might fit in your context. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How do I know when to use Scrum?
Scrum functions at its best when you have a dedicated team focused on developing a singular product. Its agility shines when there are time constraints combined with uncertainty.
Explore the pros and cons of Scrum along with expectations vs. realities with Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum elements
What is the definition of done?
The definition of done is a list of what must be true to consider a PBI done. The whole team creates and agrees to what is in the definition of done and is updated as needed for the team to function effectively.
Learn to use the definition of done and explore acceptance criteria vs definition of done.
What is the increment in scrum?
It is the next complete piece added to build the product. The increment is complete in the sense that it should be ready to release to the end-user even if the team chooses to wait.
Learn more about incremental and iterative development or explore the essential Scrum glossary.
Beginning a sprint
What is sprint planning in scrum?
Here’s a quick agenda
- Product owner sets the sprint direction.
- PBIs move from the product backlog to the sprint backlog.
- Team plans how they will complete the selected work.
- Team communicates their plan back to the product owner and scrum master.
Learn more about how to facilitate sprint planning. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What is a sprint in scrum?
Think of scrum as a relay race, with each sprint being a lap. The scrum team hands off the “baton” of finished work to itself in the next sprint.
Learn more about the role of a sprint in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is the sprint a scrum event?
The sprint isn’t always included in the list of scrum events. I include it because it's critical to creating a cadence of work for the team. The sprint serves as a container for all other scrum events.
Learn more about sprints in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
At which scrum event is the sprint backlog created?
The sprint backlog is created during sprint planning as PBIs (product backlog items) are moved from the product backlog to the sprint backlog.
Learn more about the sprint planning process and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
