“We won’t meet our Sprint Goal – do we have to cancel the Sprint?”
Are you serious? — Episode 42
Are you serious? — Episode 42
I sometimes receive remarks that it is dangerous to define an ambitious Sprint Goal. Because what if you come to the conclusion that you won’t be able to reach the Sprint Goal? People told me: “The Scrum Guide says that you then have to cancel the Sprint”. This may sound silly too some, but I have heard this remark quite often.
The thing is: the Scrum Guide doesn’t say this at all! Instead it says:
“A Sprint would be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete.” — Scrum Guide
The Sprint Goal doesn’t automatically become obsolete when you find out you need more time to achieve this goal. The goal can still be valid and can also still be the first thing you wish to establish.
A Sprint Goal can become obsolete because:
“This might occur if the company changes direction or if market or technology conditions change. In general, a Sprint should be cancelled if it no longer makes sense given the circumstances.” — SG
Cancelling the Sprint is therefore a rare event. And if it isn’t then this is a sign that the Product Owner’s vision is totally misaligned with that of the company and that the Scrum Master and Development Team don’t respond on that. Yes, hopefully this is very rare.
If you are not able to reach the Sprint Goal, then the Sprint Review is an important event to inform the stakeholders about the findings and the receive their input on what to do next. The Sprint Retrospective can be important too to draw lessons on why this occurred and how the team can adapt to improve in future Sprint (if needed, because sometimes the reasons for not meeting the Sprint Goal are completely outside of the Scrum Team’s influence).
If you want to read more about Sprint Cancellation, see below link from Sjoerd Nijland:
Sprint Cancellation
Road to PSM III — Episode 11medium.com
Commitment
There another aspect to consider. This has to do with commitment:
“People personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team” — SG
The Sprint Goal is a goal of the Scrum Team. So what if your Sprint Goal turned out to be so ambitious that it is out of reach in normal circumstances?
I discussed that before. Commitment means doing your best to succeed within reason AND inform involved parties when important insights emerge. It takes openness & courage, shows respect & is strengthened by focus. It doesn’t mean working long hours and making quality sacrifices. Because that is not sustainable and not in line with what Scrum is about. Here is more about commitment and Scrum.
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