Picking a Sprint Goal
By the end of a sprint’s first day, a target goal should be chosen. This goal is a piece of the bigger picture that, through its completion, will bring the team closer to achieving its final vision. It will allow the team to know how much progress they have made at the end of the week and make sure it is valuable.
Long-Term Goal
Before deciding on the short-term goal for the sprint, a long-term goal has to be defined. The team should look to the future and figure out what they are trying to build towards.
According to SPRINT: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days, “Your goal should reflect your team’s principles and aspirations. Don’t worry about overreaching. The sprint process will help you find a good place to start and make real progress toward even the biggest goal” (Knapp, Jake, et al. 56).
Don’t worry about overreaching. The sprint process will help you find a good place to start
The long-term outlook will guide everything the team does during the week and motivate them to work hard on this component.
Mapping the Journey
The map is a visual guide that lays out the process users go through with the product. It lets the team see how each section is connected overall and find the areas that need improvement.
Each map is a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end
SPRINT explains, “The common elements? Each map is customer-centric, with a list of key actors on the left. Each map is a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And, no matter the business, each map is simple. The diagrams are composed of nothing more than words, arrows, and a few boxes” (Knapp, Jake, et al. 65).
Sprint map, Steph Cruchon
Picking the Target
After gathering all the information from expert interviews, mapping, and How Might We questions, it is time to write the sprint goal.
According to Sealights.io’s article The Sprint Goal: Why it is Critical and How to Get it Right, “A sprint goal is a concise statement (between one and two sentences) outlining the objective of the sprint. It lets everyone in the team know what should be accomplished during the sprint, and should supply the motivation for the sprint” (Sealights).
While the long-term goal can be big and broad, the sprint goal should be focused and specific so it can be accomplished in the sprint timeframe.
In her article Getting to Done: Creating Good Sprint Goals, Stephanie Ockerman says, “During Sprint Planning, ask ‘how will we know if we have achieved the Sprint Goal?’ If we have different answers or puzzled looks from the Product Owner or any Development Team members, then we need further discussion and refinement of the Sprint Goal” (Ockerman).
Who is the most important customer, and what’s the critical moment of that customer’s experience?
The goal should emerge from the compiled knowledge laid out in front of the team.
SPRINT explains, “Your final task on Monday is to choose a target for your sprint. Who is the most important customer, and what’s the critical moment of that customer’s experience? The rest of the sprint will flow from this decision. Throughout the week, you’ll be focused on that target - sketching solutions, making a plan, and building a prototype of that moment and the events around it” (Knapp, Jake, et al. 84).
Sources:
Knapp, Jake, et al. SPRINT: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days Bantam Press, 2016.
Ockerman, Stephanie. “Getting to Done: Creating Good Sprint Goals” Scrum.org, www.scrum.org/resources/blog/getting-done-creating-good-sprint-goals.
“The Sprint Goal: Why it is Critical and How to Get it Right.” Sealights, www.sealights.io/sprint-velocity/the-sprint-goal-why-it-is-critical-and-how-to-get-it-right/.
