Sprint goals are the backbone of any agile project. They define what the team wants to accomplish in a short and focused time frame, usually two to four weeks. But how can you make sure your sprint goals are realistic and achievable, and not too vague, ambitious, or irrelevant? Here are some tips to help you set and deliver effective sprint goals.
The first step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to align them with the product vision and the roadmap. The product vision is the overarching purpose and direction of the product, and the roadmap is the plan of how to get there. Your sprint goals should support the product vision and the roadmap, and not deviate from them. Otherwise, you risk wasting time and resources on features or tasks that are not valuable or relevant for the users or the stakeholders.
Ensuring sprint goals are realistic and achievable involves collaborative planning, considering team capacity, and prioritizing high-priority user stories. Regularly reassessing and adjusting goals based on feedback and team dynamics contributes to maintaining a realistic and achievable sprint scope. Open communication and transparency within the team foster a shared understanding of the goals, enabling better alignment and commitment to successful sprint outcomes.
The issue I see way too often is that organizations claim to be Agile but they operate in a very autocratic custom built fashion with lose ties to Agile. Organizations need at least one meeting a month to review the Agile manifesto. If they are deviating, they need to correct their path. Mixing of methodologies is like riding two horses at once. It is very risky and only a few can do it successfully. AA&Co used to have Method /1. Every firm engagement around the globe followed that methodology. Deliverables were consistently created and projects were completed per the plan. Scope changed for sure but it was clearly documented, communicated and approved. The point is good things come from being consistent to your methodology.
The second step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to involve the team in the process. The team is the one who will execute the sprint goals, so they should have a say in what they can and want to do. By involving the team, you can leverage their expertise, creativity, and motivation, and ensure that they are committed and accountable for the sprint goals. You can use techniques like brainstorming, voting, or planning poker to generate and prioritize ideas, and then refine them into clear and specific sprint goals.
It is very strange to see suggestion "Involve the team" in this article about Sprint Goals... does it make sense to do this without team involvement??? Sprint Goals are created by the team for the team. Product Goal is like a North Star, which shows everyone a direction and helps to align. Sprint Goal enables team to Inspect and Adapt on the daily basis their actions and decisions and is on of crucial agility enabling constraints.
The third step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to use SMART criteria. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These criteria help you define your sprint goals in a way that is easy to understand, track, and evaluate. For example, a SMART sprint goal could be: "By the end of the sprint, we will launch a new feature that allows users to create and share custom playlists on our music app." This goal is specific (what feature), measurable (launch), achievable (within the sprint), relevant (for the users), and time-bound (by the end of the sprint).
The goal should always come from a user's point of view. Sometimes the teams find it hard to elaborate a sprint goal around technical initiatives. And we should always ask ourselves: "What are the benefits for our customers when we deliver this?".
The fourth step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to break them down into tasks. Tasks are the smaller and more manageable units of work that the team needs to complete to achieve the sprint goals. By breaking down the sprint goals into tasks, you can estimate the effort and time required, assign responsibilities, and monitor the progress and quality of the work. You can use tools like user stories, acceptance criteria, or task boards to document and organize your tasks.
I wouldn't approach it necessarily that way. When you have a feature to release, you should deliver it incrementally: (1) At that point, you should have the user stories created already in a visible way with all associated user stories; (2) Those should be estimated and ready for the upcoming sprint; (3) Get one of the vertical slices and compare the estimations against the team's average velocity. You may need to slice it a bit more; (4) Now we can state the sprint goal and make it clear how our customers can benefit from it. As an example, in a new report of leads, deliver first a list for the month. As a second increment, add a date filter. And go on, until you reach a point of having something more important for the team to tackle.
The fifth step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to review and adjust them regularly. Agile projects are dynamic and unpredictable, so you need to be flexible and responsive to changes and feedback. You can use events like daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, or retrospectives to review your sprint goals and check if they are still valid, relevant, and attainable. If not, you can adjust them accordingly, by adding, removing, or modifying features or tasks, or by changing the scope or the timeline of the sprint.
The sixth step to create realistic and achievable sprint goals is to celebrate and learn from them. Sprint goals are not only a way to deliver value and quality, but also a way to motivate and inspire the team. By celebrating the achievements and the challenges of the sprint, you can recognize the efforts and the contributions of the team, and foster a positive and collaborative culture. By learning from the successes and the failures of the sprint, you can identify the strengths and the weaknesses of the team, and improve your processes and practices for the next sprint.