Let's Talk About the Finish Line

If you’ve worked on (or supported!) an Agile Team, you know the struggle: unfinished work rolling into the next sprint. It’s so common it almost feels normal. Competing priorities, unexpected technical challenges, and shifting business needs can derail even the best-laid plans.

But here’s the thing—finishing committed work within sprint boundaries is game-changing. Let’s dig into why it matters and how to make it happen.

Why Sprint Boundaries Matter

• Laser Focus on What’s Next Finishing what’s on your plate frees up space for you to focus on what the business needs next. And you know that the business always has another new priority! Let them know you can keep pace by being able to take on the next challenge.
• Build Predictability Ensuring that you deliver something workable at the end of every sprint shows your stakeholders to expect tangible progress. They’ll respect and appreciate that regular flow of business value!
• Boost Morale and Momentum Let’s be real: finishing work is energizing. Doing so regularly creates a rhythm of steady wins, building confidence and enthusiasm.
• Inspect & Adapt Effectively By providing your customers and stakeholders with a usable product increment, they can give you feedback so that you can make it even better moving forward.
• Minimize Context Switching and Debt Dragging along unfinished work is baggage that weighs you down. It means juggling multiple half-baked features while being asked to work on new things. That’s a recipe for technical debt and mental exhaustion.

How to Actually Do It

Building the discipline to regularly get to Done is tough, but the payoff is huge. Here are three habits I’ve seen teams use to crush it:

Set Well-Defined, Achievable Sprint Goals

Why: A sprint goal provides focus. It’s a rallying cry and a compass that unlocks better decision-making.

How:

• During Planning, agree on why the work is important and how it connects to bigger goals.
• Keep it realistic: aim for one clear, measurable outcome that fits within your capacity.
• Regularly reference the goal to guide decisions and assess progress.

?? Pro tip: Check out Maarten Dalmijn’s Sprint Goal template if you need help generating your goals.

Refine and Prioritize Like Pros

Why: Small, clear work items are way easier to complete within a sprint.

How:

• Run regular backlog refinement sessions to ensure your user stories are ready to go when the sprint starts. I find that once a sprint is a good cadence.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to prioritize the highest-value items.
• Break down big work into bite-sized, testable stories.

?? Pro tip: Struggling with work that’s too large? Try the Humanizing Work Story Splitting Flowchart—it’s a lifesaver for breaking down complexity.

Clear Blockers as Soon as Possible

Why: ?All obstacles preventing you from achieving your goal are a productivity killers. The sooner you spot them, the faster you can get rid of them.

How:

• Don’t wait—immediately surface anything preventing you from getting your work done. Standups are a good forum but raise your hand as soon as something comes up.
• Identify who can help resolve them.
• Track all blockers and relentlessly follow up on them to keep things moving.

?? Pro tip: Prioritize any issues and immediately focus on those critical to achieving the Sprint Goal. Leverage the Scrum Master to work on clearing the path while the team continues to work.

Acknowledge the Challenge, Embrace the Reward

Building this discipline takes time. Your team might stumble along the way, but don’t give up. The benefits—delivering real value, boosting team energy, and staying competitive—are worth the effort.

We at Reef work on these and many other challenges every day. Let us know what kind of things you do to deliver value more predictably. And don't hesitate to contact us if you'd like some help - we're happy to help you work though what can worked (or won't) for your team!