The 8 most common mistakes I encounter during a sprint

Scrum methodology offers a fast, flexible, and customer-focused approach to software development processes. However, errors occurring during sprints within this process can adversely affect project success. In this article, I will explain the problems I encountered during sprints and the solutions we found to these problems.

The project is essentially divided into time blocks, and a product output is delivered after each time block, with the cycle repeating itself. These time frames in Scrum are referred to as “sprints” and can be planned for up to one month at most.

Having sprints longer than a month contradicts the Scrum framework. It’s particularly important to limit risk and cost within a one-month period and to reduce the complexity of the work. During a sprint, project members select tasks from within product components and define subtasks to complete the selected tasks. These subtasks are referred to as “tasks.” Throughout the sprint, each project member takes on their respective task and strives to complete the tasks they’ve been assigned by the end of the sprint. As the project progresses, sprint evaluations are conducted at the end of each sprint, and a new sprint is created. Sprints are also monitored on a daily basis.

Summarizing the most common 8 errors during the sprint process(I will exemplify with the mistakes I have experienced):

1 - Unclear Sprint Objectives: Failure to define clear objectives before the sprint begins can hinder the team’s focus and effective functioning throughout the sprint.

e.g. In a recent sprint, our overall goal was to “improve the user experience”. However, this goal was quite vague and did not provide clarity on what the team should focus on. As a result, team members were scattered in different directions and we were unable to make effective progress throughout the sprint. To resolve this situation, we improved the process by breaking down the objectives before the sprint started to make them more specific and measurable.

2 - Inadequate Sprint Planning: Incomplete understanding of requirements or unrealistic estimations during sprint planning can lead to unexpected issues during the sprint.

e.g. In the past, during a sprint planning meeting, we created a forward-looking plan before fully analyzing our requirements and realistically making our estimates. This led to unexpected problems during the sprint and difficulties in completing some tasks. We later corrected this mistake by investing more time in the planning process and analyzing the requirements in more depth.

3 - Lack of Measurable Criteria: Failure to establish clear measurable criteria for each sprint can make evaluating sprint results and measuring success challenging.

e.g. At the end of a sprint, we did not set clear measurable criteria to evaluate success and therefore could not fully understand what was or was not successful. This made it difficult to evaluate sprint results and continuously improve. We then started to set specific success criteria for each task and evaluated performance against these criteria at the end of the sprint.

4 - Handling Variable Requirements: Failing to plan for coping with unexpected requirement changes during the sprint can prevent the team from achieving sprint objectives.

e.g. During a sprint, there was an unexpected change in priority and our team was caught off guard. Without a plan to deal with this change, we struggled to achieve our sprint goals. After this experience, we created a mechanism to be flexible to unexpected changes and adjust our plans accordingly.

5 - External Interventions: External interventions or unexpected changes in priorities during the sprint can distract the team and reduce efficiency.

e.g. In the past, during a sprint, a senior manager wanted to add an unexpected feature, which distracted the team and disrupted our sprint plan. To deal with this type of interference, we set up a communication and decision-making process that would protect our team from external influences and keep them focused on our sprint goals.

6 - Insufficient Communication and Collaboration: Lack of adequate communication and collaboration among team members can prevent problem-solving and hinder reaching objectives throughout the sprint.

e.g. During a sprint, we failed to make progress on a specific task due to incompatibilities and lack of communication between team members. This made us realize that our collaboration was lacking and we needed to communicate with each other more often. We then solved this problem by organizing regular communication and collaboration meetings.

7 - Accumulation of Technical Debt: Prioritizing accumulating technical debt over quality work during the sprint may require additional time and resources in the future.

e.g. In the past, we used some technical shortcuts to get quick results during the sprint and didn’t prioritize writing quality code. This resulted in the accumulation of technical debt, which required extra time and resources in the future. Later, we solved this problem by focusing more on code quality and reducing technical debt.

8 - Neglecting Retrospective and Feedback Meetings: Failure to hold or take seriously retrospective and feedback meetings at the end of the sprint can be a barrier to continuous improvement.

e.g. At the end of a sprint, we skipped the feedback meeting and missed the opportunity to evaluate our sprint process. This created a barrier to our continuous improvement. We then improved our process by regularly attending feedback meetings at the end of each sprint and improving our process based on the feedback received.

These mistakes I encountered can negatively affect project success when sprints are not managed effectively in the Scrum process. Therefore, it is very important to avoid these mistakes and strive for continuous improvement in Scrum practices.