We do Scrum, but…
“Scrum — We don’t have Sprint Goals”
Are you serious? — episode 15

Many Scrum Teams don’t use Sprint Goals. They don’t see the benefit of it. Or don’t know that it exists in Scrum.
They pick a number of items from the Sprint Backlog and work with that. At the Daily Scrum they go through the Backlog Items to determine how they are progressing and during review they inform everyone about the Backlog Items they delivered and what they learned. The Sprint Goal seems unnecessary for them.
The weird thing is: the Sprint Goal is mentioned 27 times in the Scrum Guide. 27 times! It includes very clear passages:
“The Sprint Goal is an objective that will be met within the Sprint through the implementation of the Product Backlog, and it provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the Increment.” — SG
And:
“The Daily Scrum optimizes the probability that the Development Team will meet the Sprint Goal.” — SG
And:
“During the Sprint … No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal”- SG
It boils down to the following:
The Sprint Goal is an integral part of Scrum.
So… what’s up with the Sprint Goal?
The Sprint Goal is an objective of the Sprint. It clarifies why you do what you do.
Without a Sprint Goal you don’t know why you do what you do.
You might have a common understanding and an implicit Sprint Goal. But unless you formalize this you are can’t say if everyone is on the same page. Hence you can’t really focus on the progress.

The Sprint Backlog alone can’t tell you why you do what you do. These only show you what to do and how to do it. It intended to be the team’s current insight on how it aims to meet the Sprint Goal. There might be different ways to reach the Sprint Goal, but the Sprint Backlog is the chosen way.
At the Daily Scrum the Development Team assesses how they progress towards the Sprint Goal and adjust their course (if required), resulting into an updated Sprint Backlog.
The Sprint Backlog is updated to stay on course to reach the immutable Sprint Goal.
How to create Sprint Goals — an example
The best way I can advise on this is to present a great practice. I am not the first one and I will not be the last one recommending this article from Roman Pichler:
It is a great resource to learn how you can create a Sprint Goal. It boils down to the following:
- State WHY you do the Sprint.
- Describe HOW you are going to meet the goal.
- Determine HOW you going to measure if the Sprint Goal is met.
You will also find a handy template and pointers to connect the Sprint Backlog Items to the Sprint Goal.
Did you like the article? Then it would be awesome if you’d clap 👏🏻. I am also very keen to learn what you think about this topic.
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