Having a Sprint Goal is mandatory in Scrum

Fact

Sprint Goals… One of the most important items in Scrum which is most of the times also one of the last things that Development Team and the Product owner work on. Because they find it too difficult to create, they don’t know why they need to do it, or any other reason you can imagine. We deliver working software, so why should we do this Scrum Master? Please explain!?

So let’s have a look at the Scrum guide what it says about the Sprint Goal.

The Sprint Goal is an objective set for the Sprint that can be met through the implementation of Product Backlog. It provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the Increment. It is created during the Sprint Planning meeting.

This is pretty straight forward. The Sprint Goal gives the Development Team guidance in their Sprint. But it also has a direct link to two of the Scrum Value’s, Focus and Commitment. The Development team doesn’t commit to the separate Product Backlog Items in a Sprint, but the Sprint Goal. Change in work can take place, as long as the Sprint Goal is still valid, we have the right focus. A Sprint Goal also brings focus to the Daily Scrum where the Development Team inspects their progress towards the Sprint Goals instead of ticket #235. This, in turn, helps the team to become more self-organizing in how to reach the Sprint Goal

So having a Sprint Goal is not optional, it’s mandatory. Is it difficult to create? Let’s help you out, by offering this tool of Roman Pichler, click here!