Welcome to Scrum Sutra — a series where I shall share a 2-min overview of each element of Scrum and how it connects with the other elements in the bead to form Scrum Sutra. Today, I shall talk about Sprint Backlog.
The Sprint Backlog is one of the three Scrum Artifacts. The other 2 being Product Backlog and Increment.
The Sprint Backlog is composed of the
- Sprint Goal – which answers why this Sprint is important.
- The set of Product Backlog items selected – which answers what work will be done in this Sprint.
- An action plan for delivering the Increment.
The Developers are accountable for the Sprint Backlog. This Sprint Backlog brings into transparency all work and the plan to deliver those. Also, this plan is very dynamic and changes as the Sprint progresses. And this plan is expected to change as new information emerges.
Talking of the Sprint Goal – This is a single objective for the Sprint and commitment by the Developers. The Sprint Goal exists to reinforce empiricism and the Scrum Values for the Scrum Team and the Stakeholders. The Sprint Goal helps the Scrum Team remain Focused on the purpose, encourage collaboration, helps in flexibility on the plan.
Scrum’s empirical approach gives many opportunities to inspect and adapt this Sprint Backlog. The Sprint Backlog must have sufficient information for it to be inspected and adapted.
- In Sprint Planning, the Sprint Backlog is formed by the end.
- In Daily Scrum, the Developers inspect the Sprint Backlog for progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt it based on the new insights.
- In Sprint Retrospective, the Sprint Backlog is adapted with any impactful improvement may be added to the next Sprint Backlog.
In fact, the Sprint Backlog is inspected and adapted throughout the Sprint as the Developers progress toward the Sprint Goal. But there is no change made which would put the Sprint Goal at risk.
That’s a 2-min overview on Sprint Backlog. Stay tuned to the next in the Scrum Sutra series.
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