What is a sprint in scrum? examples
In an age where there is constant talk of agile methodologies, a recurring question is how to define what a sprint in scrum is. To achieve this, a timeline is always used to help organize the steps to be followed in order to deliver the project in chronological order.
To design the sprint you also have a process, where all the people who will be part of this project must be present. The term scrum may be new to some people. It is used to develop projects and also digital services in a multidisciplinary framework to build a valuable product. To achieve the objective, short execution cycles are defined.
What is a sprint?
Sprint is called these cycles or iterations within the Scrum project. A time will be determined, which is usually a month or four weeks – but it could also last less – to have a work rhythm where progress can be reviewed. In the end, you will have the product, although on some occasions it can also be an improvement of an application that is already created.
For example, there is a product backlog, which is the customer’s requirements during the project’s time period where sprints can be carried out. For this, a structure is made where the design of the product is, how it is going to be implemented, the different tests that must be done to know that there are no errors.
If you have a project that lasts a year, it can be divided into twelve one-month sprints. There you will set goals for each of these cycles. If we take as an example the development of an application, the design can be part of a sprint, then it can be the main functionalities, then review the bugs and so on until the product is finished. Here it becomes clearer what a sprint is in scrum.
It all starts with the planning meeting, which is one of the most important stages as it defines the goal of the sprint. Everyone who is part of the Scrum team must be present there.
Here are two questions that need to be answered to get everything clear: what will be delivered? How will the work be done? By defining that, you can already start moving forward. But for this, some key roles must be clear.
- Product owner: He will be in charge of making the product more valuable with each sprint. He must clearly state the objective from the beginning so that everyone in the development team agrees. In addition, he will be clear about the client’s vision and what exactly they are looking for.
- Scrum Master: You must ensure that scrum practices are maintained following a value guideline within this multidisciplinary team. It will also help to provide autonomy and for each one to have their own organization . In addition, it must be in charge of erasing the problems that may appear along the way and that put the sprint at risk.
- Development team: Here is the group of workers who are part of making the product. They have their own organization and must always be available.
Meetings within a sprint
After the planning meeting , the development of the product or the client’s requirement begins. To maintain order during that month of work, a series of internal meetings are held.
There are daily meetings that are usually very short, such as a brief update that lasts a maximum of fifteen minutes. There, they analyze how the previous day went, to plan what will be done during that day and also in case there was any problem in the process.
While the sprint is developing, it is important that changes are not made along the way that could cause the objective to end up being another – that is why it is recommended that they have a maximum period of one month.
In addition, a quality standard must be ensured. The Product Owner will have to be very vigilant in case something needs to be adjusted in mid-air.
Then there is also a meeting to review the sprint, there it is seen if what was proposed has been achieved and also receive feedback. Here it is defined if the developed sprint is accepted or not.
It is analyzed if there were problems along the way and how they were solved. Finally, a retrospective meeting is held, after delivering the work, to find out how work has been done and if there is any process that can be optimized internally.
For example in sprint and scrum
Thinking in a practical way and to better understand what a sprint in scrum is like, we are going to provide an example. The client is a bank and makes a product backlog with several requirements that are planned to be worked on in six months.
In the planning meeting it is agreed that in the first month the design will be seen, in the second how interbank transfers will be made without any problem, in the third how the different products that a person can have within an application will be visualized.
In the fourth month, how to create a new account from the application , in the fifth the different ways to contact a bank agent and in the sixth month that there are no bugs and the application is ready to be released to the general public, with the added value that this means.
After reviewing what a sprint is in Scrum and providing an example, it is now clear that this month-long mini-project is a vital part of organizing a customer engagement. Are you ready to develop one?
