Sprint
A sprint is a short, fixed-length, repeated period of time, usually one to four weeks, during which a Scrum team builds a usable, potentially shippable increment of the product. Sprints run back-to-back: the moment one ends, the next begins.
A sprint is best thought of as a heartbeat. Its fixed length creates a steady rhythm the team can plan and improve against, and it forces work to be sliced small enough to finish something real in every beat.
Also known as
Don't confuse with
- A sprint (a time-box) vs Agile or a methodology (an approach). “We use sprints” describes a practice, not a methodology. See the process ladder.
- A sprint vs a deadline crunch. Despite the name, a sprint is meant to run at a sustainable pace (Agile principle 8), not an all-out rush.
Key properties
- Fixed length (“time-boxed”). One month or less; most teams pick two weeks. Crucially, the length stays constant sprint to sprint. That consistency is what makes estimation and improvement possible.
- Produces an increment. Every sprint must end with something that meets the team’s Definition of Done and could, in principle, be released.
- Protected scope. No changes are made that endanger the Sprint Goal; the backlog may be clarified, but the team isn’t yanked onto unrelated work mid-sprint.
- Contains the other events. Sprint planning, the Daily Scrum, the Sprint review, and the retrospective all happen within it.
In plain English
Pick a small, fixed chunk of time. Commit to finishing a usable slice of the product in it. Show it, learn from it, and start the next chunk. Same length every time.
Why fixed length matters
Because every sprint is the same duration, the team can measure how much it reliably completes per sprint, its velocity, and use that to forecast. Variable-length “sprints” (or moving the end date to cram work in) break this and are a common anti-pattern.
See also
- Scrum: the framework sprints belong to
- Kanban: the flow-based alternative with no sprints
- Agile software development
References
- K. Schwaber & J. Sutherland, The Scrum Guide (2020), “The Sprint.” https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html