What’s Done Is Done: Sprints

  Estimating   Scrum   ProjectsAtWork  

In Scrum, a sprint is complete when its time-boxed duration is over, but what if the Product Owner hasn’t signed-off on all the user stories? Should a team get credit for partially completed stories? Can a sprint be extended if the team was “close”?

In the first installment of the “What’s Done Is Done” series, we talked about what “done” means in terms of User Stories for various stakeholders in an Agile project. There are two aspects of “done” that are of primary concern: Completion Criteria and Acceptance Criteria. For this article, we will explore what “done” means for iterations, commonly referred to as “sprints” in Scrum.

Sprint Planning takes the form of a meeting involving the Product Owner, Scrum Team and Scrum Master. The Product Owner discusses the current Product Backlog, with a focus on the top-priority User Stories. The conversation involves the Product Owner’s explanation of the Stories, including the Acceptance Criteria and the Scrum Team seeking clarification so that they may make informed choices with respect to estimating and what they will commit for the Sprint.

The Scrum Team then provides estimates for the Stories, often in terms of Story Points using Planning Poker, and will then commit to what they believe is within their capacity for the Sprint. The product of this …

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