Do scrum sprints have to be in weeks?

Agile Scrum

Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Most sprints are between 2 and 4 weeks in length, and sometimes even one sprint per month. But can sprint length also be in days that don't fit neatly into weeks, for example, a 12 day sprint? Are there advantages/disadvantages to using custom days instead of weeks?

Posted: Jan 4, 2018 3:12 AM (Updated by author: Jan 4, 2018 6:14 AM)

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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jan 04, 2018 4:35 PM

Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD

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Thanks for your feedback Sergio. I had a look at the list. Just curious, which ones you didn't agree with in that list? For example, I don't agree with 15 and 17 on that list.

All you do into a process or method that belongs to estimation field (Sprints belongs to them) is composed by two principal components: time and information. That is because there is not a "receipt" you can use. The list is, in my personal opinion, the best checklist somebody (the author) has compiled from a lot of sites and papers created by people that is using in the practice. But sprints do not belong to Scrum only. Because it is an estimation you have to follow the same rules than into estimations.

Posted: Jan 4, 2018 4:50 PM

Drew Craig Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard Philadelphia, Pa, United States

Definitely a fine question to pose, but I'd say the fact typical sprints are of straight weekly increments in itself speaks to why they are not simply an arbitrary number of days.

Posted: Jan 4, 2018 5:33 PM

Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada

Jan 04, 2018 4:44 PM

Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD

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It's probably not Scrum in the strict sense?

Correct - the Scrum methodology requires sprints, but agile doesn't :-)

Kiron

Posted: Jan 5, 2018 7:47 AM

Peter Ambrosy Weinheim, Germany

Jan 04, 2018 4:25 PM

Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD

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Thanks Peter, yes teams decide their iteration length. Have you ever seen a sprint that isn't say 2, 3, 4 weeks or even one full month? So one that is an "unusual" number of days, such as 12?

Yes Sante, I have seen 2 and 4 weeks sprints. In SAP projects it is very common to be in sprints between 2-4 weeks. Have also a check on SAPActivate. The important points are:
(1) The scrum team decides the sprint lenght on good reasons, nobody else
(2) The sprint lenght should be constant but you can change, bit not frequently and not on a single occasion (there must be a common observed pattern behind the decision to change).
(3) You do not have to deliver all PBI in such sprint. You are committed to strive for it. It is a serious forecast, not a commitment.

Posted: Jan 5, 2018 9:08 AM

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Do scrum sprints have to be in weeks?

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