Does life ever feel like a hack rather than on purpose?
You want your life to have meaning and impact. Daily life is made up of the spaces we gather and the moments we interact with one another.
What if your spaces, moments, and interactions not only felt natural and intuitive but also aligned with your priorities and positively impacted those around you?
Discover your Everyday Design so you can focus on what’s important.
Leaning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are many new terms and concepts in Scrum. The sprint is one of those terms, and you may be wondering:
What is a sprint, and how is it used in Scrum?
The recent increased popularity of design sprints has added confusion about how they are similar or different. I’ll walk through both what a sprint is and why it matters to your team.
What is a sprint?
Let’s begin by looking at the definition of a sprint.
What makes up a sprint?
A sprint is the basic unit of time in Scrum, and Scrum has a distinct rhythm and cadence that is structured around the sprint.
I like to think of Scrum as a relay race, with each sprint being a lap. The Scrum team hands off the “baton” of finished work to itself in the next sprint (that’s where the analogy starts to break down a bit).
The sprint serves as a boundary to focus the team. At the beginning of the sprint, they set a goal and select what work they will complete by the end of the sprint. This selected work receives all their attention, and no new work comes to the team during this protected time.
A sprint defines the scope of a team's attention for a period of time.
All the events in Scrum are contained within the sprint. Take a look at this graphic to see how all the events fall within the sprint.

The sprint in Scrum has a consistent length with a defined beginning and end. Once one sprint ends, the next begins without a gap in between.
The length of a sprint is usually one or two weeks, though I’ve been on teams with a three-week sprint. Beyond three weeks, the sprint loses its effectiveness because people no longer feel the cadence.
How is it different than a design sprint?
Design sprints have become increasingly popular over the years. And rightly so, they’re very effective at focusing a team on solving a problem and quickly iterating to a testable version of their idea.
A design sprint and a scrum sprint share names and some common features, but they are also distinct.
Similarities
- Usually one week in length.
- Provides focus for the team.
- Have prescribed events during the sprint.
Differences
- Scrum sprints fit in a larger framework.
- Scrum teams are consistent over time, whereas design sprint teams may exist only for the sprint.
- The events that make up the sprint are different for each.
As you can see, they have a lot in common. You can even combine the concepts by using a design sprint approach during a scrum sprint. Next, let’s look at what you would want to use sprints.
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It’s easy to feel stuck or have an obstacle and not be sure how to begin to overcome it. I can lead your team through workshops for discovery, ideation, problem-solving, and solution testing.
Why is a sprint important?
The cadence of a sprint can take a little getting used to for a team, but the benefits are well worth it, and I’ve never been on a team that wanted to go back after trying it for a few iterations.
How a sprint keeps your team focused.
Our world continues to get faster, more complex and more unpredictable. In this environment, we need clarity and focus to make progress. Sprints help teams focus by providing a boundary of time with a clear outcome.
When the sprint begins, the product owner casts a vision for the sprint by setting the sprint goal. Then the scrum team collaborates to select work from the top of the backlog that they will commit to completing by the end of the sprint.
During the sprint, the team will work on what they selected and only what they selected. The sprint is a safe block of time where the team is protected from distraction and competing priorities. The sprint defines the scope of a team's attention for a period of time.
How to choose the length of your sprint
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all for the length of your sprint in Scrum. One week is the most typical sprint length and beyond three weeks is uncommon.
Several factors influence the best sprint length for your situation.
- Team: Do you have a brand new team? I’d suggest maybe a two-week sprint. One week would likely feel too fast as they are learning the system, and three weeks would take a long time to feel like much of a rhythm.
- Environment: How stable is your environment? Are priorities changing daily? If you’re in the middle of a global pandemic, you want to shorten your sprint to one week. Anything longer than that and information, requirements, and requests have changed mid-sprint.
- Nature of the work: Some work is easier to break down than others. Web design is more suited to short sprints than video production. Although I often find that once the development team gets into their rhythm, they see how to break down their tasks more effectively. Then they can more easily work in the shorter sprints.
In the end, I suggest choosing one or two weeks. The great thing about Scrum is that you'll run a retrospective at the end of each sprint and evaluate what’s working and what’s not. If the current sprint length is too long or too short, you can evaluate and adapt as you go along. You don’t have to get it perfect the first time.
Next Steps
There are a lot of new terms when learning the Scrum essentials, and I hope this post helped clear up some of the vocabulary around sprints. If you want to learn more about Scrum in general, check out my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
Still not sure about your next step with Scrum? I offer a couple of free coaching sessions each month. You can signup for a free 1-hour coaching session, and we can work together to identify a good next step for you.
Does life ever feel like a hack rather than on purpose?
You want your life to have meaning and impact. Daily life is made up of the spaces we gather and the moments we interact with one another.
What if your spaces, moments, and interactions not only felt natural and intuitive but also aligned with your priorities and positively impacted those around you?
Discover your Everyday Design so you can focus on what’s important.
This post is part of an upcoming guide called Everyday Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum where I will explore and explain the key elements of Scrum.
Perhaps you have heard about Scrum but are not exactly sure what it is. Or maybe you know some about it but are not sure how to apply it, especially outside a software development context.
You find my my current and future guides on everyday.design. Signup to be the first to know when new guides are released.
There are a lot of new terms when learning the Scrum essentials, and this post probably introduced you to some of the vocabulary.
If you want to learn more about specific Scrum topics, here are a few to choose from or check out the scrum FAQs.
Applying Scrum
- How do I keep my team focused on the right work?
- What to do when projects change?
- Getting work done as a team
- How to change direction after investing effort?
Agile in Everyday Life
- Can I use Scrum for non-software development projects?
- Scrum for marketing
- Scrum for creative design
- Scrum in content creation
- Scrum in personal development
- Scrum in education
- Scrum in everyday home projects
Scrum Roles
- What is a Scrum Product Owner?
- What does a Product Owner do each day?
- Getting Certified as a Product Owner
- What is a Scrum Master?
- What does a Scrum Master do each day?
- Getting Certified as a Scrum Master
- Can The Scrum Master And Product Owner Be The Same Person
- How Is A Scrum Master Different Than A Project Manager?
Scrum Meetings
- How to do a standup/check-in?
- How to do sprint planning in Scrum?
- How does backlog refinement work in Scrum?
- What is a sprint review in Scrum?
- How to conduct a retrospective in Scrum?
Scrum General Topics
- Why Use Scrum?
- What Is The Definition Of Scrum?
- What Are The Pros & Cons Of Scrum?
- Scrum: Expectations Vs. Reality
- Is Scrum Hard To Learn?
- How To Align The Scrum Values With Your Organizational Culture
- What's the difference between iterative and incremental development?
- What Is The Definition Of Done In Scrum?
Scrum Advanced Topics
- Learn To Forecast Progress In Scrum
- What If I Don't Have All The Roles In Scrum?
- Scaling Using SAFe
- Cost Estimation
To learn more about Scrum, check out my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
FAQs
Scrum elements
What is the definition of done?
Criteria shared by a Scrum team for what constitutes done.
The definition of done is a list of what must be true to consider a PBI done. The whole team creates and agrees to what is in the definition of done and is updated as needed for the team to function effectively.
Learn to use the definition of done and explore acceptance criteria vs definition of done.
What is the increment in scrum?
The increment is the new functionality or value delivered at the end of a sprint.
It is the next complete piece added to build the product. The increment is complete in the sense that it should be ready to release to the end-user even if the team chooses to wait.
Learn more about incremental and iterative development or explore the essential Scrum glossary.
What is Scrum?
What is the definition of scrum?
Scrum is a team-based framework to increase work visibility allowing for regular evaluation and timely adjustments.
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars leading teams to ask the following questions:
- How does this make things more visible? (Transparency)
- Where does this create space to evaluate? (Inspection)
- When does this encourage growth? (Adaptation)
Further explore the definition of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is Scrum hard to learn?
The typical response is Scrum is easy to understand but hard to practice.
This is because Scrum’s simplicity makes learning easy, but Scrum truly changes how you work, and that adjustment can be difficult. It changes power dynamics and expectations within the team and between the team and the rest of the organization.
You can explore further is Scrum hard to learn, along with the pros and cons of Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When did Scrum start?
The term was first used in project management in 1986 but the first Scrum project wasn't until 1993.
Scrum was initially used as a term related to project management in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their paper “New New Product Development Game” In the Harvard Business Review. The first recorded Scrum project came a little later in 1993 from Jeff Sutherland.
You can learn more about Scrum’s backstory. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What do all the scrum words mean?
There are many, check the glossary.
Learning Scrum for the first time can be overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum. I’ve listed the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
Scrum design
What are the three pillars of Scrum?
Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation.
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars, and each leads the team to ask a critical question.
- Transparency. How does this make things more visible?
- Inspection. Where does this create space to evaluate?
- Adaptation. When does this encourage growth?
Learn how to apply the three pillars of Scrum and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What are the values of Scrum?
Commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect.
There are five values critical to the practice of Scrum: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.
- Commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
- Courage to do the right thing and work on challenging problems.
- Focus on the Sprint's work and the Scrum Team's goals.
- Open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
- Respect each other to be capable, independent people
Learn how to align Scrum values with your organization and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What is the sprint goal in scrum?
A vision and theme to guide the sprint.
The sprint goal encapsulates the product owner’s vision into a concrete statement for the development team to measure the sprint against. The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together.
Learn more about the role of the sprint goal in scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.
How to use Scrum
Why use Scrum?
Scrum is vital for teams to deliver value amidst changing circumstances.
It forces clarity and prioritization, which provides the focus necessary for teams to be effective. Scrum embraces complexity and change by keeping many things simple and iteratively evaluating and adapting.
You can learn more about why to use Scrum and three challenges Scrum solves. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When does Scrum not work well?
Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values.
Scrum isn’t always the best option for teams. Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values. It also depends on the nature of the work you do. If you work if very linear, predictable and tightly defined, you may not experience many benefits Scrum provides.
Find out more about aligning your organizational values with Scrum or how Scrum might fit in your context. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How do I know when to use Scrum?
When you have a dedicated team, a singular product and are facing uncertainty.
Scrum functions at its best when you have a dedicated team focused on developing a singular product. Its agility shines when there are time constraints combined with uncertainty.
Explore the pros and cons of Scrum along with expectations vs. realities with Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.