Every Sprint in Scrum should have a Sprint Goal that results in a Product Increment that is a stepping stone towards accomplishing a longer-term Product Goal and vision. A team should not be working on random things in a Sprint, but rather on a cohesive set of items that deliver value to the customer.
What is a Sprint Goal?
The Sprint Goal is the single objective for the Sprint. Although the Sprint Goal is a commitment by the Developers, it provides flexibility in terms of the exact work needed to achieve it. The Sprint Goal also creates coherence and focus, encouraging the Scrum Team to work together rather than on separate initiatives.
The Sprint Goal is created during the Sprint Planning event and then added to the Sprint Backlog. As the Developers work during the Sprint, they keep the Sprint Goal in mind. If the work turns out to be different than they expected, they collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the scope of the Sprint Backlog within the Sprint without affecting the Sprint Goal.
The 2020 Scrum Guide
Why is it important to have a Sprint Goal?
Establishing a well-crafted Sprint Goal is crucial to provide guidance and focus to the team. It helps the team understand why the Sprint is important, keeps everyone focused on the customer and what the customer values, helps in prioritizing the work in the Sprint, and ensures that the team is working collaboratively instead of on random separate initiatives.
All the Scrum events revolve around the Sprint Goal:
Sprint – The objective of the Sprint is to deliver on the Sprint Goal by producing a quality useful product increment that brings the team a step closer to achieving the Product Goal.
Sprint Planning – The objective of Sprint planning is to create a plan for the Sprint that helps the team achieve the Sprint Goal. The output of Sprint Planning is a Sprint Backlog consisting of a Sprint Goal, a cohesive set of Product Backlog Items that help accomplish the Sprint Goal, and the tasks or activities needed to build and deliver the PBIs and deliver on the Sprint Goal. Once the Sprint starts, only changes that help achieve the Sprint Goal can be added to the Sprint. All other changes that might endanger the Sprint Goal are added to the Product Backlog and planned for future Sprints instead of directly introduced to the current Sprint.
Daily Scrum – The objective of the The Daily Scrum is for the developers to inspect their progress towards the Sprint Goal and update the Sprint Backlog as necessary in order to ensure that they will accomplish the Sprint Goal.
Sprint Review – The objective of the Sprint review is for the Scrum team to collaborate with the stakeholders on how to improve the product by inspecting the progress made towards the Product Goal based on what the team was able to accomplish during the Sprint in terms of building the Product Increment that achieving on the Sprint Goal. The Product Backlog is adjusted accordingly and initial discussions on future Sprint Goals are clarified.
Sprint Retrospective – The objective of the Sprint Retrospective is for the Scrum team to discuss process improvements with the key questions being: “Were we able to deliver on the Sprint Goal and produce a valuable, usable, quality Product Increment?” If not, then what process improvement initiatives should the team take on in order to be able to do that in future Sprints.
The Sprint Goal is what the team is focused on delivering in the Sprint. The team might have other things to do besides the Sprint Goal, but the Sprint Goal is what the team commits to accomplishing in the Sprint. With a Sprint Goal, a Sprint is no longer about following a plan, but about producing a desired customer outcome and adjusting the plan to meet that outcome.