Working in sprint is widely used in software projects and new product development projects. The term sprint derives from Scrum and other agile methods.

Working in sprint means working in limited time intervals also called timeboxing, typically from a few weeks up to a month. During this time, it has been agreed to develop certain deliveries. It is basically a mini project. Once the agreed deliveries are established, the next sprint is planned.

Sprint is a more flexible way to execute your projects, as they are divided into small chunks. It is called agile project management because the project can be adjusted after each sprint. But the individual sprint is locked in terms of deadline, deliveries and resource use.

What is a sprint?

In recent years, various agile approach has have been developed which focus on value creation, time compliance through iterative work processes and self-organization. One of these methods is Scrum, which is based on the following 6 principles:

• Empirical process control in the team
• Self-organization in the team
• Cooperation
• Value-based prioritization of tasks
• Sprint or timeboxing (fixed deadlines)
• Iterative development (quick feedback and short learning loops)

A key idea is short feedback loops, so that learning is created quickly and new knowledge can be quickly used in the project. The working method is based on two essential prerequisites.

Greater freedom for the team in the individual sprint

• The project team has the freedom to solve the tasks the way they think fit best.
• The project team can organize their own work
• The team decides for themselves how they will respond to feedback 

Tight conditions for the sprint

• Fixed deadlines. Timeboxe of one month
• No changes in deliveries (scope) during a sprint
• Structured feedback daily and weekly.
• A sprint is a limited time period. During this period, a number of tasks must be solved by a well-defined group of people.

The people who are going to solve the tasks are planning which tasks to solve. In this way, it becomes as realistic as possible that the tasks can be achieved within the sprint period.

How long a sprint should last varies from team to team and from project to project. A good starting point is between 2 and 5 weeks.

Why work in sprints?

The agile approach is used in projects of high uncertainty where fast learning is essential. However, the principle can also be used in more traditional projects between two milestones. If the time period is long, the period can be divided into several sprints, each ending with a well-defined partial result of the subsequent milestone.

The reason why it might be a good idea to work in sprint is because it makes the whole project more agile. When the project is divided into small chunks in this way, it is easier to stop and change the long-term plans.

The small “chunks” or iterations should be able to stand alone. This means that in every sprint, deliverables in itself creates value for the company. In practice, this means that some value is continuously delivered to the company from the project participants.

This is in contrast to the completion of a large project of 6 months, after which you deliver the finished product. It is not that simple to stop in the middle of the 6 month project and change its plans.

Another reason why sprint is a good solution is that it creates motivation in the team. The team always has a deadline that is in the foreseeable future. They are constantly allowed to deliver a finished product rather than work for 6 months before they can see the results. It gives a sense of constant progress and flow in the project and it is nice for the participants.

How is work done in a sprint?

The work in sprint is based on three cornerstones:

• 5 key actions in the team
• 5 roles to be performed
• 5 mandatory rules

The 5 key actions of the sprint

In order to ensure a good process and a good quality in the deliveries, 5 key actions are performed in the course of the sprint.

1. The sprint is planned in the team using visual planning.
2. Every single day, there is a short follow-up to the plan in the team.
3. Weekly there is feedback regarding the solution.
4. Every week planning for next week’s work is done.
5. At the end of the sprint, the solution is reviewed.

5 roles that are important for the execution of a sprint

In Scrum, which is one of the agile methods, the sprint is carried out with three roles: 1: The Scrum Master or the team leader is a facilitator who must ensure that everything goes as planned. 2: The Scrum Team are the people who do the work and ensure that the agreed tasks are solved within the planned sprint. This will often be developers, designers and testers, etc. 3: Finally, there is the Product Owner who is a representative of the company. which focuses on the business perspective of the project.

In other agile methods such as Half Double, sprinting is performed with 5 roles. This is also done in those projects where sprint is used as part of an overall project plan. The five sprint roles are in these cases:

1. Team leader similar to Scrum Master
2. The project team corresponding to the Scrum team
3. Internal customer or project owner similar to product owner. If the sprint is part of a large project, this may be the overall project manager
4. Key people with the right knowledge who can make weekly feedback on technical and user solutions
5. Manager responsible for subsequent operations. It can be the same person as the project owner, but it doesn’t have to be.

The 5 essential rules in sprint execution

When reading about new ways of working or concepts and hearing about all their excellence, you should always be aware that these concepts work well under some well-defined conditions. If these conditions are not met, you can’t be sure that the well-documented impact will be the result.

For sprint work:

1. The team delivers a complete solution at the end of the sprint. A solution is something that can be used directly as part of the subsequent project process, can be sold or communicated to others.
2. Team members must be allocated more than 50% of their time on the project throughout the sprint.
3. No interruptions during the sprint – during the sprint the deliverables (scope) is locked.
4. The project participants are co-located or have tested and working video / www collaboration tools available.
5. Sprint deliverables are approved directly by project owners and reviews are done at the end of each month.