Sprint Work Items – Agile Scrum

In the Agile Development Methodology, sprint workflow acts as the backbone. Thus sprint plays a key role in delivering value to the customers. The Sprint work items are commonly referred to as Sprint Backlog. It is a dynamic and essential tool in Scrum development that helps in incremental and iterative development of the software model. Hence, it is essential to understand the concept of sprint backlog to enhance the success of the project. This article delves into the core concepts, in-depth functionality, and importance of sprint backlog in scrum product development.

What is a Sprint?

Sprint is one of the most fundamental concepts of Scrum methodology. In simplest words, “a sprint is a short and fixed time frame during which a specific set of tasks are meant to be performed”.

Following the concept of Agile, a project’s development is broken down into a certain number of sprints, each sprint lasting for a fixed duration of time. The expected duration of a sprint is 2 – 4 weeks. Every individual sprint has some set of goals and objectives that the team wants to accomplish by the end of each sprint. Usually, the end result of every sprint is a potentially shippable product increment.

What are Sprint Work Items?

In Simpler words, some sets of items/functionalities/user stories are picked up from the Product backlog by the Product Owner and Scrum Master before the start of each sprint. These items are cumulatively referred to as sprint work items or sprint backlog.

Before the start of every sprint, a Sprint Planning Meeting is scheduled. The agenda of planning meeting is to identify what set of items could be developed and delivered in the upcoming sprint. Thus, after every sprint planning meeting, a Sprint Backlog is created which contains a subset of items from the original Product Backlog that the team aims to achieve and develop in the current sprint.

These selected work items are written down on sticky notes which are followed by the individual members of the team during the entire sprint. To get an in-depth understanding about the creation of backlog in sprint, you can refer to the following article : How to Create Backlog in Agile?

A better understanding of sprint work items can be taken from the below diagrammatic representation:

Sprint Work Items

Here, 3 items are picked from the product backlog, but the team may pick as many items as they want according to their requirements and objectives. The criteria of picking the work items vary from organization to organization. Some may consider picking the highest priority functionalities first, while some may consider picking the smallest and easiest functionalities first. These picked items are targeted to be completed in the upcoming sprint by the development team.

Sprint Backlog vs Product Backlog

Factor	Sprint Backlog	Product Backlog
Definition	Sprint backlog includes a subset of work items which are picked from the product backlog by the scrum master.	The product backlog includes all the functionalities and user stories which are demanded by the stakeholders and clients.
Storage	Usually, the sprint backlog items are written on sticky notes so that individuals can refer to the to-do items.	The product backlog is stored in indexed list which contains items listed in ordered manner based on their priorities.
Adaptability	Until and unless its highly required, the sprint backlog does not allow any change in the work items.	Due to the flexible nature of product backlog, it is adaptable to change.
Change Authority	In case of forced changes, the sprint backlog change management is done by the development team.	As per the needs and demands of the stakeholders, the product owner can make amendments in the product backlog.
Duration	Sprint backlog usually lasts for 2 – 4 weeks as per the usual duration of the sprint.	Product backlog lasts throughout the entire duration of the product development life cycle.
Scope of Operation	Mostly, the sprint backlog focuses upon the smaller subtasks.	Product backlog focuses on high level details of the product.

Importance of Sprint Backlog

The concept of sprint backlog is very crucial for product development. The most fundamental and potentially the biggest advantage of sprint backlog is that it provides transparency in each and every phase of the product development. This is because every individual is responsible for his/her performance and delivering the results as per commitments.

Alongside this, a structured and well organized sprint backlog helps the individuals to track their progress throughout the sprint. However, its the product owner who monitors the overall progress of the sprints using sprint backlog. Hence, the principles of agile and scrum are ensured to hold. It also enables the team to evaluate and identify the set of risks that were encountered in the previous sprints. It is essential to handle any potential threats because these risks may get bigger in the upcoming sprints. The team carries out the evaluation process through continuous feedback with clients and following good development practices.

At last, because of the transparent procedure of backlog items and sprint process, it gets easier for the product owner to estimate the completion of individual subtasks and track the progress as per deadlines. Due to this transparency, the clients and stakeholders get continuous feedback with regards to the development progress of the product.

Conclusion

To summarize the concept of sprint backlog, It acts as the backbone of the scrum methodology which plays a key role in delivering value to the customer. The sprint backlog helps the individuals to track their progress throughout the sprint subtasks by analyzing the to-do list. The sprint items are written on sticky notes which can be manually checked by the individual members to evaluate their progress. It also enables the team to evaluate and identify the set of risks that were encountered in the previous sprints. Alongside this, the sprint work items provide transparency in the entire development life cycle. Hence, it is crucial to understand the selection of work items so as to enhance the success of the project.