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sprint 0 exists?

Last post 08:25 am May 24, 2019 by Sander Dur
6 replies
03:39 pm May 23, 2019

is there something call sprint 0? if it exists, what the production owner and scrum master do during this sprint? I cannot find it on guide, can anyone please advise?

thank you


05:34 pm May 23, 2019

is there something call sprint 0?...I cannot find it on guide

You may have answered your own question here.  What's the definition of a sprint according to the Scrum Guide?

It's true that scrum teams often require some time before sprint 1 to set team norms and expectation, or to brainstorm the initial product backlog.  This sometimes gets mislabeled as Sprint 0, but I'd challenge you to question whether it's really a sprint, or if it's just planning.

During this "sprint 0" are you creating a MVP or completing work on features?


05:59 pm May 23, 2019

07:48 pm May 23, 2019

Sprint 0 has always been a mystery to me.  Turn that phrase around.  "We are in our 0th sprint" or "This is our 0th sprint as a team."  Does that really indicate that you are doing a Sprint with the goal of delivering a potentially releasable increment of value?

Yes, every Scrum Team that is forming needs some time to build the basis of a team and even to do a bit of refinement on whatever they might have in their Product Backlog.  But call it what it is. It is team building and refinement.  And as for a Sprint 0 introduced after 12 sprints in order to learn more about a new feature that the team is going to switch to working on, that is not a Sprint 0,  It is just the next sprint.  As for the "learning", all of that should be done via refinement.  If they still do not feel they know enough, then I am going to bet that there are some technical debt items that can be worked while they continue their refinement.  Solving technical debt does provide value and is usually neglected way to long. 

I always ask this question of people that talk about having Sprint 0.

If you don't have enough time during Sprint 0 to do everything you wanted, are you then going to have a Sprint 0.1 and so forth until you do get to the point where you feel you can start Sprint 1?


08:29 pm May 23, 2019

The toxicity of a "Sprint Zero" doesn't lie in the fact that set-up work is being undertaken. Rather, it's the lack of validation and empirical control. 

I like that description

What would be the minimal set up to start a sprint? People and a Vision?


07:52 am May 24, 2019

I would only use a sprint 0 if my team was nerdy enough to start counting at 0. Just to make fun of it. Whenever and wherever you start, your fist sprint is your fist sprint. It's like what my mother used to say about pancakes, the first one is always a fuck up.


08:25 am May 24, 2019

What would be the minimal set up to start a sprint? People and a Vision?

The absolute minimun, yes. A first sprint goal can be derived from the vision,  in the first Sprint Planning maybe invite the customer and collaboratively create a  first set of Backlog Items that can be turned into value. Start working from there, taking into account the unavailability of information.


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