It is said that Developers are committed to the Sprint Goal and flexible about the scope of the Sprint, I mean the selected Product Backlog Items.
But what does it mean? Let me explain it with an example.
Imagine you’re walking down the street when, out of nowhere, you run into one of your primary school classmates—someone you haven’t seen in twenty years.
You’re both overjoyed. Your friend then suggests a great idea: why not invite the whole class to meet each other after two decades?
You immediately think of a fantastic downtown restaurant and suggest it as the perfect venue. After this nice idea, you find all your classmates and invite them to the reunion next month.
The following month, you all gather at a spot near the restaurant. Together, you start walking toward it. But when you arrive, you find the place closed—a sign on the door says they are renovating and won’t reopen for another two weeks.
So, what do you do in this case? Do you cancel your reunion? Absolutely Not.
The very natural decision is that you go to another restaurant in that area. Why? Because your goal was to have that reunion after twenty years, not going to that specific restaurant.
In this example, your Sprint Goal was your reunion, but going to that specific restaurant was the scope of your Sprint.
When the scope didn’t support you in achieving the Sprint Goal, you simply decided to change it, and this is the real meaning of flexibility about the scope.
So, now you understand what it means when it is said that Developers are committed to the Sprint Goal and flexible about the scope of the Sprint.
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