The Quest for the Perfect Sprint Length: Lessons Learned from Experimentation
The ideal sprint length has long been a topic of debate, with many companies adopting a biweekly cadence without considering the unique needs of their teams. As someone who’s experimented with various sprint lengths throughout my career, I’ve come to realize that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. In this article, I’ll share my experiences and the key takeaways from my experiments, in the hopes of inspiring you to find the perfect sprint length for your team.
The Standard Two-Week Sprint
Most companies operate on a biweekly sprint basis, which aims to balance the overhead of regular scrum ceremonies with providing the team enough focused time without compromising planning flexibility. While this approach works in many cases, I’ve noticed some recurring patterns:
- Balanced overhead: Biweekly sprints do provide a good balance between meeting frequency and focused work time.
- Struggles in a dynamic environment: Two weeks can be a long time in a rapidly changing environment, leading to re-planning and added overhead.
- Unfocused sprint goals: Larger teams may struggle to achieve a single objective within a two-week sprint, leading to a lack of focus.
- Delayed learning: Biweekly retrospectives can lead to delayed learning and a “let’s cover it on retro” mindset.
One-Week Sprints: The Promise of Faster Learning
Weekly sprints offer the promise of faster learning and iterations, making them an attractive option for new teams. However, my experiments revealed some unexpected challenges:
- Faster learning doesn’t always work as expected: Weekly retrospectives can be shallow and lack depth, leading to a lack of meaningful insights.
- Planning and estimating become more accurate: Weekly sprints do provide more accurate planning and estimating, but at the cost of increased overhead.
- Small issues can cause big problems: Weekly sprints are more susceptible to disruptions, making it challenging to achieve sprint goals.
- More stress: The weekly cadence can be stressful, with a constant need to plan and review.
One-Day Sprints: The Ultimate Experiment
I also experimented with one-day sprints, which were both exhilarating and challenging. Here’s what I learned:
- Ceremonies get skipped: Daily retrospectives can be skipped or become irregular, leading to a lack of meaningful insights.
- Many improvements equal shallow improvements: Daily retrospectives can lead to a focus on minor improvements rather than tackling bigger issues.
- ‘Ready for QA’ becomes the mantra: Daily sprints can lead to a focus on getting tickets ready for QA, rather than achieving meaningful progress.
- Cycle time is optimized: Daily sprints do force teams to optimize their processes, leading to a more disciplined culture.
Three-Week Sprints: Finding the Sweet Spot
In a corporate setup with a clear scope for several months ahead, I experimented with three-week sprints. Here’s what I learned:
- Infrequent retros speed up learning: Less frequent retrospectives can lead to a faster learning cycle, as teams are more likely to address issues promptly.
- More focus comes at a cost: Three-week sprints can provide more focus, but at the cost of less frequent planning and refinement sessions.
- Predictability is critical: Three-week sprints work well with a stable roadmap, but can be challenging when the roadmap shifts.
Lessons Learned
Each experiment provided unique insights, which can be summarized into two general buckets:
- Factors that influence optimal sprint length: Cycle time and predictability are the most critical factors in determining the optimal sprint length.
- It’s OK to break the rules: Don’t be afraid to experiment and break the rules if needed. Focus on what works best for your team, rather than adhering to traditional Scrum principles.
Closing Thoughts
Sprint length is more than just the frequency of ceremonies. Each experiment led to learnings that were applicable regardless of length, and I encourage you to experiment and find a rhythm that works for you. Observe your cycle time and predictability to assess whether you’re in the right spot or need a change. Don’t be afraid to adapt your sprint length depending on the current circumstances, and remember that it’s okay to break the rules if needed.