Sprint
Also called iteration.
A fixed time box, one month or less and often two weeks, in which a team builds and shows a working piece of the product.
Last updated
What it is.
The Scrum Guide describes sprints as fixed-length events of one month or less, where a new sprint starts right after the last one ends. Each begins with planning, where the team picks work from the top of the backlog, and ends with a review of what was built and a retrospective on how it went.
The goal is a working, tested increment at the end of every sprint, not a pile of half-finished work. That is what the definition of done protects.
Why it matters
Short, regular cycles mean the buyer sees working software every couple of weeks and can change priorities based on it. Problems surface early. Over several sprints the team's velocity also becomes a useful guide for how much fits in the time left.
In a product build
Embedded engineers work inside the client's team, so they join the client's own sprints. On a product build, several sprints add up to one milestone.
Common mistakes.
- 01
Changing the sprint goal every few days, which turns sprints into a to-do list.
- 02
Ending sprints with work "almost done" and rolling it over every time.
- 03
Skipping the review, so the buyer never sees the product until late.
Read the official text.
Primary sources this definition is based on.
- The Scrum Guide (Schwaber and Sutherland, 2020)checked 2026-10-25
Work it out with a tool.
Related terms.
- Backlog (product backlog)The ordered list of everything still to be built or fixed in a product, with the most important work at the top.
- VelocityThe amount of finished work a team completes in a sprint, used to forecast how much fits in the time left.
- Definition of done (DoD)The shared checklist every piece of work must pass, such as tested, reviewed and deployed, before the team calls it finished.
- User storyA short description of a feature from the point of view of the person who needs it, and why they need it.
Guides and pages
Browse the full glossary or read answers to common questions.
