Focus the use of Scrum on driving toward goals
Scrum encourages a Scrum Team to obtain early feedback and inspect their plan as needed toward the Product Goal, which is a goal that is ultimately focused on improving customer outcomes and increasing value. Goals are a mechanism that empower teams and increase their ability to self-manage if they have the autonomy to pursue them.
The Scrum Master helps the team ensure that there are clear goals they work toward. If needed, they can assist the Product Owner define effective Product Goals and also help the Scrum Team with crafting a clear Sprint Goal each Sprint.
Often, teams struggle with creating Product and Sprint Goals. Here are some techniques on how you as a Scrum Master can support a Scrum Team who is struggling to set goals.
Product Goal
The Product Goal was introduced in the Scrum Guide 2020 with the purpose to ensure people are using Scrum to be effective, to actually deliver something valuable versus just doing Scrum.
Struggling to identify a Product Goal?
When needed, help the Product Owner with identifying a Product Goal by facilitating interactions with stakeholders, including real users and customers to understand their needs. These conversations can reveal user habits and their desired outcomes with using the product.
Struggling to craft a Product Goal?
If the Product Owner needs help crafting a Product Goal, introduce techniques such as the Lean UX Canvas, Business Model Canvas, and Value Proposition Canvas. These tools ask powerful open-ended questions which help refine ideas into goals and experiments.
Sprint Goal
The purpose of the Sprint Goal is to create shared understanding, unity, focus and encourage the Scrum Team to collaborate on working toward the Product Goal. However, Scrum Teams sometimes fall into the habit of crafting their Sprint Goal as a list of individual Product Backlog Items that needs to be achieved in a Sprint, which actually discourages team collaboration because everyone in the team tends to select different individual Product Backlog Items to work on during the Sprint.
Struggling to craft a clear Sprint Goal?
If a Scrum Team struggles with crafting a clear Sprint Goal, you can help by asking open-ended questions such as:
- If this was our very last Sprint, what is the one outcome we would like to achieve?
- If we would run out of time this Sprint, what would be the one objective we would swarm on as a team?
- What is the worst outcome we could focus on this Sprint? Now, conversely, let’s come up with the best way we can spend our time this Sprint.
These types of questions help everyone participate in creating focus for the Sprint. Don’t forget to remind the team of the purpose: delivering value!
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