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Clarification of Sprint backlog items statement

Last post 04:31 pm February 27, 2017 by Swati Saptarshi
2 replies
Manikanth Kambhampati
07:41 pm February 24, 2017

The Sprint Backlog items and the Sprint Goal do not change after the Sprint Planning and the Development Team will focus on delivering an Increment of “Done” based on this plan.

Is the above statement correct? Does the sprint backlog items never change, what if the PO recognizes that one of the PB items is obsolete? Will the development team discard the changes that were made based on that obsolete item? doesn't it mean that sprint backlog items can be changed?

Ian Mitchell
08:56 pm February 24, 2017

The Sprint Backlog is a forecast of the work the Development Team believe they must do to achieve the Sprint Goal. That forecast may be revised by the team in order to better meet the Goal.

Although the Sprint Backlog is wholly owned by the Development Team and no-one else can change it - not even the PO - it is never frozen.

Swati Saptarshi
09:44 am February 27, 2017

This is explicitly stated on page 15 of the scrum guide.

"The development team modifies the sprint backlog throughout the sprint, and the sprint backlog emerges during the sprint".

As we work through the SB, we learn more and adjust it as required. The SB can evolve and is flexible. What isnt flexible is the Sprint Goal. We should make sure that nothing puts the goal in danger. 

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