How does your team approach sprint goals?

I think whatever works for you; what I tend to go with is seeing the Sprint Goal as something we approach iteratively and by negotiation in planning. Which means:

– the PO has a proposed Goal and some Product Backlog Items to meet it
– those PBIs have been refined including the team so it’s not a surprise
– the team inspect and adapt – maybe taking some things out of a PBI, if they are not needed
– the Sprint Goal might also get modified in this process

That said, to me the key thing is not *how* you come up with the Sprint Goal, but that it actually matches the outcomes we want

– it clearly communicates to everyone why that Sprint is valuable
– it is a stepping stone towards the overall Product Goal

That is to say it’s connecting the work done in the Sprint to the overall *strategic* direction your Product is taking, and why. That implies (for a start) that you have a product strategy.

Even better if you are *quantifying* the value and saying how it will be measured; then you have a real target that facilitates further inspection and adaption of the Sprint Plan as you go.

In terms of quantifying, I use the 7 benefits (if I can)

– saves time (ie faster customer outcome)
– saves money (reduces customer costs)
– makes money (increases customer revenue)
– increased durability (extending product/asset lifetime)
– comfort or convenience (reduces waste-of-motion)
– increased safety or reduced (business) risk
– ego/prestige increase (brand value, investment of time/money by others)

That means a goal that is expressed as feature, advantage, benefit:

We added X, which uses technology Y, to produced outcome Z…