I had a conversation a month ago about the perfect sprint size for delivery.
One — there is no perfect size, or one-size-fits-all, there is what works for you and your team.
But the discussion turned to — “Could we do it in one week?”
Could we do a sprint in one week that actually delivered value for the group?
The answer is yes, but here is what you need to do to make it work.
How to Run a One-Week Sprint
- Work to be done needs to be defined — all the wishy, washy questions have to be answered, and requirements must be known.
- Tasks must be quantified — developers need to have put thought into their estimates so they give themselves enough time to get work done.
- Half-way Check-In — if people know their work, and know when it needs to be done by, do you really need to check in with them daily? Probably not, so dial back the daily standups to 1 or 2 per week to see how the team is doing.
- Trust — the amount of check-ins (see #3) has to drop, your team signed off on their work, so let them work.
- Last Day Delivery — it all ships on the last day, there is no, this is ready on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you start doing mini-milestones, people start coding to those milestones and meetings…
