“Preparation plus timing equal to success. If you are prepared when your timing comes, you will be successful.”
The lack of understanding of the right concept of sprint zero has led many projects to dangerous consequences. Many consider sprint zero as a phase where a team is put together, setting an infrastructure, or a period to add a product to the backlog and timing to consider planning. This concept about sprint zero generally creates an understanding that the sprint is possible to run that doesn’t produce incremental products. But the sprint goal is always to produce a done increment product.
We all know the widely spread benefits of agile. In short, they can be explained as improved product quality, highly satisfied customers, and better grip on product development, decreased risks, and better returns on investments. When it comes to agile sprints are the most important part of the agile system. It divides the development processes into small and easily completed specific parts. It’s easy to understand sprint and work on it but when it comes to zero sprint many managers and executives get confused with the concept's real idea.
The sprint zero is many times considered as the project before the project. In actuality, zero sprints are the pre sprint operations. To carry out zero sprints there are not any guidelines or content provided to follow for zero sprints in agile. That is the reason it is the most misunderstood concept in agile. Sprint zero includes completion of all the necessary and basic tasks required to start a project as creating a list of prioritizing stories and estimating features, articulating a release plan, aligning features and sprints, curating application architecture, and explaining steps to team members for team’s implementation of change etcetera.
Why Integrate Zero Sprint in Agile Businesses?
There are various opinions on integrating sprint zero in agile. But in fact, we cannot deny the benefits it provides to the business. It aims to deliver value in a prompt iterations cycle hence simplifying complex processes.
Every business and project has a starting point that requires some basic setup. In an agile sprint, zero provides this basic setup. These setups include the formation of expectations, and objectives, also resource planning, and much more.
Sprint zero utilizes specialist, even though they require resource and time the outcome sprint zero provides outweigh the cost and time it used.
The advantages sprint zero provides an agile are
It releases the design burden by providing time to designers for brainstorming and creative works.
It helps in an agile scrum to slice and prioritize the project way, preparing the workflow.
It provides the best time for hiring new joinee where an organization can evaluate their thinking capability and intuitiveness.
It helps managers to decide sprint durations, and other related details for the basic formation of sprint and provides time to answer various queries in it.
When to use Sprint Zero in Agile?
The best scenarios in agile where sprint zero can be fitted are
The possibilities like, the development team needs to provide additional testing to select the appropriate ones, etcetera.
The scenarios in which team members are confused about the result of the solution they are providing.
When a team is confused and lost in how to address the problem
When team members need to complete the preliminary work before estimating user stories.
Steps to use Sprint Zero in Agile/Scrum
Finalization of Items
This step starts so early even before team formation so in this first step it is necessary to finalize some basic items like
Programming language
Needed skills
Database
Resource
Project objectives
Framework
Design Outlet etcetera.
Toning Upcoming Tasks
In sprint zero some important points need to be handled as
Duration of sprint
Must finalize the definition of finish
When the project is considered valued
Finalize the working agreement
Address first steps required adjustments
In the first step its natural to make mistakes so they are rectified in the second step and the task are toned for tasks, keeping every team member on the same page
Verify the Requirements
In this third step, the managers and executives must understand the capability of the available resource and fulfill the further requirements of the team and team members they must be sure of questions such as
Do team members need any scrum or agile training?
Is there a requirement for technical training in a team?
Address the Final Factors
In this task team members must finalize and address the factors remaining like
Assessment of standings
Creating preliminary product backlog draft
Finalize metrics used to access program and success
Sprint Zero can be considered as the basic preparation of scrum and agile projects. As it extracts the esteemed result as per business needs and objectives it is an essential process in agile/scrum. In agile, sprint zero refers to quotes as “Nail the basic first, detail the details later.”
About Advance Agility
We, at Advance Agility, are the new-age Agile Coaching, Consulting and IT services company. We enable end-to-end Digital Transformation. Agile execution is integral to our being. We are doing SAFe implementation with small, medium and large organization across the globe. Our vision is to be the leading Agile execution player globally. To keep adding value at every process stage. We are on a mission to empower our clients, move from concept to cash in the shortest sustainable lead time by adopting human centric approach to business agility. Embracing the change is in our DNA. Things that keep us apart are Quicker and Seamless execution with End-to-end gamut of services. Our Global presence and Stellar Track Record give us an edge over our competitor.
Connect with us at advanceagility.com to learn about SAFe and SAFe Implementation. Write to us at contact@advanceagilty.com for any agile training or consulting needs. We are always looking for competent agile trainers as well. So if you are a good trainer or want to become one, do get in touch with us to that we can learn, grow and achieve together.
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