Product Goal & Sprint Goals – A Simple Example

Here are some simple examples of Product Goals, Sprint Goals and their relationship. We will use a simple Bakery as an example. Some things to note:

• Our Bakery produces baked goods sold in our shop to passing customers.
• We can already deliver products inside London that are ordered in-store.
• We have one cross-functional Scrum Team containing all the skills required.
• We are looking back at the Product Goals and Sprint Goals that were used once fulfilled or discarded.

Product Vision – Be the leading online Bakery in the UK.

This is our long-term strategic goal. The Product Goals and Sprint Goals will help us advance towards and achieve this.

A Product Goal is an intermediate goal which will advance us towards the product vision. We will work on these in sequence, one at a time. The Product Goals beyond the current one are ideas only until the current Product Goal is fulfilled or discarded. They may change before (or even as we) work on them, as we shall see.

• Product Goal 1 – Launch a website that facilitates sales to customers inside London.
• Product Goal 2 – Expand delivery capability to allow sales to customers UK-wide.
• Product Goal 3 – Expand online presence via the Apple and Google Play app stores.

Sprint Goals are our immediate tactical goals, which move us toward our Product Goal. The specific Sprint Goals may not be known or planned ahead of time. If they are planned, they will likely change as we learn more.

Here is an example of this in action:

• Product Goal 1 – Launch a website that allows sales to customers inside London.
• Sprint Goal 1 – Create a basic website structure.
• Sprint Goal 2 – Build the capability to list & purchase products using a credit card.
• Sprint Goal 3+ – … as many more Sprint Goals as needed.
• Sprint Goal X – Launch the website and fulfil the first orders.

Product Goal 1 has now been fulfilled.

• Product Goal 2 – Expand production/delivery capability to allow sales to customers UK-wide.
• Sprint Goal 1 – Find UK-wide supply partners.
• Sprint Goal 2 – Review potential partners and select 1-3.
• Sprint Goal 3+ – … as many more Sprint Goals as needed.
• Sprint Goal X – Beta launch of national capability with invited customers only.

Product Goal 2 has now been fulfilled.

• Product Goal 3 – Expand online presence via the Apple and Google Play app stores.
• Sprint Goal 1 – Build a basic iOS app*.
• Sprint Goal 2 – Build capability to list products.
• Sprint Goal 3+ – … as many more Sprint Goals as needed.
• Sprint Goal X – Launch the app via the Apple App Store.

*At this point, it was discovered that the costs of developing the Google Play app would outweigh the benefits. As a result, this Product Goal was abandoned, and a new Product Goal was created.

The skills needed for Product Goal 1 (website build) and Product Goal 2 (partner sourcing) are quite different. We could work on these in parallel. The Product Goal would then need to change and be broader to reflect the extra scope. The Product Goal could become “Launch the website and build the capability to supply to customers UK-wide”. This approach may allow us to develop and release our product earlier. A risk is that it may reduce focus and transparency, leading to increased waste.