Sprint Cancellation

A Sprint could be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint. Sprint cancellation is rare as it is disruptive and introduces waste.

A Sprint would be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This would be when completing the work planned for the Sprint no longer makes sense. This may be because the work is no longer valuable due to some shift in the market, technology or strategy.

We continue for all other issues that occur during a Sprint, even if all the work forecast or the Sprint and the Sprint Goal look unlikely to be met. Occasionally, this may mean we do not deliver a Done Increment or meet the Sprint Goal. Whilst uncomfortable, this is sometimes inevitable.

When challenges surface during a Sprint, we adapt the Sprint Backlog to reflect the new reality and do our best to deliver value under these circumstances. At the end of the Sprint, we inspect and adapt at the Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective and decide what to do next. We make adaptations to what we work on and how we work on it to increase the chance of a Done Increment being produced in the next Sprint.

In my 18 years working with Scrum, I have seen Sprints cancelled twice, and there were good reasons to do it. In one case, the company was purchased, and it was decided that the product would be retired immediately. In the second case, the project was placed on hold to allow the Scrum Team to be redirected to work on a new and more valuable opportunity. Sprint cancellation made sense under these conditions.