A sprint is a short, fixed stretch of work, usually one or two weeks, with a clear goal. Planning in sprints helps a team commit to a realistic amount of work and see early if it is slipping.
Before you start
Projects are on the Professional and Enterprise plans. Sprints need to be switched on for the project: edit the project and tick Enable Sprints. Scrum projects have them on already.
Create the sprint
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Add a new sprint
In the project, add a new sprint and choose the sprint folder it belongs to. Folders keep sprints for different streams of work apart, such as Website and App.
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Give it a goal
Name the sprint and write a one line Sprint Goal, such as Customers can book and pay online. A goal makes it easier to decide what belongs in the sprint and what can wait.
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Set the dates
Choose the start and end dates, then create it. It starts in planning, so nothing changes for the team yet.
Plan what goes in
Open the sprint's planning view. On one side are the tasks you can choose from: your backlogs, your list views and any tasks not yet in a sprint. Drag tasks into the sprint, or use Add to sprint. Take out anything that will not fit with Remove from sprint.
Be realistic. If you estimate in story points or t-shirt sizes, compare the total with what the team finished last time, and leave some room for the unexpected.
Start the sprint
When the plan looks right, select Start Sprint and confirm. The sprint becomes active and its tasks appear on the sprint board.
Keep it on track
- Use the board. Move tasks across as work progresses. Filter by priority or assignee, choose Assigned to me to see just your own work, and hide finished tasks to focus on what is left.
- Watch the burndown. It shows the work remaining day by day, so you can see straight away if the sprint is falling behind.
- Lock it if you need to. Locking a sprint stops its tasks being changed, which is useful once the plan is agreed. Unlock it if something genuinely has to change.
Complete the sprint
At the end, select Complete Sprint and confirm, and the project's members are told. Completing a sprint does not move unfinished tasks for you, so move anything left over into the next sprint or back to the backlog, and talk about why it did not get done.
Want a hand keeping everyone on track? An AI employee can act as the project's scrum master and check in with developers on their sprint tasks. See hire an AI employee.
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