The problem with sprints: Sprints create a constant sense of hurry
The problem with sprints: Sprints create a constant sense of hurry.
Constantly feeling rushed is a big problem:
❌Hurts intrinsic motivation
❌Reduces creativity
❌Rushes code reviews
❌Encourages short-term thinking
❌Leads to gaming estimates
❌Incentivizes self-centeredness
This is why I prefer Kanban.
✅ Visualize flow, left to right
✅ Limit work in progress
✅ Work the bottlenecks
Result:
No incessant short-term incentives.
No manufactured urgency.
No requirements to finish by an arbitrary date.
The name “sprint” infers running fast briefly, followed by rest. Yet, in the real world, sprints are nearly constant. The moment you finish a sprint, the next one begins.
That’s a problem.
Sprints should be seen as a tool for breaking down work. Not for manufacturing urgency.
Sprints should exist to serve us (by helping us break our next tasks down into a manageable chunk)
We should not exist to serve the sprint. Doing so leads to the problems outlined in the first tweet.