How do we start sprinting effectively? For those of us practicing Scrum, there is great focus on the cycle of sprinting and continuous improvement. How the journey progresses regarding deliverable increments and continuous improvement is an experience many of us share. However, how we start a new team delivering quality software every iteration is something that is less well known. As is how to reset a team when faced with significant changes to their dynamic. Sprint 0 is a term unfamiliar to many, including myself when I started this journey. Yet it is a useful construct to help prepare the blocks for teams looking to start sprinting effectively. Here I share the lessons learned on my journey going through my first sprint 0.
I’ll explain how you can use this technique to establish new, or reset existing teams, and what elements it should include to help team members eject themselves from the starting blocks of sprint 1 and race to the finish line.