Improve Sprint Delivery
12 weeks · 4 milestones
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
You cannot improve what you have not measured. Before any intervention, you need a reliable 4–6 sprint baseline: sprint completion rate (stories or points committed vs. delivered), cycle time, and the distribution of incomplete work by cause. The baseline must draw from real historical data, and the root cause diagnosis must be specific — not 'we need to improve planning' but '60% of missed commitments over 6 sprints were caused by scope additions in the last 3 days from a single stakeholder.'
Proof required
Submit: (1) a baseline metrics report covering 4–6 sprints: sprint completion rate per sprint and the average, cycle time or equivalent flow metric, and the distribution of incomplete work by cause (blocked, scope-added, underestimated, deprioritised); (2) a root cause diagnosis (200 words minimum) identifying the 1–2 specific causes that account for the majority of missed commitments, with supporting data; (3) pre-committed improvement targets for each planned intervention — written before the intervention begins, not after seeing results.
What gets checked
- Baseline draws from actual sprint data — '60% completion on average' requires the per-sprint data showing how the average was calculated; a single 'typical sprint' estimate is not a baseline
- Root cause diagnosis names specific causes with proportional data — '80% of missed commitments came from these three causes' with each quantified is a diagnosis; 'we need better planning' is not
- Pre-committed targets are specific and measurable — 'improve completion rate from 60% to 75% within 8 sprints of implementing the change' is a target; 'improve delivery' is not
Resources
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