Canceling the Sprint

A Sprint may end in one of two ways. The vast majority of times, the Team will have worked throughout the Sprint's duration and will have ended up achieving, not achieving, or partly achieving the Sprint Goal. We have already discussed how to deal with these eventualities in the previous sections of this chapter. However, there are some very rare occasions where the team won't get to the end of the Sprint, as the Sprint gets canceled. Let's examine this more closely.

Canceling a Sprint is a very rare phenomenon. It generally happens when a new situation or extraordinary circumstances shift the team's commitment and focus. A Sprint must not get canceled if the Scrum Team simply decides that it cannot complete the work, or that it cannot reach the Sprint Goal. Frequently canceled Sprints should ring alarm bells. They may be a sign that the Scrum Team is lacking focus and commitment, the product is lacking a vision, or the organization does...