A sprint is a short, time-boxed period—usually one to four weeks—during which a scrum team works to complete a set amount of work. It is a core practice of agile project management and scrum.

Each sprint begins with sprint planning, during which the team selects items from the product backlog to complete. Daily stand-ups track progress. The sprint ends with a review and retrospective. Sprints enable iterative development, rapid feedback, and continuous improvement.

Key points

• Short, fixed-length work period
• Core to scrum and agile
• Includes planning, stand-ups, review, retrospective
• Enables iterative development