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The Sprint

A Guide to How We Work

What Is a Sprint?

A sprint is a fixed timebox where we commit to delivering meaningful work. It gives us rhythm — a predictable cycle of planning, building, reflecting, and improving. No death marches, no endless timelines. Just focused two-week bursts.

Sprints come from the Agile framework — a set of principles that values working software, collaboration, and adaptability over rigid plans. The idea is simple: plan a little, build a little, learn a lot, repeat.

Our Sprint Cadence

We run two-week sprints on a Sunday-to-Friday cycle.

Week 1                          Week 2
─────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────
Sun  Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun  Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri
 ▲                             ▲
 │                             │
Sprint                    Mid-Sprint
Start                    Touchpoint
                                   ▲
                                   │
                                 Retro
                               (next Sun)
Event Day Purpose
Sprint Start Sunday (Day 1) Kick off the sprint — set goals, commit to work
Mid-Sprint Touchpoint Saturday (Day 7) Check in — are we on track? Any blockers?
Retrospective Sunday (Day 16) Reflect — what worked, what didn't, what to change

The retro falls on the Sunday after the sprint ends, giving everyone a day to decompress before reflecting. The next sprint then kicks off on that same Sunday, right after the retro.

The Rhythm at a Glance

        Sprint N                          Sprint N+1
┌──────────────────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  Sun ──────────────────► Fri │   │  Sun ──────────────────► Fri │
│   ▲            ▲             │   │   ▲            ▲             │
│ Start    Touchpoint          │   │ Start    Touchpoint          │
└──────────────────────────────┘   └──────────────────────────────┘
                                ▲
                              Retro
                            (Sunday)

Each sprint flows into the next. The retro closes one sprint and the sprint start opens the next — both on Sunday. This keeps our cycle tight and our learning continuous.

Ceremonies

Each ceremony has its own detailed guide:

Ceremony Guide When
Sprint Start sprint-start.md Sunday (Day 1)
Mid-Sprint Touchpoint mid-sprint-touchpoint.md Saturday (Day 7)
Retrospective sprint-retro.md Sunday (Day 16)

And these practices support the sprint cycle:

Practice Guide When
Daily Standups daily-standups.md Every day
Backlog Grooming backlog-grooming.md Ongoing

Core Principles

  1. Commit to less, deliver more — It's better to finish 5 things than to half-finish 10
  2. Make work visible — If it's not on the board, it doesn't exist
  3. Raise blockers early — The mid-sprint touchpoint exists for a reason
  4. Reflect and adapt — The retro is where we get better. Take it seriously
  5. Respect the timebox — The sprint has a start and an end. Protect both

Sprints are how good teams build momentum. Plan, build, reflect, repeat.