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In The Scrum Guide the following is written to describe the Sprint Goal.

The selected Product Backlog items deliver one coherent function, which can be the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal can be any other coherence that causes the Development Team to work together rather than on separate initiatives.

So it seems that something else then the coherent function provided by "Done" selected Product Backlog items, can by a Sprint Goal.

I don't get that. What does it mean that a Sprint Goal can be any other coherence?

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Usually a Sprint Goal is a short (one- or two-sentence) description of the objectives of the sprint, the higher purpose (vision) of why it is worthwhile undertaking the sprint.

Please, note that a team might reach the Sprint Goal even if they can’t finish all stories.

A Sprint Goal is usually the delivery of a feature (“one coherent function”). Anyway, The Scrum Guide underlines that the Sprint Goal can be “any other coherence” that allows the Development Team to stay focused and “work together rather than on separate initiatives.” For example the team and the Product Owner can agree to use the sprint to address a risk (Does the architecture provide the desired performance?) instead of creating a product increment.

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  • I think it might be better to just say For example the team and the Product Owner can agree to use the sprint to address a risk (Does the architecture provide the desired performance?) Not questioning the delivery of a product increment nor the value in the Sprint delivery. I think in this case we are still delivering a product increment with more value. For example a more stable product still an increment that we can inspect by the end of the sprint and that can produce value for users that the PO can measure.
    – levolutionniste
    Oct 24, 2020 at 22:32
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In terms of Agile Development, each product backlog item should represent one coherent function that would be delivered/developed on it's own and deployed to production.

Backlog items those selected for the Sprint may not be related in any way and The Sprint Goal would be developing each backlog-item separately.

On the other hand, it's good to have a long term plan and knowing that each separate item is a brick for a larger-scale plan. Thus, developers would develop together each piece in a harmony to reach that larger-scale plan.

Those further plans would be the other coherence that you're asking for.

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  • I don't understand your 2nd sentence.
    – Christiaan Westerbeek
    May 14, 2015 at 9:04
  • I mean, your features to be developed in The Sprint don't need to be related to each other. Each developer can develop separate and independent tasks in a particular Sprint.
    – enesismail
    May 14, 2015 at 10:04
  • @enesismail that is an incorrect statement. If features don't need to be related to each other what is the Sprint needed for?
    – Bartek Kobyłecki
    Dec 11, 2016 at 10:38

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