Finishing Versus Accomplishing

At the end of every Sprint, you no doubt have a lot of goals that you can call Done. They are complete, finished and it feels good for them to be that way. But have you accomplished something that aligns with your values? Have you moved the needle toward something you want for yourself or others.

There is a difference between completing a task and accomplishing a goal, and some it comes down to context and how you plan your Sprints. Completing a task could be “I had the house painted,” whereas accomplishing something would be “I had house painted to make it look more contemporary and increase its value.” The difference is that in the first case you checked off a box, while in the second case you added value.

As an example, I have a challenge is a specific area of my goals. I have been studying the Spanish language for over two years, and every Sprint I check off the box of how many days I completed lessons, yet I can only hold a very basic conversation in Spanish - after more than two years of study! So while I’m going through the motions, it doesn’t feel like I’m adding value. I obviously need to change my approach, because I’m doing something wrong (mostly because I’m not practicing with others).

Do you have items like this in your Sprint that you finish, but don’t add value? If so, it’s time to look at those in your Review and Retrospective and take steps to change that in your next Sprint. Even finishing something is better than not doing it at all (I’ve obviously learned some Spanish), but are you making the best use of your time? Time is all we have which is why we Sprint. We Sprint to take ambitious goals and make them easier to achieve more rapidly.

I’d love to hear if you have discovered something like this in your Sprints. Please share your comments with me below.