View source for The Sprint Methodology in Agile Project Management

===Scrum Roles and Process ===
[[File:APM_overview2.png|thumb|right|451x418px|Figure 1: Agile Project Management Frameworks]]

Adaptive life cycles like sprints are characterized by being very rapid iterations of approximately 2-4 weeks. Each sprint is fixed in time and cost at its beginning. Here, the product backlog list, also known as project requirements, is also reviewed in order to determine, which of the requirements that can be delivered within the next iteration  <ref name=" PMBOK " />. 

Within APM, a large number of different but useful frameworks exists. Three of the most frequently used ones, namely the scrum, lean and kanban frameworks, are illustrated in figure 1. 
Sprints are part of the scrum framework, which is mainly used within IT projects <ref name=" Sprints " />. The scrum consists of three major components: the roles, the process and the artifacts. 

[[File:scrums.png|thumb|right|451x418px|Figure 2: Scrum Activities]]

Starting with the roles, the scrum team is cross-functional and consists of a product owner, a scrum master and a scrum team. This cross-functional constellation works full-time on the project in order to get through the product backlog list in due time. The second major scrum component, namely the process, counts five overall activities: the kick-off, the sprint planning meeting, the sprint, the daily scrum, and the sprint review meeting, which all are illustrated in figure 2 <ref name=" Scrum " />. The third major scrum component, the artifacts, include the product backlog, the sprint backlog and the burn-down charts, which will be elaborated further in the ''Scrum Artifacts'' section. 

At the beginning of a project, the product owner, the scrum master and the scrum team all meet together to kick it off. This meeting occurs only once during a project. At this kick-off meeting, the high-level backlog for the project, which is the overall project scope and requirements, as well as its major goals are defined. Subsequently, the same participants all meet again at the beginning of each sprint for a sprint planning meeting. Here, they define the product backlog list i.e. the decomposition of the high-level backlog. Furthermore, they determine the sprint goal, which is the formal outcome of the sprint. Unlike the kick-off meeting, the sprint planning meeting is held at the beginning of each sprint within a project.

After defining these two main parts, the participants consequently outline the sprint backlog. These sprint planning meetings will usually take up to a day <ref name=" Scrum " />. Having planned the sprint, its backlog and goals, the team is now ready to explore the sprint’s research topics.