In one of the recent articles, I wrote the following (summarized):
“A CIPSA Sprint Backlog is a collection of individual Team Sprint Backlogs. The individual teams sprint towards the individual Team Sprint Goals and execute the work items. Simultaneously, the entire CIPSA (Scrum) Team is also sprinting, but towards the CIPSA Sprint Goal!”
You can read the complete article here.
It has detailed explanations with videos, which you should watch to have more clarity. Most important of all, it’s shown with MS Project Agile software in a hands-on manner. The CIPSA Framework is the only framework in the world which demonstrates scaling in a practical, hands-on manner. The upcoming CIPSA certification will be based on this framework.
CIPSA Team Sprinting Vs Individual Team Sprinting
If you look at the headline of this subsection, I’ve differentiated between the sprinting of the CIPSA Team and Individual Scrum Teams.
Sprinting is done to execute the work items, i.e., tasks in the backlogs. The line items in the CIPSA Sprint Backlog are taken from the Product Backlog. In the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, the items are not broken down into individual tasks. That happens in the Team Sprint Backlog. This distinction is important to understand and it’s depicted in the figure below.
CIPSA Sprint Backlog Vs. Team Sprint Backlog
Now, let’s see the differences between the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and the Team Sprint Backlog.
Difference # 1: CIPSA Sprint Backlog comes from the Product Backlog. On the other hand, the Team Sprint Backlog comes from the CIPSA Sprint Backlog.
Difference # 2: CIPSA Sprint Backlog will have the product backlog items. The Team Sprint Backlog will have task line items.
Difference # 3: The “what to do” in the upcoming Sprint is informed by the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, whereas the “how to do” in the upcoming Sprint is informed with the Team Sprint backlog.
Difference # 4: The CIPSA meta-events such as CIPSA Sprint Planning, CIPSA Daily Scrum, CIPSA Sprint Review and CIPSA Sprint Retrospective will be part of the CIPSA Sprint Backlog.
The Scrum Events such as Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, and Sprint Retrospective will be part of the Team Sprint Backlog.
Difference # 5: The CIPSA Sprint Goal is part of the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, but the Team Sprint Goal will be part of the Team Sprint Backlog. For a Sprint, there is one CIPSA Sprint Goal, but there can be multiple Team Sprint Goals depending on the number of Scrum Teams.
The differences are noted in the below table.
To know more about the roles (accountabilities), artifacts and events/meta-events, you can download the CIPSA Framework Guide. When you go through it, you can find out more differences on your own!
How about the similarities?
The following can be listed:
- Sprint Number: The Team Sprint Backlogs will be with respect to the same Sprint number, e.g., Sprint 7. All individual Scrum Teams will also be sprinting in Sprint 7. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog will also be with respect to the same Sprint number, i.e., Sprint 7. The entire CIPSA Team will also be sprinting in Sprint 7.
- Timeboxing: All the (meta) events of CIPSA Scrum Framework, like the events at the individual Team Scrum framework, will be timeboxed.
Video Explanation: CIPSA Sprint Backlog Vs Team Sprint Backlog
The video below [duration: 05m:56s], explains the diferences between the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlog.
I believe you’ve gone through the CIPSA Guide. Can you think of any other differences and/or similarities?
Concluding Remarks
I always believed simple things are easy to remember, implement and use. Complex ones get more and more complex and you finally give-up.
CIPSA is a very simple and easy to follow framework, unlike other scaled agile frameworks which come with a lot of theories. It’s also practical and hands-on.
I hope this article gives you more clarity with respect to the differences between the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlog.
References
[1] Introducing Practical Scaled Agile Framework with CIPSA Certification, by Satya Narayan Dash
[2] New Practical Scaled Agile Framework – The CIPSA Framework Guide, by Satya Narayan Dash and ManagementYogi.com
[3] Scrum at Scale: Managing Multiple Teams and Boards with MS Project Agile, by Satya Narayan Dash, first published by MPUG.com