mediumScenarioMidSeniorLead
The team has missed its Sprint Goal four sprints in a row. What do you do as Scrum Master?
6 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Treat four misses as data about the system rather than a verdict on the team: find out whether the goal is set by the team or handed to it, whether unplanned work arrives mid-sprint, and whether done is being deferred, then fix the cause you find instead of shrinking the commitment.
Repeated missed goals usually mean impediments are being normalised. Good answers name the impediments, separate capacity problems from scope problems, and change planning until the Sprint Goal becomes credible again. If impediments stay invisible, the team keeps recommitting to a plan the system cannot support.
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Likely follow-ups
- The team says every miss traces to QA sign-off landing after the sprint ends. What do you change?
- Your delivery manager wants velocity added to the team's performance objectives. How do you respond?
- How would you tell a Sprint Goal that was too ambitious apart from one that was too vague to hit or miss?
- What if the investigation shows the team is setting goals it has no real intention of meeting?
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