The rhythm of a Scrum sprint
Scrum runs on a fixed set of events that create transparency and regular chances to inspect and adapt. This reference lays out each ceremony — its cadence, who attends, its purpose and its timebox — and scales the recommended lengths to the sprint length you actually run.
How it works
The Scrum Guide expresses event timeboxes as maximums for a one-month sprint and scales them down for shorter sprints:
Sprint Planning → up to 8 hours for a 1-month sprint (scales)
Daily Scrum → 15 minutes, fixed every working day
Sprint Review → up to 4 hours (scales)
Retrospective → up to 3 hours (scales)
Refinement → ongoing, ~10% of Developers' capacity
A two-week sprint therefore caps Planning at about 4 hours, the Review at 2 hours and the Retrospective at 1.5 hours, while the Daily Scrum stays fixed at 15 minutes. Treat every figure as a ceiling: a well-run team often finishes earlier.
Tips and notes
- Timeboxes are maximums, not targets — protect focus by ending early when the goal is met.
- Keep the Daily Scrum to the Developers and tied to the Sprint Goal; it is a re-planning event, not a status report to managers.
- Hold the Retrospective after the Review so feedback from stakeholders can feed improvement actions.
- Budget refinement continuously rather than as one big meeting, so the next sprint’s items are always ready.