Create sprints ahead of time with associated dates

Question

We have fix sprint dates and would like to have those sprint dates defined at the beginning of a Program Increment (PI). Once the PI planning session is over, the team would add relevant user stories to the correct sprint. It appears one cannot associate sprint dates until the sprint is started (and can't start unless there is at least one issue belonging to that sprint).

Question:  Is there any potential "damage" by artificially starting all the sprint so that dates are visible and the teams can upload the stories to the right sprint? Is there any reporting impact?  Is the best practice to only start the sprint whenever that start date hits?

Thank you!

Jack Brickey · Answer

and you can start them all concurrently and time will not start ticking? Not sure how that would work but have to admit I have never tried. Please post back here your results as it will help others in the future.

Real Self · Answer

Hi Jack, actually that does not seem be an issue. When creating the sprints, it allows you to create sprints with sequential dates. At least, I was able to do it just fine, all 2 week sprint increments with correct dates.

Thanks!

Jack Brickey · Answer

you would not want to do this because the sprints would be out of whack, example...

sprint 1 Jun 24-July 8 (2 wks

sprint 2 Jun 24-July 22 (4 wks)

sprint 3 Jun 24-Aug 5 (6 wks)

The issue here is that the burndown will be weird which will throw off the velocity calculations.