We have a single product with a large product backlog. We release new features roughly every month. Our sprints are two-weeks long, so a release could be comprised of two sprints (or more if a big release).
We are currently working on a new release, currently sized as 1 sprint. However, in the background two engineers are working on a side project, on a set of new features. These features will be eventually merged into the main product sometime in the next month or two.
How should this be managed? In the same sprint as the main development project, or as separate parallel sprint for the same project?
My preference is to keep the work separate, as the main development sprint is business critical, whereas the side project is not and I don't want it to derail the main project (merge conflicts, bugs, etc).
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Kind regards,
David