When might a Sprint be abnormally cancelled?

According to the Scrum Guide, a Sprint can be cancelled only if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This situation might arise from a significant change in business strategy, market conditions, or technology, rendering the current goal irrelevant. Continuing the Sprint would be wasteful as the outcome is no longer valuable. The authority to cancel a Sprint rests solely with the Product Owner, who must weigh the significant cost and disruption of a cancellation against the value of pursuing a new direction.

A. The Development Team is expected to collaborate and adapt to overcome challenges; difficulty is not a valid reason for cancellation.
C. New business opportunities should be added to the Product Backlog and prioritized by the Product Owner for a future Sprint.
D. Not completing all forecasted work is a common outcome; the primary measure of success is achieving the Sprint Goal.

1. Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. Scrum.org. p. 9. "A Sprint could be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint."

2. Stray, V., & Sjøberg, D. I. (2012). Coordination in Global Software Engineering: A Study of a Large-Scale Agile Project. In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming (pp. 16-30). Springer. p. 20. The paper discusses Scrum mechanics, noting that Sprints are protected from external changes, with cancellation being the exception only when the goal is no longer valid. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30350-02

3. University of California, Berkeley. (Course Material). CS169: Software Engineering. The course curriculum on Agile methodologies emphasizes that Sprints are time-boxed iterations that are cancelled only under exceptional circumstances, such as the Sprint Goal becoming obsolete, consistent with the official Scrum Guide.