What conditions are most likely occurring if you feel you need a "Quality Assurance and Release Readiness Sprint"? (choose the best three answers)

The need for a "Quality Assurance and Release Readiness Sprint," often called a "Hardening Sprint," is a significant anti-pattern in Scrum. It indicates that the Scrum Team is not creating a "Done," potentially releasable Increment at the end of each Sprint. This core issue typically stems from three interconnected problems: the quality standard (Definition of Done) is either insufficient or not being adhered to, which results in an accumulation of undone work (technical debt). Consequently, the Developers are unable to produce a truly valuable and useful Increment within the Sprint, necessitating a separate, special Sprint to handle integration, testing, and stabilization activities that should have been completed within the regular Sprints.

A. The concept of a "Hardening Sprint" is not part of the Scrum framework; it is a widely recognized anti-pattern indicating underlying problems in the implementation of Scrum.
B. This modification is not "acceptable" because it fundamentally undermines a core principle of Scrum: delivering a valuable, potentially releasable Increment every Sprint.

1. Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. Scrum.org.

Page 10, "Increment" section: "The moment a Product Backlog item meets the Definition of Done, an Increment is born... An Increment is a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal." This supports the idea that if you need a separate sprint for readiness, you are not creating a "Done" Increment.

Page 10, "Definition of Done" section: "The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product." This directly links to option C; a weak DoD means the quality measures are insufficient, leading to the need for a hardening sprint.

Page 11, "Definition of Done" section: "If a Product Backlog item does not meet the Definition of Done, it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review." This supports option E; if the DoD is not met, undone work accumulates, necessitating a future "catch-up" sprint.

2. Overeem, B. (2022, January 11). The Hardening Sprint Anti-Pattern. Scrum.org.

Paragraph 2: "A hardening sprint is a specific sprint that is intended to be for fixing bugs, doing last-minute preparations, and in general ‘hardening’ the product before a release... It’s a clear sign of a weak Definition of Done." This directly supports option C and refutes options A and B.

Paragraph 4: "The main problem with a hardening sprint is that it hides the fact that the team can’t deliver a ‘done’ increment each sprint." This directly supports option D.