"Is It Okay To Not Use Sprint Goals?"

You're Asking the Wrong Questions

A reddit user asks: "Is it okay to not use Sprint Goals when you do Scrum?".

That's the wrong question to ask.

When you're unable to set a Sprint Goal, the question whether a Sprint Goal is really necessary is not the solution to your problems.

The problem is never the conflict with the Scrum Guide and even talking about the Sprint Goal is unimportant for answering this question.

A team is a group of people working towards a common goal. When you don't have a common goal, then you don't have a team.

The problem is that you don't have a team, not that you don't have a Sprint Goal.

The conflict with the Scrum Guide isn't what you should be resolving as that is NEVER what matters. What matters is the actual problem you're having.

Instead of asking why you're conflicting with the Scrum Guide or if it's okay to conflict with the Scrum Guide, spend time to think about what's the real problem.

And the moment you can only answer that question with "The Scrum Guide says...", then you don't understand the actual issue.

The right question to ask: why are we unable to work as a team?

The rule in the Scrum Guide is never what matters, it’s what it makes possible or prevents from happening what matters, and that’s what you should be caring about: reality instead of adherence to a guide written by fallible humans like you and me.

It’s always okay to not do something if it works for you, as that’s what matters.