Microsoft shift from 2-year cycles to 3-week Sprints caused team anxiety

Microsoft’s switch to 3-week Sprints increased team anxiety due to greater transparency, exposing inefficiencies but enabling faster, more frequent software delivery.

Published on 23 April 2025

Written by Martin Hinshelwood

1 minute read

https://nkdagility.com/resources/AW5GP1Vnnp5

When Microsoft moved from a two-year delivery cycle to 3-week Sprints, something unexpected happened—teams became terrified.

Not of the work itself, but of the transparency.

Suddenly, it was impossible to hide inefficiencies. Bad code was exposed. Delivery bottlenecks became visible. And that fear? It was real.

But here’s the thing—transparency isn’t the enemy; it’s the only way to improve. The teams that embraced the new way of working went from delivering 24 features per year to shipping multiple times per day.

Fear of failure keeps teams stuck in technical debt. The best teams face it head-on.

Is your organisation ready to embrace transparency?

Also published on: LinkedIn

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