The full sprint lifecycle in DeskFactor — Planning, Tracking, Editing, and Completing or Cancelling a Sprint.
Sprints break project execution into fixed timeframes with a clear goal and planned capacity. This guide covers the full sprint lifecycle in DeskFactor — planning a new sprint, tracking it while active, editing it, and completing or cancelling it.
Who can manage sprints?
Creating, viewing, and editing sprints is controlled by permissions under Settings → Roles & Permissions (in the Sprints permission group, similar to Epics).
Important: Completing or cancelling a sprint is restricted to the Project Manager role specifically — this is enforced regardless of whether your role has the general Edit Sprints permission. If you don’t see Complete Sprint or Cancel Sprint in the sprint’s actions menu, this is almost certainly why.
Before you begin
Make sure you have:
- An existing project
- A clear sprint title and target dates
- Tasks or epics ready to pull into the sprint, if you’re planning scope upfront
Step 1: Open the Sprints tab
Open your project, then go to Execution → Sprints. This shows your current sprint (if one is active), its health metrics, and the tasks inside it.
Step 2: Create a new sprint
Select Add Sprint in the top right. In the Create Sprint panel, fill in:
- Sprint Title * — e.g. “Sprint 12 – Payment Integration”. Required.
- Status * — Planning, Completed, or Cancelled. Defaults to Planning (“Sprint is being prepared and is not yet active”).
- Start Date * / End Date * — The sprint’s timeline. Required.
- Planned Capacity — Total estimated team capacity for this sprint, in hours. Optional.
- Sprint Goal — What should this sprint accomplish? Optional but recommended.
- Additional Notes — Any supporting context. Optional.
Select Create Sprint to save it.
Step 3: Track the active sprint
The Sprints tab shows your active sprint as a card with its date range, member count, story points, and three at-a-glance health indicators:
- Blocked — number of blocked tasks
- Team Load — Balanced or Overloaded, based on current assignments
- Health — an overall status such as Healthy
Below the card, the sprint’s tasks are listed with search and filters (by assignee or priority), and you can switch between List, Board, and Timeline views. New Task and Add Status let you add work directly into the sprint.
Step 4: Edit sprint details
Select the ⋯ menu on the sprint card, then Edit Sprint. While a sprint is Active, a banner reminds you that some fields are locked — Status, for example, is shown but not directly editable once execution has started. Planned Capacity, Sprint Goal, and Additional Notes remain editable.
Note: The Planned Capacity field shows a Suggested Capacity hint (e.g. “320 hours”), calculated from the current sprint team size and working duration. This is a suggestion only — it doesn’t auto-fill the field, and won’t update retroactively if your team size changes mid-sprint.
Select Save Changes to apply your edits.
Step 5: Complete or cancel the sprint (Project Manager only)
From the same ⋯ menu, Project Managers have two additional actions: Complete Sprint and Cancel Sprint. Both open the same Review dialog — “Review incomplete work and decide what happens before closing the sprint” — with identical task-disposition handling. Cancel Sprint additionally requires a cancellation reason (up to 1,000 characters) before it can be submitted.
The Close/Cancel Sprint dialog
The dialog opens with a summary of the sprint (end date and points completed) and a row of status counts for its incomplete work: Incomplete, Needs Review, In Progress, Not Started, and Blocked.
Below that, incomplete tasks are grouped by status (e.g. In Progress, Not Started), each with its own Move to sprint dropdown so you can decide, task by task, where it goes next.
- If a future sprint already exists (in Planning status), it appears as a selectable option in each task’s dropdown — and a Bulk action bar appears at the top, letting you select one target sprint and Apply to all incomplete tasks at once.
- If no future sprint exists yet, the dialog shows a warning: “No future sprint available. Tasks without a sprint assignment will move to backlog.”
- For any task left without a selected sprint, DeskFactor moves it to the backlog by default — this is stated directly in the dialog’s footer note.
Select Close Sprint (or Cancel Sprint) once you’re satisfied with where each task is headed.
Step 6: Review sprint health with Deep Dive
Select Open Sprint Deep Dive from the ⋯ menu (or from the sprint detail panel) for a fuller picture of how the sprint is going:
- Summary — tasks and story points completed vs. total, as a percentage
- Task Distribution — a breakdown of every task by its current status (To Do, In Progress, Under Review, Under QA Review, Ready For Review, Rejected, Done)
- Risks & Alerts — split into Critical Issues (blocked tasks, overdue tasks, review bottlenecks, high-priority tasks not started, sprint ending soon with work still incomplete) and Warnings (tasks added mid-sprint, overloaded team members)
- Key Tasks — a filtered list of the tasks driving those risks, grouped by High Priority, Blocked, and Overdue
Step 7: Review past sprints with Sprint History
Select Sprint History (top right of the Sprints tab) to see a record of previous sprints, each showing its completion percentage, Baseline Velocity (story points planned vs. total), and how many tasks were Carried Over into the next sprint.
Note: Sprint Deep Dive and Sprint History go deep enough that they’re worth their own dedicated article if you want the full walkthrough — this section covers what’s available at a glance.
What happens after?
- The sprint moves through Planning → Active → Completed or Cancelled
- Incomplete tasks are handled according to your disposition choices (or moved to the backlog by default)
- The sprint’s velocity and completion data become part of Sprint History for future planning
Common Issues
Create Sprint button is disabled
Check that Sprint Title, Start Date, and End Date are all filled in — these are required.
Can’t change few fields while editing
This is expected — some fields, including Start Date, End Date, Status, lock once a sprint is Active.
Complete Sprint / Cancel Sprint options are missing
These actions are restricted to the Project Manager role. Check with your Organization Administrator if you believe you should have access.
Cancel Sprint won’t submit
A cancellation reason is required — make sure it’s filled in (up to 1,000 characters) before submitting.
A task moved to the wrong place after closing a sprint
Check whether that task had a target sprint selected in its Move to sprint dropdown before you confirmed. Anything left unselected goes to the backlog by default — this applies per task, not per sprint, so it’s easy to move most tasks forward and forget one.
Suggested Capacity seems wrong
It’s calculated from the sprint’s current team size and duration at the time you open the Edit panel — it won’t reflect team changes that happened earlier in the sprint unless you reopen the panel after the change.
Expected Result
- A new sprint exists with the correct title, dates, and goal
- The sprint’s health, task distribution, and risks are visible while active
- Completing or cancelling a sprint properly accounts for any incomplete work
- The sprint appears in Sprint History with accurate velocity and completion data