DV-27
Sprint Contains Only Large Issues
Discipline
Default severity: medium
ProcessMetricsQuality
What it detects
A sprint contains issues where more than the configured percentage are above the configured single-issue-sprint-risk threshold in story points — the sprint is dominated by large, high-uncertainty items with no small deliverables for mid-sprint feedback. large_issues = COUNT(issues IN sprint WHERE sp > config.discipline.large_issue_sp_threshold) // default: 5
Detection formula
IF large_issues / COUNT(issues_in_sprint) > config.discipline.max_large_issue_sprint_pct // default: 0.6 THEN FLAG sprint_too_granular Risk: if large items slip, sprint delivers nothingExamples in practice
- Assignee, field, hierarchy, or sprint hygiene rules are violated on active work.
- Issues miss mandatory fields or ownership while still in progress.
- A team shows a sprint contains issues where more than the configured percentage are above the configured single-issue-sprint-risk threshold in story points while max large issue sprint pct is set to 0.6.
Suggested response
Enforce assignee, field, hierarchy, and sprint hygiene rules your team agreed on.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
A sprint contains issues where more than the configured percentage are above the configured single-issue-sprint-risk threshold in story points — the sprint is dominated by large, high-uncertainty items with no small deliverables for mid-sprint feedback. large_issues = COUNT(issues IN sprint WHERE sp > config.discipline.large_issue_sp_threshold) // default: 5
Why it matters
When "Sprint Contains Only Large Issues" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Enforce assignee, field, hierarchy, and sprint hygiene rules your team agreed on.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Sprint Contains Only Large Issues" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.