HKSM

Gap Analysis is a tool and technique to compare the current product or process state with the desired target defined by vision, business value, and acceptance criteria. It highlights what is missing or underperforming so the Product Owner and Scrum Team can add or adjust backlog items, priorities, and improvement actions to close the gaps.

Key Points

• Compares current state to target state across product scope, quality, usability, compliance, and process capability.
• Used in SBOK during initiation and planning, and iteratively in Sprint Review and Retrospective.
• Produces a clear gap list that feeds the prioritized product backlog and improvement actions.
• Facilitated by the Scrum Master, owned by the Product Owner, and informed by the Scrum Team and stakeholders.
• Evidence based: uses demos, metrics, customer feedback, and acceptance criteria to quantify gaps.
• Timeboxed, lightweight, and focused on actionable backlog items rather than heavy documentation.

Purpose of Analysis

Gap Analysis ensures the product roadmap and release goals remain aligned with business value and stakeholder expectations. It surfaces missing features, quality deficiencies, compliance gaps, and process issues early.

In Scrum, it provides a structured way to convert insights from reviews, metrics, and market changes into backlog items and improvement actions that can be planned in upcoming sprints.

Method Steps

1. Define the target state: product vision, business outcomes, release goals, acceptance criteria, and Definition of Done.
2. Assess the current state: demo the increment, review metrics, defects, user feedback, and process performance.
3. Identify gaps: list where the increment or process differs from targets, and quantify impact where possible.
4. Analyze causes: capture root causes or uncertainties; note dependencies and constraints.
5. Form actions: translate gaps into user stories, enablers, defects, spikes, or process improvements with clear acceptance criteria.
6. Prioritize and plan: the Product Owner orders the items; the team estimates and schedules within releases and sprints.
7. Track closure: monitor progress through sprint goals, reviews, and updated metrics.

Inputs Needed

• Product vision, business value metrics, and release goals.
• Prioritized product backlog, epics, and user stories with acceptance criteria.
• Definition of Done, Definition of Ready, and quality standards.
• Increment demo results, test reports, defect logs, and customer feedback.
• Compliance or regulatory requirements and nonfunctional requirements.
• Process data such as lead time, velocity, and impediment logs.

Outputs Produced

• Gap list describing variances, causes, and potential impact.
• New or updated product backlog items with acceptance criteria and estimates.
• Adjusted priorities for releases and sprints.
• Improvement actions for the Sprint Retrospective and team working agreements.
• Updated risks, assumptions, and dependencies related to gap closure.
• Refined success metrics or targets if learning changes the desired outcome.

Interpretation Tips

• Focus on measurable outcomes such as cycle time, error rate, conversion, or satisfaction, not only feature checklists.
• Keep it collaborative: involve Product Owner, Scrum Team, key stakeholders, and SMEs to validate findings.
• Right size the analysis: timebox and avoid exhaustive documents; aim for actionable backlog entries.
• Differentiate product gaps from process gaps and address both through stories and improvements.
• Link each gap to business value to guide prioritization and stakeholder trade offs.

Example

A team targets a checkout experience of 2 steps and less than 2 percent drop off. The current increment has 5 steps and 12 percent drop off based on test data.

Gap Analysis identifies missing payment options, slow validation calls, and confusing error messages. The Product Owner adds stories for one click payment, performance improvements, and clearer messages, plus a spike to test an API. Items are prioritized for the next release and tracked via sprint goals.

Pitfalls

• Turning the exercise into big design up front instead of creating small, testable backlog items.
• Ignoring process or quality gaps and focusing only on features.
• Failing to quantify impact, which weakens prioritization and stakeholder buy in.
• Conducting it once and not revisiting after each Sprint Review or major change.
• Conflating desired outcomes with fixed solutions, reducing team autonomy.
• Skipping stakeholder involvement, leading to missed compliance or market needs.

PMP/SCRUM Example Question

During a Sprint Review, stakeholders note that the increment meets the Definition of Done but does not satisfy a key reporting requirement planned for the upcoming release. What should the Scrum Team do next using Gap Analysis?

1. Extend the current sprint so the team can complete the missing report.
2. Create a detailed requirements document and baseline the scope to prevent further changes.
3. Use Gap Analysis to identify the variance, add stories or enablers with acceptance criteria, and reprioritize the product backlog.
4. Escalate to a project steering committee to approve a scope change request before taking any action.

Correct Answer: C — Use Gap Analysis to identify the variance, add stories or enablers with acceptance criteria, and reprioritize the product backlog.

Explanation: Gap Analysis converts the missing capability into actionable backlog items and adjusts priorities. Extending the sprint or freezing scope conflicts with Scrum, and escalation is unnecessary for normal backlog adaptation.