---
title: "Sprint spillover"
canonical_url: "https://docs.getdx.com/reports/sprint-spillover/"
md_url: "https://docs.getdx.com/reports/sprint-spillover.md"
last_updated: "2026-06-08"
---

# Sprint spillover
The **Sprint spillover** report measures how much work in the current sprint has rolled over from previous sprints. Use this metric to identify stuck tickets, chronic over-commitment, or issues with work estimation.

![Sprint spillover report in DX](https://docs.getdx.com/assets/images/reports/sprint-spillover.png)

## When to use sprint spillover

Sprint spillover answers the question: _How much work is rolling over from the past?_

This report helps teams:

- **Identify stuck tickets** — Spot issues that have been carried across multiple sprints without being completed.
- **Detect chronic over-commitment** — High spillover may indicate the team is consistently taking on more than it can deliver.
- **Improve estimation accuracy** — Recurring spillover on certain types of work can reveal estimation blind spots.

## How spillover percentage is calculated

The spillover percentage is calculated as:

**Spillover work ÷ Total work**

Where:

- **Spillover work** is the story point/issue count for issues that were in a previous sprint before appearing in the current sprint
- **Total work** is the story point/issue count for all issues in the sprint

An issue counts as spillover if this is not the first sprint the ticket has been attempted in. If a ticket appeared in any prior sprint, it is marked as spillover work. Sprint spillover can be calculated based on either story points or issue counts.

## How sprint spillover relates to other sprint metrics

Sprint spillover provides insight into why [sprint predictability](https://docs.getdx.com/reports/sprint-predictability/) or [sprint completion](https://docs.getdx.com/reports/sprint-completion/) may be suffering:

- **High spillover + low completion** — Suggests the team is carrying forward work it cannot close out, creating a compounding backlog.
- **High spillover + high volatility** — Indicates both old and new work are competing for capacity, putting pressure on the sprint.
- **Low spillover** — Suggests the team is completing work within its original sprint, indicating healthy throughput and realistic planning.
---

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