What provides the Development Team with direction and goals during a Sprint?

The Sprint Goal serves as a guiding light for the Development Team throughout the Sprint. It encapsulates the primary objective or purpose of the Sprint, offering a clear and concise direction for the team's work. By defining a specific goal, the Sprint Goal helps the team to focus their efforts on delivering value, ensuring that all activities during the Sprint align with the desired outcome.

Moreover, the Sprint Goal facilitates decision-making by providing context for the team when they encounter challenges or when new tasks arise. If circumstances change during the Sprint, the team can assess whether new work aligns with the Sprint Goal, helping them prioritize their efforts effectively and maintain their focus on achieving the Sprint objectives.

The other options provide context or support within the Scrum framework, but do not fulfill the same role as the Sprint Goal. The Definition of Done establishes the quality standards for completed work, the Sprint Review is an event to inspect the increment and adapt future work based on feedback, and the Product Backlog contains the overall list of work items that need to be completed but does not specify the immediate focus for the current Sprint.