Ideal Sprint Length and Start Dates

There is an interesting discussion going on at AgileBuddy about sprint length and start day: Sprint start and stop days - what's best

My current team (one developer and me!) works best with a one-week sprint that starts on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday.

I no longer like Monday starts - Monday is more often a holiday, and it's certainly the most hated day of the week. And Friday is a bad day to end a sprint, since you're also ending the week and it has its share of holidays too. Holidays are best planned for and managed inside of the sprint (IMO).

I like one-week sprints because it forces you into the right mindset - a sprint is SHORT. Two or three week sprints seem more like marathons that you have to pace yourself for.

This African proverb sums up my thoughts on Sprints nicely:

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion
or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle
or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.
-- African Proverb --