How do you, as Product Owners, prepare for a Sprint Review?
In my current job, the Scrum Master's documented process on Confluence states that the PO is the one who accepts or rejects a User Story. As a new PO, I’m wondering how I can best prepare to make these decisions during the Sprint Review. What do you do to ensure you're confident in accepting or rejecting a User Story? Any advice or tips on how to approach this? I’d appreciate hearing from experienced Product Owners on how you handle this responsibility
As a Product Owner, you should not have to make this decision during a Sprint Review or at any other time.
Accepting a Product Backlog Item or Increment is not an accountability of the Product Owner Role. Developers are accountable for adhering to the Definition of done and creating usable Increments. The Product Owner should be able to communicate the Product Goal, the meaning and intent of Product Backlog Items, and the Sprint Goal to stakeholders, including Developers. The Developers should have the information they need to complete the Product Backlog Item and ensure that the Increment will be acceptable to the stakeholders receiving the product.
This doesn't mean that the Developers won't have questions or that the Product Owner shouldn't be the voice of the stakeholders. By doing the work, the Developers may realize they don't have all the details they need to complete the work and may turn to the Product Owner to help or answer questions. However, this should happen throughout the Sprint and not at the Sprint Review.
I would also highlight one Scrum Guide sentence: "The Sprint Review should never be considered a gate to releasing value." This extends to the Product Owner at the Sprint Review. If the Developers do not have the knowledge or information needed to understand the work and ensure product quality, they must gain those insights.
The items selected in Sprint Planning are a forecast of the work needed to meet a Sprint Goal. The purpose of a Sprint Review is to update the Product Backlog with the work that remains to be Done. If the Product Owner accepts anything at all in a Sprint Review, it's that work is valuable, is not yet Done, and belongs on the Product Backlog.
During a Sprint, once any work is Done the imperative is to put it to use. The Developers make this decision. A Product Owner could stop this from happening, if business condtions change rapidly and the increment would no longer add value. Otherwise, there is no excuse for putting empiricism in delay.