During each of the Scrum Events, and throughout the Sprint itself, the Scrum Team and the stakeholders inspect based on a common understanding. Without this transparency, one cannot perform a valuable inspection.
Inspection is about detecting undesirable variances in progressing towards agreed goals.
So far we have covered Sprint Planning, the Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective. What about the Sprint itself?
Note that each of the events is a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt.
This does immediately mean that during the entire Sprint itself there are informal moments to do just that.
As such I expect that the inspection we are performing in each of the events is also maintained throughout the entire Sprint as needed.
So that, as a team, if we feel there are undesired variances, we can immediately take action as needed.
Do not overact. The team needs sufficient insight before taking decisions. Do not underact. Or you might loose important opportunities for reaching your goals.
As a team understand when it is needed to take a closer look at a progress, processes, tools, interactions, and the Definition of Done. Or when you better wait until the foreseen Scrum Event.
A delicate balance.
Summary:
During the entire Sprint the Scrum Team keeps watching out for undesired variances on any aspect of its progress and effectivity.
Prompt:
With your entire team evaluate whether some checks for finding undesired variances (i.e. inspecting) would better be done at a higher frequency than the Scrum events allow for.
Note that this might also be an indication for shortening your Sprint duration.
I hope you find value in these short posts and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to take contact.
If you want to take a deeper dive into the core concepts we are covering in this blog series, then surely check out our Professional Scrum MasterY workshop. We have some scheduled in the coming period.
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