Making Your Sprint Reviews More Effective
The purpose, timebox and participants of the Sprint Review are well defined. However, we sometimes see Scrum Teams fall into antipatterns that diminish their value.
Common antipatterns include:
- Sprint Review is a status meeting, demo or one-way presentation - Instead, It should be an opportunity for the Product Owner & stakeholders to shape the future direction of the product.
- The product shown does not conform to the Definition of Done or is not integrated into the Increment - Sometimes what is presented does not meet the team’s quality standards and only a portion of the product is demonstrated. In either case, the stakeholders are put at a disadvantage when providing feedback.
- Team presents a list of the PBIs completed without showing the stakeholders the outcome of the PBIs or having a discussion about the work
- The result of the Sprint is only shown in a presentation; the product/increment itself is not shown.
- The Sprint Review is conducted to have the Product Owner “accept” the work completed by the Developers - It’s a myth that a successful Sprint Review is one where the Product Owner signs off on the work. The Product Owner should work with the team throughout the Sprint and nothing should be a surprise at the Sprint Review.
- Developers do not attend - By missing the Sprint Review, the Developers miss the opportunity to receive stakeholder feedback directly and will miss the context around any decisions about changes to the Product Backlog and what to do next
- There are no actual users or customers among the stakeholders present - Often colleagues and management will act as a proxy for the product’s customers. Finding customers that are well-suited to review a product while it’s in development is not always an easy task, but it’s rewarding when it happens
Tips for Strong Sprint Reviews
Breaking the antipatterns listed above help create strong and effective Sprint Reviews. Consider the following tips:
- Make certain the correct stakeholders are invited to the Sprint Review and that they understand the purpose of the Sprint Review and their role in it.
- Foster direct collaboration between stakeholders and team members.
- Facilitate the event so that stakeholders can be hands-on with the product.
- Ensure the language used is understood by all participants. Developers should resist the temptation to delve too much into technical jargon
- Be clear on what was Done and not Done - The team gives a summary of what was Done in the Sprint, and what was not done and moved back into the Product Backlog. Keep the Definition of Done visible to provide transparency on this topic.
- Discuss how the Sprint went - The Developers share any issues they had during the Sprint and what actions were taken to overcome them. Include an opportunity to discuss impediments that can’t be resolved by the Scrum Team. By engaging stakeholders, the team can use the event to develop close partnerships with stakeholders.
- Gather feedback - The Developers show stakeholders what was done in order to gather feedback on the value of what was completed. This feedback helps the Developers and the Product Owner assess whether the assumptions they made were right or wrong.
- Review current state of the Product Backlog - The Product Owner presents the current state of the backlog including Product Backlog items that were not completed in the Sprint. Based on the feedback received from the stakeholders, new opportunities may be identified, discussed together and potentially added to the backlog.
- Decide what to do next - The Scrum Team and Stakeholders collaborate on potential work for the next Sprint based on learnings and results from the Sprint. New opportunities, risks, issues and market conditions are discussed
- Adapt the Product Backlog based on the discussions during the Sprint Review
- Review the Product Vision, Key Value Drivers, Product Goal and Sprint Goal
- Ask Stakeholders to rate the Sprint Review to learn where improvements can be made
Resources:
Blog Post
Scrum, often confined to the 'build' phase in traditional project frameworks, can be more effectively leveraged in a product-centric environment. By transforming the Sprint Review into a collaborative platform for strategic alignment and continuous improvement, organisations can maximise Scrum's val...
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The Sprint Review is a working meeting where the Scrum Team presents their completed work to stakeholders and asks for feedback. The Scrum Team and stakeholders discuss the progress made toward the Product Goal, emerging changes in the business or technical climate and collaborate on what to do next