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It’s the moment of truth. The Scrum team demonstrates their work from the current sprint to stakeholders for review. In the mix of excitement and fear, you might be wondering…
How do I run an effective sprint review?
The sprint review is a critical moment of feedback and collaboration. Learning to run an effective sprint review will produce significant fruit for your team. This post will introduce you to the why, the who and the how of the sprint review.
Key points.
- Understand how the sprint review creates alignment and synergy within the organization.
- Identify how the members of the Scrum team participate in the Sprint Review.
- Outline an actionable agenda for you to use in a sprint review.
The sprint review creates alignment and synergy within the organization.
The sprint review occurs at the end of the sprint to inspect the delivered work, and various stakeholders and subject matter experts from across the organization will attend. The goal of the meeting is feedback and collaboration with the product owner and stakeholders.
The sprint review ensures the Scrum team delivers the right kind of value.
The new functionality is demonstrated during the review to show the value the team is adding. Only finished work is shown, and finished work meets the definition of done and could be released immediately for the customer to use.
We’ve all heard someone say, “Well, that’s what I said but not what I meant.” This is as common in business as it is in everyday life. Seeing the product in action allows the internal and external stakeholders to see the impact of the new functionality. If something is missing or off, the sprint review provides an opportunity to surface this issue.
Notice I mentioned external stakeholders. Customers can also attend the sprint review, and it could even be the specific customer who requested the new functionality. Having both internal and external stakeholders validates that what is being delivered aligns with both business goals and customer needs.
The sprint review creates awareness leading to collaboration
The sprint review creates awareness about what the team is delivering. The stakeholders and subject matter experts have a deeper understanding of what is being created. This awareness allows them to see connections between the Scrum team's work and other work happening within the organization.
It’s not uncommon for product owners or scrum masters to have someone else in the organization reach out because they are trying to solve a similar problem. This collaboration can lead to teams sharing the workload or sharing the cost of a needed tool. It also generates more buy-in for the work because multiple teams solve common needs.
The whole Scrum team participates in the Sprint Review.
The product owner invites everyone and facilitates the session. They present and demonstrate the Scrum team's work to the stakeholders, explaining both the why and what. They explain how the functionality meets business or customer needs.
The rest of the scrum team actively listens to the feedback and reactions. Having the team present lets them see how stakeholders and customers respond to what they created. This feedback and insight can be encouraging and also deliver insights for future work. It’s not uncommon to see something the team thought was common produce extra delight or to see something the team thought was clear create confusion.
Being in the room and seeing people’s actual responses locks this feedback in the team's mind in a way reading the notes from the meetings can’t. This awareness is a crucial reason the whole team attends.
If you’re on the scrum team but not the product owner, try listening like you’re not on the team. Imagine you’re a potential customer selected to attend and give feedback. Are you excited about what they’re presenting? Does it make you want to purchase the product or service?
The development team can also help by answering questions when needed. Stakeholders may be curious if a new feature can also perform a different but related task.
Related Guides
An actionable agenda for you to use in a sprint review.
The sprint review is a pretty straightforward meeting. Let’s take a look.
Sprint review agenda:
- Team reviews which stories are complete and which are not.
- Team shares what went well during the sprint and what obstacles they encountered.
- The product owner demonstrates done work.
- The product owner reviews the state of the backlog, forecasting what work they prioritized for the next sprint.
- Stakeholders may give feedback and collaborate on what to do next.
- PO may review any market or customer need changes.
- PO checks the roadmap map forecasting the longer-term plan.
The Scrum team should appoint someone to capture shared feedback. Create a parking lot to hold issues that come up and engage with them at the end. Some of these issues may become new user stories for future sprints.
If there’s an issue with a stakeholder, press in to identify the root issue. Is it the user story itself, the acceptance criteria, or the implementation of the user story? If you can’t bring it to resolution in the meeting, follow up with the stakeholder to gain clarity and communicate you value their input. It’s critical to have good transparency with the stakeholders to feel the freedom to give honest feedback.
The sprint review usually takes about one to two hours. It should be engaging and not just a presentation with communication flowing in one direction. There should also be a positive, celebratory feel as the meeting recognizes the hard work the team has put in to create this new functionality.
Leaning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are many new terms and concepts in Scrum.
Well we’re here to help.
Related Guides
I hope this article provided helpful guidance to run efficient and effective backlog refinement sessions.
Action Plan
If you want to learn more about Scrum in general, To learn more about Scrum, check out my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
Still not sure about your next step with Scrum? I offer a couple of free coaching sessions each month. You can signup for a free 30-minute coaching session, and we can work together to identify a good next step for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scrum events overview
What are the Scrum events?
The rhythm of scrum consists of various events.
- Sprint planning
- Daily standup
- Backlog refinement
- Sprint review
- Sprint retrospective
- The sprint
The last on the list is sometimes debated as to whether or not it’s actually a scrum event. I include it because it's critical to creating a cadence of work for the team.
Learn more about the rhythm of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What scrum events are timeboxed?
Most scrum events are timeboxed relative to the length of the sprint:
- Sprint planning: 2 hours / sprint week.
- Daily standup: 15 minutes.
- Backlog refinement: 2 hours / sprint week.
- Sprint review: 1 hour / sprint week.
- Retrospective: 45 minutes / sprint week.
Just because an event has a timebox doesn’t mean it needs to be that long. The timebox is the maximum time allowed for the event.
Learn more about the different scrum events. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When should scrum events be held?
Scrum events are generally held in the following order
- Sprint planning: Held at the very beginning of a sprint.
- Daily standup: Every day at the same time and place.
- Backlog refinement: Flexible. Held at whatever time and frequency best serves the team.
- Sprint review: Held on the last day of the sprint.
- Retrospective: Very last event of the sprint.
The backlog refinement session is unique in that it can be held anytime.
Explore further the events of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Which scrum event is most important?
I included this because it is frequently asked, but the question misunderstands the importance of the scrum events. It’s like asking which of your limbs is most important. You may be able to answer, but they are really all critical.
If pressed for an answer, the daily scrum probably has the greatest impact on the team's effectiveness.
Learn more about the events in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Ending a sprint
What is a sprint review in scrum?
Various stakeholders and subject matter experts from across the organization attend to give feedback.
Learn how to run a sprint review. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How to run a scrum retrospective?
The tone is positive and productive, focused on improving the team.
Three strategies for a compelling retrospective include
- Provide pre-work for the scrum team to reflect on the sprint experience.
- Set ground rules for healthy, productive communication.
- Use activities to facilitate the conversation.
Learn how you can facilitate a scrum retrospective. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Facilitating scrum events
How to facilitate scrum events?
Scrum events have a clear purpose and agenda but are still very interactive. Facilitation of scrum events is at its best when everyone is engaged, asking or responding to questions. All events are timeboxed, so the facilitator must ensure the team is always moving toward the goal.
Learn more about team member's responsibilities during scrum events. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How to improve scrum events?
Three strategies for increasing participation in scrum meetings are
- Clearly state the goal. Sometimes people don’t engage because they are unsure about the purpose.
- Use facilitation games. There are many facilitation exercises available for the scrum events.
- Invite feedback. Inspection is a pillar of scrum. Ask the team for feedback on what went well and how to improve.
Learn more about everyone’s roles and responsibilities during the scrum events. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Who facilitates (or owns) scrum events?
Scrum cultivates shared ownership for all the events, but each still has a facilitator.
- Sprint planning: Scrum master.
- Daily standup: Development team.
- Backlog refinement: Product owner.
- Sprint review: Product owner.
- Retrospective: Scrum master.
Learn more about everyone’s roles and responsibilities during the scrum events. Then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Does the scrum master facilitate all the scrum events?
The scrum master primarily facilitates two scrum events:
- Sprint planning
- The retrospective
The scrum master can help facilitate other meetings while a new team is beginning to learn scrum.
Learn more about roles during scrum events. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum events purpose
What is the goal of each Scrum event?
- Sprint planning: Clarify the direction and goal for the sprint.
- Daily standup: Everyone on the team gains updated visibility into everyone’s work.
- Backlog refinement: Understand upcoming work.
- Sprint review: Present finished work to stakeholders for feedback.
- Sprint retrospective: Review how the team works and make necessary adjustments.
Understand the purpose of the scrum meetings. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Which scrum events facilitate inspection and adaptation?
Inspection and adaptation (along with transparency) are pillars of scrum, so all events involve them.
- Sprint planning: the purpose and work of the sprint are inspected.
- Daily standup: progress toward the sprint goal is inspected, and adjustments are made.
- Backlog refinement: upcoming work is inspected, and PBIs are adapted.
- Sprint review: delivered work is inspected, and upcoming work is adapted
- Retrospective: team health and interactions are inspected, and norms or plans are adapted.
Learn more about the role of events in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Which scrum event is for process improvement?
Process improvement aligns closely with the scrum pillars of transparency, inspection and adaptation.
- Sprint planning: How do we improve the product?
- Daily standup: How do we improve our approach to the sprint goal?
- Backlog refinement: How do we improve the quality of the product backlog?
- Sprint review: How do we improve the functionality being delivered?
- Retrospective: How do we improve how our team works together?
Out of all the events, the retrospective is the most focused on process improvement.
Learn more about events in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What is the goal of the scrum of scrum event?
The scrum of scrums is an extra scrum event used when multiple scrum teams are collaborating together on a single product.
The scrum of scrums follows a similar pattern to the daily scrum session. The session allows the teams to update each other on what has been done, what obstacles have been encountered, and what to do next.
The scrum of scrums allows those teams to stay in sync and account for dependencies that bridge across teams. When facilitated well with healthy teams the scrum of scrum can even create collective ownership you see in self organizing teams.
If multiple scrum teams are collaborating on a single product then ideally both teams care more about it the product as a whole succeeds versus just caring if they did their part. The transparency, evaluation and adaptation from the scrum or scrums can make this possible.
To learn more explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
