The Sprint Review for Scrum Masters – Part 2
Wrapping Up The Sprint Meeting
After the sprint review, there are also some other important follow-ups. First, any new backlog items must be captured and added to the backlog. Second, re-prioritizing any items that were discussed. And third, doing any additional follow-ups on items that came up during the sprint review. If there was anything where the additional discussion was needed then make sure to schedule those meetings too, this ensures that the team is executing the right tasks in the right way.
Common Sprint Review Mistakes
A common mistake is demonstrating incomplete user stories during the Sprint Review. Only completed user stories should be demonstrated. If there are some major user stories that can’t be demonstrated, that’s fine. Each sprint should be focused on moving the end product forward incrementally and if user stories have been decomposed to a suitable level there should always be something to show for the sprint.
If you get to a sprint review and you’ve only done a suite of background updates that aren’t moving front-end functionality, then you have not actually move the product forward that sprint and you should consider if you need longer sprints or if you need to change the work in your sprints to accommodate both front and back-end work.
What if you have a bad sprint review? They happen. Sometimes sprints go poorly and key features start to creep in scope or end up being much more difficult than originally expected. It happens to the best teams. In these cases, it’s good to just be honest with the people attending and let them know about the setbacks and present how the team plans to move forward.
Our Favourite Agile Books
We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum:
Common Sprint Review Mistakes
Sometimes it’s a good opportunity to discuss with the team if it’s worth de-prioritizing a feature or re-scoping the level of functionality involved.
Sprint Reviews are supposed to be a facilitated celebration of all the hard work that went into the last sprint. The team should be proud to present their work and the stakeholders should have a vested interest in the success of the product, everyone in the room wants this product to succeed. Going into the meeting with appropriate expectations is key to having a happy and successful Sprint Review so that there is no doubt regarding what people will and will not see functioning. Once the team gets the hang of running a Sprint Review they can be some of the best meetings in the agile process.