How to Run a Useful Sprint Review Meeting

Sprint Review meetings represent the finish line of the sprint.

It’s a great feeling to finish a project iteration.  In a sprint review meeting, finished product is presented to the product owner and the stage is set for the next iteration.

In agile project management, a sprint review meeting is conducted at the conclusion of each 1-4 week long “sprint” (iteration).

The purpose of the sprint review is to present the results of the work performed during the sprint.  As per agile principle #7, “Working software is the primary measure of progress,” the sprint review should present a functional, shippable product increment, fully tested and ready to send to the marketplace, not powerpoint slides or presentation materials.

It is not necessarily released to the customer immediately – that is at the discretion of the product owner who takes delivery of the product increment.

Since the sprint review represents the conclusion of one iteration of the agile project management iterative framework, the project team seeks to “adapt” by discussing the product scope and requirements for use in planning the next sprint.

Sprint Review Meetings are not Sprint Retrospective meetings.  The latter occurs after the former (generally).  Sprint Retrospectives are internal, that is, they do not include the Product Owner, and are used to discuss internal processes to improve efficiencies during the next and subsequent iterations.

Sprint Review Meeting Participants

The following three people/groups attend the sprint review meeting:

1. The Development team performs the work in building the product.
2. The Scrum Master is the scrum expert who is tasked with managing the product backlog and roadmap, ensuring agile practices are being implemented.
3. The Product Owner takes delivery of the project’s product and provides the team with priorities for product development.

These three compose the scrum team and must attend the sprint review meeting.  A fourth is often included:

1. Stakeholders who have an interest in the product can attend the sprint review meeting.

Sprint Review Meeting Agenda

The following items make up the sprint review meeting, in the rough order in which they are normally discussed:

• The development team provides a demonstration of working product that has been developed during the sprint.
• The scrum master summarizes the product backlog items that have been completed each according to their own “definition of done.”
• The product owner and other stakeholders receive the product increment and ask any questions related to functionality and features.
• The development team discusses what went well during the sprint, what problems it ran into, and how it solved those problems.
• The scrum master reviews the sprint goal developed during sprint planning and discusses how it was accomplished.
• The product owner reviews the product backlog, and discusses priorities for the next sprint and future sprints.  Any sprint backlog items that were not completed are released back into the product backlog and considered for future sprints.  These are usually accompanied with good (healthy) discussions.
• The whole group collaborates on what the next steps are, whether marketplace conditions have changed, or requirements must be adapted to changing circumstances.  The release schedule is revised and updated as necessary.
• The scrum master reviews the product backlog, including estimates and timelines to complete the project.
• The development team confirms estimates for user stories, and produces new ones if necessary.

At the conclusion of the sprint review meeting, a revised product backlog should be in place and ready for the next sprint planning meeting that occurs at the beginning of the next sprint.

Sprint Review vs. Sprint Retrospective

Although both the sprint review and sprint retrospective take place at the end of the sprint, and have largely the same participants (the scrum team), their content is different and they should be kept as separate meetings.  Generally, the sprint review occurs before the sprint retrospective.

The sprint review is externally focused (presenting sprint results) whereas the sprint retrospective is internally focused (scrutinizing team processes and efficiency).

To maximize the benefits of the agile project management inspect – adapt cycle, the sprint retrospective is a place designed specifically for the project team’s internal process adaptation and evolution.  If the two meetings are blended, the focus on adaptation is lost.

Sprint Review Best Practices

The following best practices provide a checklist that ensures sprint review meetings go smoothly and add the maximum amount of value:

• The meeting is attended by all scrum team members, as well as stakeholders that have an interest in the current iteration.
• The product is demonstrated using working, tested, and shippable functionality.
• The product backlog is updated.
• User story estimates within the product backlog are verified and updated where necessary.
• The overall product roadmap is discussed and project schedule, budget, and scope are reviewed.

Sprint Review Length

The sprint review meeting is timeboxed into 1 hour per week of sprint.  For example, a two week sprint would have a maximum sprint review of 2 hours.  This allows enough time to present the current product increment and discuss overall direction and priorities.

This length also prevents the sprint review meeting from evolving into a lengthy project status debate.  It is important to keep the focus on the presentation of completed, functional product.  Although project status is an acceptable, even necessary, component of the meeting, it should take place after the product demonstration and strictly contained within the overall sprint review meeting time limit.

Scrum Events

The sprint review meeting is the fourth out of five Scrum Events outlined in the Scrum Guide.  The five scrum events are:

1. The Sprint is the iteration in which work is performed in order to produce product increments.
2. Sprint planning is the meeting / phase which occurs at the very beginning of the sprint.  Product backlog items are moved into the sprint backlog, signifying that they will be completed during the upcoming sprint.
3. Daily scrum is the brief, daily meeting of the scrum team to keep the team focused and plan work for the next 24 hours.
4. Sprint review occurs at the end of the sprint and presents the results of the sprint to the stakeholders.
5. Sprint retrospective also occurs at the end of the sprint and provides a time for the scrum team to inspect how the people, relationships, processes, and tools are working and adapt accordingly.

With the proper mastery of these scrum events, and particularly the Sprint Review meeting, you can ensure your project experiences the excitement of reaching the finish line.