One of the standard events in Scrum is the Sprint Review. Why does it exist and what are the advantages?
Advantages for Product Owners
- Goal achievement
Clarity on whether the sprint goal was achieved or what was missing to achieve the goal. Was the goal sufficiently clear and motivating? In any case, a possible retro issue. - Feedback: task explanation
At the latest in the review, product owners and stakeholders recognize whether the developers had a sufficiently similar idea of the planned result. Deviations can lead to the need for rework, which should be avoided in the future, e.g., through more frequent coordination in the sprint. - Improving team communication
If things are regularly missing that the product owner took for granted (e.g. documentation), he can explicitly mention these things as expected results in planning in the future. - Product backlog additions
New stories can arise or stand out due to rework requirements or new ideas: These must be sorted appropriately in the backlog. - Product Backlog reprioritization
When looking at the newly created, product owners or stakeholders occasionally realize that a topic that was highly prioritized in the backlog is now less important because what has emerged is already close to the goal of the previously highly prioritized topic. Sometimes backlog items are even dropped in whole or in part.
Advantages for Developers
- Goal achievement
Clarity whether the sprint goal was achieved or what was missing to achieve the goal. If the goal was missed, this can be an important topic of the retrospective. For example, was the goal sufficiently present during the sprint? - Praise
The review provides a space to be proud of what has been achieved (“pride of work”). It is also not uncommon that in addition to praise for the excellent work of the team, particularly creative solutions or good decisions are highlighted. - Feedback: Task understanding
If an implementation does not correspond to the idea of the product owner or the stakeholders, I as a developer can consider asking the product owner earlier in the future or ask for more detailed explanations. - Feedback: Quality
If errors are detected in the review, I can test more intensively or use additional principles (Clean Code: KISS, …) and methods (e.g. Pair Programming) to avoid errors in advance and consider the effort to implement these actions in the next planning. - More reliable planning
At the end of the review it is clear what has really been completed and where rework is needed. Only based on the scope of what is really finished, the team should draw the content of its next sprint (subject to special effects that can be planned, such as vacations, etc.).
Advantages for Scrum Masters
- Goal achievement
Clarity on whether the sprint goal was achieved or what was missing to achieve the goal. Were there obstacles that could have been removed faster? In any case a possible retro issue. - Avoidance of disruptions
The review focuses the feedback on a single event. If this didn’t exist, the feedback would keep coming in unplanned from the side. - Doing Scrum
Last but not least: Without Sprint Review no Scrum. Short and sweet.
Feedback
If you have any comments, ideas, suggestions or other feedback about this article, feel free to send me an email at Feedback[at]scrummastersmind.com.