Sprint Review Meeting Pitfalls – What Should Be Avoided To Get The Most Out Of Scrum Implementation

The sprint review meeting is held at the end of each sprint. It is very difficult to avail the benefits out of scrum implementation if the review meetings fail to remain effective. It is important to know about certain pitfalls, which can render a review useless and meaningless.
 

Use the review meetings for show casing purposes
Generally, during a sprint review meeting, as per the norm the team members demonstrate the development carried out during the sprint, which has just completed. The tasks and functionalities developed are exhibited to the product owner in the meeting. The PO verifies the tasks developed as to whether they comply with the acceptance criteria and if they are “shippable”. The team is apprised whether the task is accepted as “Done”, or is still incomplete since it does not meet the acceptance criteria as defined in the user story. In many ways, the sprint review is often utilized as a “Show and Tell” meeting, and there is nothing wrong with this. However, if the meeting ends with this activity, it is wrong because the main purpose of the review is not satisfied.
 

The objective of the review is not to focus only upon the items which have been developed during the sprint, and which of them have been accepted as done. It is important to update the product backlog with the items, which have been accepted as done, and transfer those items which have not been developed during the sprint, or which have failed to fulfill the acceptance criteria, to be moved back to the product backlog. It is imperative that the entire review should be conducted in whole, and the product backlog updated appropriately at the end of the meeting.
 

Management and stakeholders “take over” the meeting 

Even though it is not mandatory for the stakeholders and the management to attend the meeting, they can do so if they desire. Scrum supports transparency, and since the stakeholders have invested money into the project, they have a right to know about how the project is proceeding. The review provides an opportunity to find how much development has taken place during the sprint, and how the team is performing. Ideally, the stakeholders should participate as guests and keep a low profile while the meeting is in progress. They should refrain from making comments or participating in an overt manner by asking questions directly to the team members. Moreover, at times the stakeholders tend to focus upon individual team members and keep a track of what they are doing, and how they are performing. This is in antithesis of what scrum advocates. Scrum encourages and promotes team efforts. It is what the team delivers as a whole, which is more important than individual efforts.
 

The product owner should limit the participation of the stakeholders in the meeting so the guests do not overcrowd the meeting place, and the team members have enough room to conduct the meeting. The comfort levels of the team should not be compromised upon. The product owner should also warn the guest to participate in the meeting as passive participants, and not carry out any activity which can disturb the proceedings in any way or manner. Reviews can become meaningless if the management or the stakeholders dominate them.
 

Skipping the sprint review meetings 

There is a general tendency amongst the team members to skip the review meeting if they have failed to complete all the user stories taken up in the sprint backlog, or if they consistently fail to get the user stories accepted as “done” by the product owner. The team believes there is no point in attending the meeting since the user stories are not being accepted.
 

It is important to understand that the purpose of the review is not just to accept or reject the user stories. The main objective is to “review” the performance of the team members and carry out self-correction activity after identifying potential pitfalls. Scrum promotes self-learning, and it is imperative that the team members actively participate in the process and learn lessons from prior sprints so they can auto correct their mistakes. Skipping the reviews can halt the self-correction process, and render the review ineffective.
 

Team members remain absent 

It is very important for the product owner to remain present during the review meeting. In fact, the entire review revolves around the product owner, since the basic purpose of the meeting is to get the user stories accepted or rejected by him or her. Therefore, if the product owner remains absent, and does not attend the meeting, the objective of holding the meeting is defeated.
 

The team members should also remain present in the meeting along with the scrum master. The review offers an opportunity for the team to exhibit its work, and generally each member demonstrates the development carried out. The team members take turns to display their work. As per the norm, each member is supposed to demonstrate his or her development. The review also offers an opportunity to avail the feedback from the product owner regarding the acceptance criteria, and know more about the future user stories to be developed by the team. If the team members remain absent during the meeting, they miss the chance of getting informed about how the future user stories ought to be developed.
 

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