Introduction
Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective are two types of meetings, which are considered to be the two final steps in a sprint cycle. While both terms might sound synonymous or similar in their idea, they are entirely different when it comes to their meaning. In any agile development, you will come across these two Scrum events, where the former (Sprint Review) refers to a collaborative meeting organised by the Scrum team after every sprint to showcase their completed work (also known as increments) to the stakeholders for analysis and improvement. The latter (Sprint Retrospective) is a review meeting conducted after a sprint where the Scrum team discusses the areas where they performed well and identifies the areas of improvement, if any.
What Is a Sprint in Agile?
When we talk about the Agile project environment, Sprints refer to a fixed-length iteration, which usually remains a short-term duration (spanning between one to four weeks) in which a set of tasks is accomplished by a Scrum team. Here, everyone involved in the Agile project works towards a goal predefined by the stakeholders. The best part about working in sprints is that it gives ample time to the team members to continuously improve and gradually develop their project.
What Is a Sprint Review?
In Agile development, a Sprint review is a collaborative review meeting conducted at the end of every sprint, primarily with the purpose of displaying the work done to date to the product owner. The ultimate goal of a sprint review is to seek feedback from the clients and plan any future developments as discussed with the stakeholders in the meeting.
A sprint review is organised to oversee multiple activities simultaneously, for instance, tracking the daily work, aligning the day-to-day tasks with the goal of the business to ascertain that it contributes to the ultimate vision, and focusing on improvement areas wherever required.
Purpose of a Sprint Review
The only purpose of the sprint review is to evaluate the performance of the team members throughout the project completion task. By displaying the accomplished project to the stakeholders, team members can seek feedback and work on things that can be improved in future projects. Building a clear channel of communication with the stakeholders helps maintain transparency and coordination, which directly impacts the quality of deliverables. Taking time-to-time feedback on the work done during a sprint session, so that everyone involved in the project stays on the same page and can track progress.
Who Attends a Sprint Review?
The scrum team, comprising the development team, scrum master, and the product owner, participates in the Sprint review meeting. On certain occasions, the stakeholders also become a part of this meeting (especially when it is assessment time), wherein they look forward to giving feedback to the team for the work (progress) they have done to date.
Agenda of a Sprint Review
An agenda for a sprint review should encompass an in-depth discussion of the tasks completed and the areas that can be improved in the next sprint. This is where the team should ideate and discuss integrating new features, removing potential obstacles from the project beforehand, and determining if the predetermined goal is achieved.
| Read more: | Purpose of the Sprint Retrospective Meeting |
| Read more: | Purpose of the Sprint Review |
What Is a Sprint Retrospective?
In a sprint retrospective, you have the opportunity to review your last sprint and identify the areas where improvement is needed. This is a collaborative meeting or discussion where the team members, project leaders, and stakeholders come together to talk about what went well and what more could be done in future projects, which can not only enhance the quality of the deliverables but also help develop a clear vision about where and how to navigate the projects further.
In simple terms, this is a daily meeting where the performance of projects, along with the individual achievements, is considered after every sprint. The reason why this demonstration is so important is that it guides the team on where they should improve and what steps they should take to drive the project successfully.
Purpose of a Sprint Retrospective
The sprint retrospective is a great way to define a plan that can focus on the respective areas of improvement. This is where an agile team reflects upon the previously completed tasks to identify problems and shortfalls, and then works on them to prevent them from occurring in the future. This is a cycle that involves consistent improvement and incorporates:
- Assessment of the latest sprint, iteration, and work performance with the current structure of the team, the strategies put together, and the resources invested (tools, techniques, and software).
- Discussing the areas that worked well, performed even better, and the areas that would have delivered more. This is the actual stage of reflection, evaluation, consideration, and improvement.
- Structuring a reliable plan that can clearly dictate the process of work that is to be integrated from now onwards, so that the impediments are removed, and progress is easily measured.
- Conducting regular meetings helps build transparency between team members and also fosters a sense of consideration for one another. This is where the actual collaboration takes place, as people address the problem areas and identify strategies that can be eliminated from the process to streamline future sprints.
Who Attends a Sprint Retrospective?
The Scrum team, the product owner, and the stakeholders attend the sprint retrospective meeting. The reason why everyone’s involvement is crucial in a sprint retrospective meeting is that they bring in different perspectives to the discussion, and there is always something new to learn and integrate into the project.
Agenda of a Sprint Retrospective
The agenda of the Scrum retrospective meeting is to look back and reflect on the events that happened during the meeting, and why they materialised the way they did. In this meeting, everyone involved has the opportunity to think through and plan for the next project or event. The current situation is assessed in a way that any scope of potential threats or discrepancies are addressed with a plan of action promptly.
Also, check: Product Owner Role in Sprint Retrospective
Sprint Review vs Sprint Retrospective: What’s the Difference?
| Attributes | Sprint Review | Sprint Retrospective |
| Participants | The entire scrum team, which includes the product owner, scrum master, the development team and also the stakeholders involved in the project. | Only the scrum team working on the project, which includes the scrum master, product owner and development team, as this one is an internal meeting. |
| Outputs | An updated product backlog with inputs from the stakeholder review (feedback) on the product development, and a revised release plan are the main outputs of the sprint review meeting. | A curated list of priority tasks and action items to be worked on by the team within predefined dates. This helps the team members to learn and perform better in the upcoming sprint. |
| Timing | A sprint review requires only one designated hour every week throughout the sprint length. Accordingly, for a one-month sprint, it takes around four hours. | The sprint retrospective lasts up to 45 minutes every week during the entire sprint length. This duration can even extend up to 3 hours, depending on the context of the discussion in the sprint. |
| Stakeholder Involvement | The stakeholders are closely involved to give real-time feedback on the product development. Additionally, members from the higher management are also involved to give suggestions and ideas. | The sprint retrospective does not involve any external participants during the increment process. Only the scrum team is involved in this. This is an internal meeting focusing on improvements. |
| Similarities | Held at the end of every sprint, s sprint review prioritises improvement, is highly goal-oriented and responsive to stakeholder feedback. | Usually organised at the end, after the closure of tasks, the meeting focuses on improvements with the suggestions and ideas offered by the team members. |
| Examples | When the sprint review team integrates a new feature on a website for marketing purposes (for instance, to bring in more customers to the site) and asks for stakeholder feedback on the idea. | A sprint retrospective team usually works on improving the ongoing process by focusing on three key areas in the development (things to carry on, things to avoid and new additions to be made). |
| Best Practices | To oversee the entire work done during a project, ticking off the completed tasks from the list, reviewing the product backlog and organising a meeting to prepare for the next sprint and also conducting a trial run of the project. Here, the focus is on the value delivered. | To create a healthy, interactive atmosphere where there is open conversation regarding the goals to achieve and the actionable steps to take in that direction. Developing a workable timeline that covers the key areas to work on during the project. |
| Common Mistakes to Avoid | Not conducting regular meetings, not fostering a healthy work environment for the team and failing to track work progress. Moreover, not preparing well ahead of the meetings, not updating the stakeholders, can also shape up as major mistakes in any sprint review meeting. | Unnecessarily shortening the duration of important meetings and not allowing the team members to openly discuss and share feedback on the performance. Additionally, not taking timely feedback on the priority tasks, and working without a clear vision or roadmap in mind. |
Conclusion
This article discusses Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective in-depth, throwing light on all the crucial areas of these two Scrum events that must be known to those working in an Agile project environment. The Sprint Review, which is referred to as the second last event in the sprint, discusses the sprint outcome and considerations that can be made in this regard. The Sprint Retrospective, on the other hand, is considered to be the final event in the Sprint, wherein the Scrum team reflects on the improvements that can be made.
FAQs:
What is the difference between a sprint review and a retrospective?
A Sprint review presents a list of tasks completed within a project before presenting it to the stakeholders for feedback. This is an external meeting where the stakeholders and members from the higher management are involved. The goal of this meeting is to track the progress of the product to see if it aligns with the product’s vision. At the same time, the sprint retrospective prioritises the work processes, collaboration and identifies areas of concern to be addressed ahead of the next sprint.
What is a sprint review?
In Agile, a sprint review is a collaborative meeting planned at the end of every sprint. The goal of a sprint review is to evaluate the performance completed within a sprint and inform the stakeholders about the progress made in the project till that date. This meeting helps foster reliability, transparency and also helps with collaboration.
How long is the sprint review and retrospective?
Ideally, the sprint review involves four hours for a one-month sprint. On the other hand, the sprint retrospective duration takes three hours for a one-month sprint.
Can a Sprint Review and a Sprint Retrospective be combined?
Since both of them are two independent events, driven by different purposes, ideologies and having differing members, both of them cannot be combined. Moreover, both events have a designated goal, which again is dissimilar. However, if project leaders decide to combine these two events, they might need to prepare a roadmap diligently that can fully accommodate the needs of these two separate, comprehensive events.
Who participates in a Sprint Review vs a Retrospective?
The participants of a sprint review session are the Scrum team and the project stakeholders involved in it. Whereas the sprint retrospective involves only the Scrum team (including product developers, builders, testing specialists and the product owners).
What are the outputs of the Sprint Review and Retrospective?
When it comes to the outputs of the Sprint Review, it is nothing but an adapted (revised) product backlog and an updated release plan. This plan entails all the necessary information regarding a product, right from its vision, scope, timeline, resources needed, etc. Whereas, the outputs of a Sprint Retrospective are building team dynamics, diving deep into the team and tapping into their strengths and weaknesses. In addition to that, seeking timely feedback from the stakeholders and clients and taking steps towards the suggested improvements while simultaneously documenting a plan for the upcoming sprint.
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