What sprint review meetings are for
Sprint review meetings are an important part of project work that goes beyond problem identification. These meetings allow you to involve stakeholders, share ideas and solve problems together. They can also be held in a pleasant atmosphere and help to build team spirit. However, holding such events frequently is not a good idea, as participants will eventually get bored, and the meetings will not produce the desired results.
Ways to increase the effectiveness of the spring review meetings
During the meetings, the scrum master, the development team and the product owner get feedback on the functionality and how to improve it. But it is not always possible to get practical benefits from such events. There can be several reasons for this. One of them is the bad timing of the meeting. For example, it may coincide with a period of meetings with the manager. It is also difficult to get full value from people on a Friday when they are tired from the week and just want to get home quicker. Therefore, before scheduling a review meeting, make sure that the timing is right for everyone in the sprints.
Meetings should not be too long and boring. Otherwise, stakeholders will not attend. To avoid this, you should consider the following aspects:
- It is not worth spending a lot of time on minor issues or going into the details of how a mistake was corrected.
- To ensure that the dialogue does not deviate from the main topic of the meeting, the scrum master needs to follow the discussion and keep it on track.
- Discussions should be present. Otherwise, it will be difficult to get feedback, but they shouldn’t turn into arguments.
Involving stakeholders in the dialogue is also important to keep their attention.
Most people don’t like long meetings, so before you start the discussion, you should clearly define the topics, e.g. select a specific functionality and review it.
Difference between a presentation and a sprint review meeting
Often, scrum team members don’t realise the difference between a presentation and a sprint review meeting. The main difference between the two is the opportunity for everyone in the meeting to share their ideas on the topic under discussion. Furthermore, every suggestion should be the subject of consideration. In this way, it is possible to show that the participants’ opinion is essential for the overall progress. In this case, it is necessary to stimulate the team to dialogue and ask them to share their thoughts. At the end of the meeting, it will be useful to analyse the progress of the sprint and the product development as a whole.
