Sprint planning

The aim of this meeting is to create the sprint backlog (a subset of the product backlog) and sprint goal. The delivery team plans the upcoming sprint. This meeting should be no more than 4 hours.

Outcomes:

• talk through the ultimate goal for the project
• talk through the user stories
• developers will break each user story into tasks, giving estimates for each one
• the product owner will sign off the priority order for the first sprint

After this meeting, the task list is set and there is no going back.

Daily scrum

These are 15 minute meetings at the same time every day that you are in a sprint. 3 topics are discussed to keep it short and sweet:

• what did you do yesterday?
• what will you do today?
• do you have any blockers?

These are commitments that you are making as part of the self organising team

Sprint demo

There are only so many different ways to demonstrate a product but the key is not to go into the technicalities of how something has been done. We perfer to demo a product then and there instead of recording a demo and pressing play – so it is better to have all the right people in the same room. Nevertheless we are a digital team so we can look at including people on skype / appear.in or recording the demo for those who can’t attend.

A demo should follow a similar route each time:

• create a story – use personas to guide the end to end process
• plan what to do if something doesn’t work the way it should
• be prepared for questions

Sprint retro

It is crucial for us to look at continually improving throughout the project we are working on. Retros styles will change depending on the team / project but the outcome is always the same. Blame is not the name of the game in a retro but you need to be open and honest if something isnt working as it should then say. Remember the good stuff is worth shouting about too!

Tech review

A chance to take a step back and look at what you have done through your peers eyes. Unlike the demo this is where you do look at the how and the why.

Tech reviews are not only for the benefit of those on the project team, for other team members its about knowing what’s being developed around you and making sure you keep up to date with the learning that comes from each project.

Service testing and refactoring

Service testing looks at what is in the test /UAT environment. Testing isn’t just about testing the process from end to end putting in all the correct answers, testers should be trying to break it. What happens if I do this…. What if I put in something completely random in this box instead of a date? Feeding back findings is the important bit – is it a bug (something that should work but doesn’t ) or is it a new feature that needs adding to the backlog?

Backlog refinement

Also known as backlog grooming the Scrum master / Business Analyst should be working with the PO to refine the backlog. This could be adding user stories to newly identified features or ensuring the backlog is in priority order (high to low) ready for the next sprint planning. Remember the PO owns the backlog so this needs to be completed together while keeping in mind TIME / COST / SCOPE of the project.

Release tasks

Once the sprint cycle has finished and you have received product sign off from your PO it is time to go through the release tasks. This is where the developers ensure everything is set up for the production environment and the Scrum Master ensures support processes are ready. There should be 3 days put aside for this at the end of the project before the day of release.

User feedback and testing

At the end of each sprint, we give a demonstration of the product to the service and any interested stakeholders. The demo should be no more than 2 hours.

The demo is usually followed by a retro (retrospective) where people are invited to share their thoughts on the team’s working practice, during the last sprint. The retro should take no more than 1.5 hours.

We also use this time to test what we have created with real users and stakeholdsers

Use the method cards below for more information on techniques and discussion points.

Delivery sign-off

At the end of the last sprint, we go through the feature list and make sure that all requirements have been completed to the agreed acceptance criteria.

If the product owner gives consent to go live, the scrum master will set a date and begin the go-live task list.

When the service has gone live, it’s important to hand over the backlog to the product owner – they will add any new requests to the list and come back when there is enough to warrant the next iteration.