What Are Sprint Reviews?

What Are Sprint Reviews? What Are They Used For?

Sprint Reviews are used to demonstrate and inspect an increment of the solution with stakeholders in order to elicit feedback to determine if the solution being developed aligns with the need.

• Regular face-to-face feedback
• At the end of each iteration, bring key stakeholders together
• Demos the increment
• Early feedback
• Deliver early and deliver often
• Insist on soliciting feedback

When Are Sprint Reviews Done?

In Agile

• Iteratively
• At the end of each iteration

In Kanban

• Bi-weekly reviews

The sprint review is the second to last event of the sprint and is timeboxed to a maximum of four hours for a one month sprint or two hours for a two week sprint.

Sprint Reviews Elements

Solution

• No screenshots, mock-ups or prototypes
• Real demo
• Explain what product backlog items have been done and what has not been done

Stakeholders

• Team demonstrates the finished piece of work
• Include key stakeholders - crucial and best suited to provide feedback
• Product Owner or customer representative or product manager

Strengths Of Sprint Review

• Lightweight and easy to conduct
• Checkpoint for validation
• Face-to-face communication is preferred
• Engage stakeholders as soon as possible

Limitations Of Sprint Review

• Too many stakeholders can participate
• Elicited information can be too extensive and hard to analyze
• Feedback from the stakeholders with higher ranks could be recognized as more significant

In Summary

The sprint review is an informal session where the team gathers to review completed work and determine whether additional changes are needed. It is an opportunity to regularly and frequently engage with stakeholders to gain feedback on products being delivered. It's an opportunity to pause, reflect, and celebrate the team’s accomplishments and enable everyone to move forward with renewed purpose and shared commitment.