How can you effectively demonstrate progress to stakeholders during a Sprint Review?

Scrum doesn't have ceremonies. Scrum has events and has done so since October 2011 when they were first called events in the Scrum Guide. The previous edition in Feb 2010 called them meetings.

Sprint review is a ceremony which enables teams to seek showcase their work and seek feedback. While showcasing the increment is the first part of the review, getting feedback is the primary focus. Here are a few pointers on how we can effectively showcase the work and get feedback, 1. Start with a brief summary of what was the sprint goal, what were the stories committed and what is the increment all about 2. Take the first work item brief it and demo the software 3. Showcase the functional software of all the completed work items. Focus on the value delivered 4. Spare time to get feedback on the increment and add it to the backlog. Check with the stakeholders if it meets the demand 5. Summarise the incremental value delivered

Elevate Sprint Reviews with precise goals and impactful user stories. Foster stakeholder engagement, share achievements transparently, and address challenges with adaptability. Measure progress against goals, present relevant metrics, and outline a meticulous plan for continuous improvement. Emphasize collaboration, celebrate milestones, and cultivate a vibrant, participatory atmosphere. This ensures stakeholders are well-informed, engaged, and contributes to a corporate culture of perpetual enhancemen

Effectively demonstrate progress to stakeholders during a Sprint Review by showcasing tangible outcomes, such as working software or completed features. Clearly communicate how these achievements align with the project's goals and respond to stakeholder expectations. Encourage active participation and gather feedback to ensure alignment between the delivered product and stakeholder expectations.

One of the effective ways is to show a quick ppt or any word preso on the actual progress made with metrics or using any other ALM tool like JIRA to showcase the progress. Challenges and dependencies can be discussed in some other call , otherwise it will become a status call and not review meeting. During the demo , key stakeholders from the product side bring a fresh perspective of feedback which needs to be clearly recorded in a tool that helps us to close those action items. PO,SM and if possible business also can join this retro to give instant feedback which saves rework time. Sooner than later. If it is inspect and adapt at the program level , it's always good to have a proper agenda with a pre read shared with the key stakeholders

Along with metrics and data, another line item which can fit in here is to represent impact in visual form of chart and dashboard which can effectively communicate the value delivered. These can be useful in situations where focus areas are majorly in resiliency building and performance improvement.

It is recommended to start with referring to the Sprint Goal defined during Sprint Planning, and can tag back to the value delivered by user stories, and how the entire increment benefits the personas from the business perspective. Also, we can showcase the end-to-end functionality of the increment, rather than going through each user story. This way it helps stakeholders as well to identify and share any feedback, suggestions and changes for upcoming Sprint.

As saying in the Agile Manifesto principles: Working software is the primary measure of progress. You have to show how the increment reports value to the product, following the goals of the sprint. Sometime the software talks alone, other we need to use more information. For example, sometimes the software doesn't change to the final user, but we have achieve a cost reduction and that values the product.

To couch this in 'Sprint Review' might not be the clearest nor most accurate framing of the question. Depending on culture and implementation, a Sprint Review may be something very different as one goes from organization to organization or even project to project. Lest we allow religion to dictate what ought to be common sense practices, let us be clear: A Sprint Review is whatever you have experienced and it can be different depending on perspective. The Engaging of Stakeholders, however, boils down to some fairly basic principles: 1) People will be supportive of those things they help to create, 2) Listen, listen, listen, and 3) Be succinct, clear, and take responsibility. I'm sure there are more principles, but these should help.

The output of the sprint review must be a revisited backlog based on the feedback received. That feedback is obtained talking with the stakeholders, who is recommended to be present in the sprint review.

Sprint Review is not a one-way communication of the team showcasing the value delivered. Engaging stakeholders and making a note of feedback helps improve the overall quality of the product in the long run. Remember, Customer collaboration over Contract Negotiation.

One of the most important benefit of the Sprint review is to align the future roadmap and progress of the product. The team can take the opportunity to share what is the upcoming priorities for the team and if that is still aligned with the stakeholders needs. Gathering feedback on the metrics presented and how the sprint review can be improved is also vital to ensure the sprint review is not a slide show presentation that could have been sent as an email.

As a Salesforce BA, I record the demonstrations in the form of videos without explanation, as a back-up, in case a problem arises on the day of the Sprint Review. And if all goes well with the data set and the technical environment, I do live demos, which are always interactive and appreciated by the stakeholders.

Recommend to start with appreciating the team focusing on delivering the Sprint goal, valuable increment. We can even include the "In Progress" stories and the approach we plan to complete them, any support, guidance required from the stakeholders for upcoming Sprints.

To further improve the effectiveness of a Sprint Review, incorporating visualization techniques can be extremely beneficial. Visual aids like charts, graphs, or even simple visual summaries can help in making complex data more understandable and engaging for stakeholders. This approach caters to the varied ways in which different people absorb information. For example, a burn-down chart can visually depict the progress of the sprint, or a feature roadmap can illustrate how the current sprint fits into the larger product development timeline. These visual tools can make it easier for stakeholders to grasp the progress and challenges, leading to more informed discussions and feedback.

The success of a Sprint Review depends also on how the team is breaking down the work. If it is a vertical and incremental approach, chances are the team and the people involved are setting themselves up for success.

Für mich ist das A und O im Sprint Review es als ?Demo“ zu halten und den Stakeholdern so viel wie m?glich live zu zeigen. Hierbei ist es wichtig, sich schon im vorhinein Gedanken zu machen, welche Elemente zB UserStories im Sprint bearbeitet werden. Hier entscheidet sich schon wieviel wirklich ?demonstriert“ werden kann.