If you organize workflows according to the Scrum principle, there are certain events that occur regularly. Since Scrum is an iterative process, the work is carried out in repetitive cycles. Each event takes place again with each repetition. The frequency of Scrum events means that there are hardly ever any unscheduled meetings. All events have a fixed timeframe.
The cycle itself is known as a “sprint.” This describes the development phase. At the end of a sprint, the development team delivers a finished product increment. This means, that the development must have led to a product that can potentially be delivered. Each sprint has a clear mission that is completed at the end of a project. The timeframe for a sprint is determined in advance, but should not exceed 30 days. When determining the timespan, the following factors should be taken into account: a sprint can’t be extended or shortened, and the other project sprints should have the same duration.
Sprints are deliberately kept short so that the formulation of goals is not too complicated. The short duration also ensures that progress can be reviewed at the end of each month. Only in a few exceptional cases may a product owner cancel a sprint – and only the product owner. It’s possible to do so if, for example, the company’s goal has changed and the original goal no longer needs to be achieved. In principle, however, sprints shouldn’t be cancelled, as this reduces productivity.
A sprint begins with sprint planning. All roles within a Scrum team should be involved in this phase. During a meeting, participants discuss the upcoming product increment – what should each increment entail and how should the goal be achieved. The meeting should last no more than eight hours. The starting point for the planning phase should be the product backlog. The development team and the product owner sit down together and agree on which goals should be achieved in the coming month. The development team then discusses how the tasks should be completed. At the end of the meeting, the developers should discuss the plan together with the product owner and the Scrum master.
Within the sprint, a Scrum takes place every day. This occurs at the same time and the same place each day, to organize the company’s effort. During this 15-minute meeting, the developer team goes through the outstanding tasks for the day and the progress made the previous day. The developers also assess the general progress of the project, including the progress made with backlog entries. The daily comparison ensures that all parties involved remain focused on their goals, which ultimately results in increased productivity.
The Scrum master is responsible for ensuring that the daily Scrum takes place, while the developers are responsible themselves for the progress of the meetings. They decide which items are discussed in each meeting. As long as the content is about achieving the sprint goal and the 15 minutes are not exceeded, the Scrum master does not interfere, and ensures that no one else interferes the developers during the daily Scrum.
When the sprint has come to an end, a sprint review follows. This process analyzes the product increment. The results are evaluated together with people that aren’t part of the Scrum team but still have an interest in the product, such as company owners or customers (collectively called stakeholders at Scrum). Additionally, the work processes are discussed and the various problems or challenges that arose during development are shared. This has an impact on the further planning, because the product owner uses the opportunity to respond to the progress of the backlog. The findings of the sprint influence the outlook for future performance.
The respective market situation also has an influence on the backlog. Particularly with long-term projects, priorities can shift and budgets can change. Such topics will also be considered in the sprint review and will change the future approach. For a month-long sprint, no more than four hours are required for the review.
The sprint review is followed by another review, the sprint retrospective. The entire Scrum team – including the product owner and scrum master, but not the stakeholders – sit together for a feedback round that should last no longer than three hours. While the review focuses primarily on the product and the progress of the product, the retrospective is mostly about teamwork. The aim of the second review is to improve the team’s ability to work together and to smoothen out any internal problems. As soon as a sprint ends, the planning phase of the next one begins.