Five Tips for Better Sprint Reviews (aka Demos)
The Sprint review, aka Sprint Demo, is a critical feedback loop in Scrum. The purpose is to get actionable feedback on the product from real customers and stakeholders and course-correct so we can build a better product. Here are some tips for having a more impactful Sprint Review.
Tip 1: Make it a Test Drive, not a demo
Instead of showing the product, put it in your stakeholders’ hands. Let them kick the tires and drive it around the block and experience the product for themselves. Provide a summary of the features delivered and give stakeholders a few goals to accomplish using those features.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Jason Corneveaux by Creative Commons license.
Tip 2: Foster Direct Collaboration between Stakeholders and Team Members
As your stakeholders test drive the product, put them side by side with individual team members - not just the Product Owner. Leverage this opportunity to engage in conversations and build collaborative relationships directly between team members and key stakeholders. We strive for every team member to empathize with customers and better understand their pains and needs.
Tip 3: Invite the Right Stakeholders
The goal of the review is to get actionable feedback, and that requires having the right people there to test drive your product and interact with the team. Get real customers and end users if possible. If that’s not feasible, then get the people closest to real customers: sales people, account managers, etc. You might want a few business stakeholders as well. The right people might vary from sprint to sprint depending on what has been delivered. Don’t invite people whose feedback isn’t important.
Tip 4: Review the Product Vision and Key Value Drivers
You do have a well-defined Product Vision, right? And of course you’ve identified the key value drivers for your product (e.g. intuitive UX, security, innovative capability X, unmatched content, or whatever). Review these things with the team and stakeholders, and demonstrate how your next Sprint and next milestone aligns with them.
Tip 5: Ask Stakeholders to Rate your Review Meeting
Ask stakeholders how valuable the review meeting is to them. A simple way to do this is to use the ROTI technique (return on time invested). Each participants rates the value of the review meeting versus the time spent on a 1 to 5 scale by showing 1 to 5 fingers, where five fingers means “it was worth every minute!” and one finger means “complete waste of my time.” (Be careful which finger you use in this case!) After the votes are in, ask what would make it better, and improve it the next time around.