5 Agile Scrum Ceremonies
In this article we will look at the 5 agile scrum ceremonies in brief with their purpose, attendees and duration of each ceremony.
The five scrum ceremonies are:
1.Sprint Planning
2.Daily Scrum
3.Backlog Refinement
4.Sprint Review
5.Sprint Retrospective
Before jumping into what actually scrum ceremonies are ,let us quickly review three scrum roles.
The 3 scrum roles: product owner, scrum master, and development team
Product Owner:
>This role represents the client and the business in general for the product on which they’re working.
>They own the backlog & strive to prioritize items to be worked on before every sprint.
>They make executive product decisions on a daily basis.
>Monitoring the progress of the product development
>Ensure that the product backlog is visible, transparent and clear.
>Ultimately, they’re translating customer needs into actionable work items for the Development team.
Scrum Master:
>This person is responsible for ensuring the team has everything they need to deliver value
>This person like a coach and facilitator to the team .
>They set up meetings and communicate progress and blockers
Development Team:
>This is a group of cross-functional team members all focused on the delivery of working software
>This cross functional team consists of QA’s, Tech’s, Designers, BA’s and other tech roles
>Team is driven by scrum master and product owner who are self organised to provide value to the team
Now Let’s discuss on various scrum ceremonies:
1.Sprint Planning:
Purpose:
Held at the beginning of the sprint to discuss:
>To meet and review the prioritized Product Backlog.
>With the series of the discussions the team creates a sprint backlog that consists of all items they are committing to complete at the end of the sprint. This is called the sprint goal. The sprint goal should be a shippable increment of work which can be demonstrated at the end of a sprint. It needs to be agreed upon by the entire team.
>The Product Owner is responsible for having the Product Backlog ready for review before Sprint Planning begins. This means adding acceptance criteria, requirements, and necessary details for the development team to accurately estimate the level of effort
Attendees: product owner, development team & scrum master.
How long : If the sprint is of 2 weeks long, the Sprint Planning ceremony should last no longer than 4 hours
2.Daily Scrum:
Purpose:
>It is daily stand up meeting provides a frequent opportunity for the team to get together and communicate individual progress toward the sprint goal
>Scrum Master drives this meeting
>During the meeting, each member of the team should briefly answer the below ones:
*What has been done yesterday
*What needs to be done for today
*Blockers
Attendees: Scrum master and development team. The Product Owner is an optional attendee
How long :It should be for 15 minutes
3.Backlog refinement:
Purpose:
>Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog.
> This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items.
>During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised.
> However, Product Backlog items can be updated at any time by the Product Owner or at the Product Owner’s discretion.
Attendees: Product owner, development team ,scrum master and SME’s
How long : 45 minutes to 1 Hr
4.Sprint Review:
Purpose:
Conducted at the end of a sprint, the team:
>presents the completed work to the stakeholders
*collaborates with stakeholders on topics such as:
>Inviting feedback about the completed product increment
>Discussing the impact of incomplete work
>Receiving suggestions for upcoming work
>Product Owners should see this event as a valuable opportunity to review and refine the product backlog with stakeholders.
Attendees: Product owner, development team & scrum master
How long : 2 Hrs
5.Sprint Retrospective:
Purpose:
Conducted at the end of the sprint, in this Team
>Should reflect on the past sprint
>Should identify and agree on continuous process improvement actions
Below ones should be considered in sprint retrospective:
>What went well during the last sprint?
>What didn’t go well?
>What could we do differently to improve in the next sprint?
Attendees: The Scrum Master and the Development Team. The Product Owner is an optional attendee
How long : 1.5 Hrs
