Several timeboxed events must be carried out when following Scrum, failure to carry out the event is a failure to adhere to Scrum.
The Sprint
The Sprint itself is an event, timeboxed to a maximum of one month, that is a container for all other events.
Within the Sprint, there are the following Scrum events:
- Sprint Planning.
- Daily Scrums.
- Sprint Review.
- Retrospective.
Each Sprint has the following:
- A clear Sprint Goal, stating what is to be built.
- A plan for how the Sprint Goal will be accomplished.
- An understanding of the work items to be done.
- A potentially releasable Increment at the end.
It is crucial, during the Sprint, that no changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal and that the quality goals do not decrease.
However, the Development Team and the Product Owner may renegotiate the scope of work within the Sprint, as more is learned.
Sprint Planning
Sprint Planning is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month sprint, and usually shorter for shorter Sprints, a guide may be to use two hours for each week in a Sprint.
The event is intended to produce a Sprint Backlog, which is the result of determining the following:
- What work can be done in this Sprint, and delivered in the resulting Increment?
- How can this chosen work be done?
From this, the Scrum Team can decide upon a Sprint Goal that will help to guide the Development Team and keep them on track to deliver the intended Increment at the end.
From the Product Backlog, the Development Team selects items for the Sprint with help from the Product Owner who discusses the objective and provides clarity to the Product Backlog items. The items are broken down to determine what work must be done to fulfil the ‘Definition of Done’.
With the work now known, the team then plans an approach for how to complete the work and build the resulting Increment.
Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum is timeboxed to a maximum of 15 minutes and is intended to inspect the work implemented since the last Daily Scrum and forecast the work to be done until the next one. It is a key ‘Inspect and Adapt’ meeting because it can improve communications, identify impediments, speed up decision-making, and improve the team’s knowledge and understanding.
It is an ideal opportunity to inspect progress towards completing the Sprint Goal and the work in the Sprint Backlog, a measurement that lets the team know if it needs to adapt, or replan, the Sprint’s work.
Sprint Review
At the end of the Sprint, a Sprint Review is held for the Scrum Team and stakeholders to inspect the Increment produced and, if necessary, adapt the Product Backlog.
Based on the Increment inspection and any changes to the Product Backlog, the attendees collaborate on what can be done next to optimise value.
The Sprint Review has a timebox of four hours maximum for a one-month Sprint, and usually less for shorter Sprints. A guide may be one hour for each week in the Sprint.
Sprint Retrospective
The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and the last Sprint and create a plan for improvements that can be carried out in the next Sprint.
Typically when inspecting the previous Sprint, the team will consider:
- People.
- Relationships.
- Process.
- Tools.
The team can use the Sprint Retrospective to determine what went well along with any potential improvements and create a plan for how those improvements could be implemented going forward.
The timebox for a Sprint Retrospective is a maximum of 3 hours for a one-month Sprint, and usually less for shorter Sprints. A guide may be to use 45 minutes for each week in the Sprint.
Scrum Framework
Scrum Framework – Events – (Here)