Lesson 06: Ending the Sprint
Let’s see what happens at the end of the Sprints.
- 00:05 – So, when we reach the end of the Sprint, there are two other things that we have to do, but before that, when is it time to end the Sprint?
- 00:18 – We have two options. One of them is to say when we are done developing all the items that we have in the Sprint Backlog, and the other option is the correct option, to say that when the timebox duration is over.
- 00:33 – Remember that the second one is the case.
- 00:36 – We don’t wait and we don’t continue the Sprint until we are done with all the items.
- 00:41 – Sprints are timeboxed.
- 00:44 – So, at the end, we will have an Increment, and that is the latest version of our software, which includes all the features that we have developed during the Sprint and previous Sprints, and everything that we put into that increment must be potentially releasable; not everything.
- 01:07 – Everything there must be done and that creates a potentially releasable product.
- 01:14 – We may not release it to production, but it has to stay releasable and that’s so because the next thing that we want to do is the Sprint Review.
- 01:28 – That’s where we show it to the customer, and when it is releasable, it means that everything works as if it’s real and that creates better feedback.
- 01:41 – The whole purpose here is to have feedback and use that feedback to see what we’re going to do in the next Sprints.
- 01:47 – In this event, we do two things. One of them is that we show them the new features, we let them work with it, and the other thing is that you have to evaluate the project performance and tell the customer about the performance of the project, and there are different ways of doing that.
- 02:10 – There are guidelines and different types of help for evaluating the performance, but at the end, it’s up to you to see what’s the best method of doing that.
- 02:22 – The one piece of information that you really want to communicate with your customer is your forecast for the completion date of the project, that’s the most important thing, and don’t go through a lot of detail; let’s focus on the increment.
- 02:38 – So, we give them these two pieces of information, and in return we will receive feedback, and that’s the feedback that we can use to refine our Product Backlog and, of course, this is not the only time that we receive feedback.
- 02:54 – This is one structured way of receiving feedback, but after that, the customer can still work with the software and come back to you with more ideas. That’s absolutely fine.
- 03:06 – Alright. So, like everything else, this event is timeboxed and if your Sprint is one month long, it will be four hours, and if your Sprint is shorter, it’s usually shorter.
- 03:19 – For example, in a two-week Sprint, it’s usually two hours, timeboxed for two hours.
- 03:26 – And you see because our Sprints have a fixed duration, we always know when we are going to have our Sprint Reviews, and that makes it much easier to coordinate everything.
- 03:40 – The customer knows that, for example, in the last Wednesday of every month, you’re going to have a Sprint Review. That makes it much easier.
- 03:50 – Alright. So, when you’re done with that, there’s one more thing that we need to do, and everyone who is serious about their project, no matter what type of project methodology they are using, is to get together and think about the way you’ve been working, and see if you can improve it.
- 04:11 – That’s the event we call the Sprint Retrospective. That’s about continuous improvement.
- 04:18 – We think together and try to find one or a few improvements that are realistic and we can do in the next Sprint to get a better result, and we all know that there’s always room for improvement, so we can never say that, “Oh, we are perfect. There’s nothing more we can do.” That doesn’t happen.
- 04:41 – And this event is timeboxed for three hours in a one-month Sprint, and as usual, it’s shorter proportionally.
- 04:49 – For example, in a two-week Sprint, it would be an hour and a half.
- 04:54 – Alright. So, one question.
- 04:59 – You remember that in the Sprint Planning meeting, we used the Product Backlog to create our Sprint Backlog, and when we want to do that, we need to make sure that the Product Backlog reflects the latest understanding of the project, the latest ideas, the latest requests.
- 05:23 – The Product Backlog has to be prepared and refined.
- 05:29 – Now, when do you do that?
- 05:32 – The fact is that our Sprints actually work like this.
- 05:38 – So, when we are done with the Sprint Retrospective, the next thing is the Sprint Planning.
- 05:44 – We don’t have anything else between the two of them.
- 05:48 – The next Sprint Planning comes immediately after the Sprint Retrospective of the previous Sprint.
- 05:55 – Well, may be the next day, but you know what I mean.
- 05:58 – So, you don’t have time between the two of them to work on your Product Backlog, and on the other hand, do you remember the timebox duration of Sprint Planning?
- 06:08 – It’s okay if you don’t remember for now. It’s eight hours in a one-month Sprint.
- 06:15 – Eight hours may not be enough to refine the Product Backlog.
- 06:22 – So, when should we do it? I think it’s obvious now.
- 06:25 – We’re going to talk about it in the next lesson.
Self Assessment
- When do we end Sprints?
- Why is it important for the Increments to be potentially releasable?
- What are the two main things that we do in the Sprint Review?
- Is Sprint Review the only time for receiving feedback from the customer?
- What’s the timeboxed duration of Sprint Reviews in one-month Sprints?
- What’s the main purpose of Sprint Reviews?
- What’s the main purpose of Sprint Retrospectives?
- What’s the timeboxed duration of Sprint Retrospectives?
- What happens between two Sprints?
Optional Extra Activities
- Some people use the phrase “Sprint demo” instead of “Sprint Review”, while many resources are against it. Look it up, and see why some people are against using the phrase “Sprint demo”.
- Are you familiar with the PDCA cycle? If not, it’s a good idea to look it up!
- There are some “games” that people play in their Sprint Retrospectives. Check out to see what they are.
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