Review

An iteration review is an informal meeting held at the end of an iteration, during which the team shows what was delivered, while the stakeholders provide feedback. It’s a collaborative working session rather than a one-sided presentation.

The purpose of an iteration review is to inspect the outcome of the iteration, collect feedback from all the stakeholders, and adapt the backlog going forward. The iteration review should not be treated as merely a demo (although a demo may be on the agenda). Instead, this is a key inspect and adapt event where feedback is gathered which the Product Owner may use to update the Product Backlog and Product Forecast.

Do's of Review Ceremony

• Do invite all the relevant stakeholders and customers who can provide valuable feedback on the product increment.

• Do prepare a clear agenda and timebox for the meeting to keep it focused and productive.

• Do show only what is done according to the Definition of Done and avoid showing work in progress or unfinished features.

• Do encourage honest and constructive feedback from everyone and listen to their opinions and suggestions.

• Do update the Product Backlog and Product Forecast based on the feedback and any market changes.

Don't in Review Ceremony

• Don’t use the iteration review as a status report or a performance evaluation of the team.

• Don’t ignore or dismiss the feedback from the stakeholders or customers, even if it is negative or unexpected.

• Don’t make decisions or commitments without consulting the team and the Product Owner.

• Don’t forget to celebrate the achievements and successes of the team and acknowledge their efforts.

Facilitation and preparation review

• Before the meeting, invite all the relevant stakeholders and customers who can provide valuable feedback on the product increment.

• Prepare a clear agenda and timebox for the meeting to keep it focused and productive. The agenda should include the following items:

  • Review the iteration goals and status

  • Demo the product increment and get feedback

  • Discuss any incomplete or problematic work items

  • Update the Product Backlog and Product Forecast

  • Celebrate the achievements and successes of the team

• Handle the logistics for room and materials. Make sure you have a suitable space, equipment, and tools for the meeting.

• Schedule participants and identify possible problems. Confirm the attendance of key stakeholders and customers, and anticipate any potential issues or conflicts that may arise during the meeting.

• Develop a good facilitation plan and review the facilitation tools that will be used. Choose appropriate methods and techniques to engage the participants, elicit feedback, and capture insights.

• Gather and make visible in handouts or charts the data needed for the meeting (such as iteration goals, product backlog, product forecast, etc.). Ensure that everyone has access to the same information and can see the progress and value of the team’s work.

• During the meeting, keep it running and focused, manage the clock, and capture notes and insights. Follow the agenda, facilitate the discussion, monitor the time, and document the feedback and action items.

• After the meeting, distribute the notes and insights to the participants. Follow up on any outstanding issues or questions, and thank everyone for their contribution.

Facilitation techniques 

• Brainstorming: Brainstorming helps to generate feedback and ideas from the stakeholders and customers on the product increment. Ask them to share their thoughts, opinions, and suggestions on what they liked, disliked, or wanted to see improved or added in the product increment. Brainstorming also allows to exploration possible solutions or actions based on the feedback.

• Flip chart: This tool helps to capture and display the feedback and ideas from the brainstorming session visually. Use different colors or symbols to categorize or prioritize the feedback and ideas. Flip charts are useful for creating charts, diagrams, or drawings that illustrate the product increment, the product backlog, or the product forecast.

• Dot voting: Used to prioritize or rank the feedback and ideas from the brainstorming session. Give each stakeholder or customer a set of stickers or dots (usually three to five) and ask them to place them on the items they consider most important or valuable. The items with the most dots are then discussed or selected.

• World cafe: Helps to facilitate large group dialogue and knowledge sharing on the product increment. Divide the stakeholders and customers into small groups (usually four to five) and assign them to different tables with a specific question or topic related to the product increment. Each table has a host who facilitates the conversation and takes notes. After a set time (usually 15 to 20 minutes), the groups move to another table with a different question or topic, while the host remains and summarizes the previous discussion for the new group. This process is repeated until all groups have visited all tables. The hosts then share the main insights and themes from each table with the whole group.

• Fishbowl: Assist in facilitating focused discussion among a small group of stakeholders or customers on a specific aspect or feature of the product increment while allowing a larger group to observe and learn from them. Arrange chairs in two concentric circles: an inner circle with a few chairs (usually three to five) for the active participants, and an outer circle with more chairs for the observers. The active participants discuss a topic or issue related to the product increment while the observers listen and take notes. The observers can join the inner circle by replacing one of the active participants if they want to contribute or ask questions.

Challenges in review and how can you handle 

• The team taking on too much work and not completing it during an iteration

  • Review estimation and prioritization skills

  • Commit to realistic and achievable goals

  • Communicate impediments or risks

• The team struggling with existing technical debt

  • Allocate time and resources to refactor and improve codebase

  • Apply good engineering practices

  • Balance work between new features and technical debt reduction

• Features not being developed sustainably to ensure new bugs are not introduced into the codebase

  • Follow the Definition of Done for each work item

  • Ensure adequate testing and quality assurance processes

  • Fix bugs or defects as soon as they are discovered

• Stakeholders or customers not attending or providing feedback during the iteration review

  • Invite and confirm relevant stakeholders and customers

  • Prepare a clear agenda and timebox for the meeting

  • Demonstrate only what is done according to the Definition of Done

  • Follow up with absent or unresponsive stakeholders or customers

• Stakeholders or customers providing negative or unexpected feedback during the iteration review

  • Encourage honest and constructive feedback from everyone

  • Listen to opinions and suggestions

  • Avoid taking feedback personally or defensively

  • Update the Product Backlog and Product Forecast based on feedback and market changes

Retrospective

An iteration retrospective is a meeting that takes place at the end of the iteration with the participation of all the agile team members (product owner, team facilitator and the development team) to inspect how well the iteration was executed with regards to quality and effectiveness in order to discover better ways of performing the future iterations.

The purpose of an iteration retrospective is to reflect on the results of the iteration, review the team’s practices, and identify ways to improve. The iteration retrospective helps instill the concept of relentless improvement, one of the core values of agile and lean approaches, in the individuals and the team.

Do's in Retrospective Ceremony 

• Do gather both quantitative and qualitative data to measure and evaluate the team’s performance and process.

• Do use different formats and techniques to facilitate the discussion and generate improvement ideas.

• Do prioritize and select one or two improvement items that can be implemented in the next iteration.

• Do create improvement stories and add them to the team backlog.

• Do review the improvement stories from the previous retrospective and assess their impact.

Dont's in Retrospective Ceremony 

• Don’t blame or criticize individuals or groups for any problems or failures.

• Don’t ignore or dismiss any feedback or suggestions from the team members.

• Don’t try to solve all the issues or challenges at once.

• Don’t forget to celebrate the achievements and successes of the team.

Facilitation and Preparation for Retrospective

To facilitate and prepare an iteration retrospective effectively, you can follow these steps:

• Plan the meeting and ensure that team members can participate in the retrospective.

• Choose suitable exercises and prepare them in advance. You can use various formats and techniques to facilitate the discussion and generate improvement ideas.

• Introduce the goals, agenda, and facilitation format for the meeting.

• Review the iteration goals and objectives, and collect both quantitative and qualitative data to measure and evaluate the team’s performance and process.

• Facilitate the discussion and assist the team in identifying what went well, what did not, and what to do better next time.

• Prioritize and select one or two improvement items that can be implemented in the next iteration.

• Create improvement stories and add them to the team backlog.

• Review the improvement stories from the previous retrospective and assess their impact.

• Capture notes and insights and distribute them to the team members after the meeting.

Techniques: Mad Sad Glad, Starfish, Sailboat and 4L:

Mad Sad Glad: The team to talk about their feelings and problems. The team writes down things that made them mad, sad, or glad during the work. The team then puts them in groups and talks about them. Team to understand each other and solve any problems. 

For technique, you need a big paper or a board with three parts: Mad, Sad, and Glad. You also need small papers and pens for the team. 

Steps:

• • Give each team member some small papers and pens and ask them to write down one thing per paper that made them mad, sad, or glad during the work.

  • Ask the team members to put their papers on the big paper or board in the right part: Mad, Sad, or Glad.

  • Put similar or related papers together and give each group a name or a topic.

  • Talk about each group of papers with the team and ask them to say why they wrote them. You can ask questions like: Why did this make you mad/sad/glad? How did this change your work or the team? What can we do to stop this from happening again or to make it happen more often?

  • Find out any actions or learnings from the talk and add them to the teamwork list.

Starfish: The team to find out what they should change or keep in their work. The team writes down ideas that they think the team should start doing, stop doing, do more of, do less of, or keep doing in the next work. The team then puts them in groups and talks about them. Helps the team to improve their work and decide what is important. 

For technique, you need a big piece of paper or a board with a starfish shape on it. The starfish has five parts: Start, Stop, More, Less, and Keep. You also need small paper and pens for the team. 

Steps:

• Give each team member some small papers and pens and ask them to write down one idea per paper that they think the team should start doing, stop doing, do more of, do less of, or keep doing in the next work.

• Ask the team members to put their papers on the big paper or board in the right part of the starfish: Start, Stop, More, Less, or Keep.

• Talk about each part of the starfish with the team and ask them to say why they wrote their ideas. You can ask questions like: Why do you think we should start/stop/more/less/keep this? How will this help us improve our work or the team? What are the good or bad things about doing this?

• Choose which ideas on each part of the starfish are most important and pick one or two actions for each category. Add them to the teamwork list.

Sailboat: Team to see their progress and challenges in their work. The team draws their work as a sailboat on a big piece of paper or a board. The team then adds things that show what is helping them move forward (such as a strong engine or wind) and what is slowing them down (such as a broken tire or a block). This helps the team to see their work clearly and think of ways to fix their problems. 

For technique, you need a big piece of paper or a board with a sailboat shape on it. The sailboat has four things: Goal (the island), Wind (what pushes us forward), Anchor (what holds us back), and Rocks (possible risks). You also need small paper and pens for the team. 

Steps:

• Give each team member some small papers and pens and ask them to write down one thing per paper that they think shows what is helping them move forward (wind), what is slowing them down (anchor), or what is a possible risk (rocks) for their work. You can also ask them to write down their goal (island) if it is not clear or agreed by the team.

• Ask the team members to put their papers on the big paper or board on the right thing of the sailboat: Goal, Wind, Anchor, or Rocks.

• Talk about each thing of the sailboat with the team and ask them to say how they see their work. You can ask questions like: How does this wind/anchor/rock change our work? How can we use this wind/remove this anchor/avoid this rock?

• How sure are we that we can reach our goal? Find out any actions or learnings from the talk and add them to the team work list.

4L: This technique helps the team to talk about their feelings and thoughts in their work. The team writes down things that they liked, loathed, lacked, and learned during the work. The team then puts them in groups and talks about them. This helps the team to understand each other and find out what to improve.

For technique, you need a big piece of paper or a board with four parts: Liked, Loathed, Lacked, and Learned. You also need small papers and pens for the team. 

Steps:

• Give each team member some small papers and pens and ask them to write down one thing per paper that they liked, loathed, lacked, or learned during the work.

• Ask the team members to put their papers on the big paper or board in the right part: Liked, Loathed, Lacked, or Learned.

• Put similar or related papers together and give each group a name or a topic.

• Talk about each group of papers with the team and ask them to say why they wrote them. You can ask questions like: Why did you like/loathe/lack/learn this? How did this make you feel or think? What can we do to make this better or keep this good?

• Identify any actions or learnings from the talk and add them to the team work list.

Challenges in retrospective and how can you handle 

• Lack of honesty or openness

  • Create a safe and respectful environment

  • Encourage team members to share their opinions and feelings

• Defensiveness or blame

  • Use a facilitator to guide the discussion

  • Ask open-ended questions and avoid accusations

  • Focus on solutions rather than problems

• Boredom or disengagement

  • Use different formats or techniques to make the retrospective more engaging and fun

  • Vary the agenda and topics of the retrospective

  • Solicit feedback and suggestions from the team members

• Disagreement or lack of follow-through on improvement actions

  • Prioritize and select only a few improvement actions that are realistic and measurable

  • Assign owners and deadlines for the improvement actions

  • Review the progress and results of the improvement actions in the next retrospective

• Interruption or influence by external stakeholders

  • Limit the attendance of the retrospective to only the team members

  • Avoid inviting guests or observers who are not directly involved in the sprint

  • Communicate the outcomes and expectations of the retrospective to the relevant stakeholders