Sprint Retrospective: The Purpose. The Meeting. The Success.

Scrum team during a sprint retrospective meeting

Scrum is a process of continuous improvement, and a retrospective Scrum is a time for teams to reflect on the opportunities to accomplish this.

The sprint retrospective is a recurring meeting dedicated to discussing what went well and what can be improved in a sprint. It also gives a chance to recover from a sprint and prepare for the next one. With a sprint retrospective, you can make each sprint more streamlined and successful than the last.

In this sprint retrospective guide you will discover,

What is sprint retrospective?

A sprint retrospective is a way to bring scrum teams together and plan the best ways to increase quality and effectiveness in regard to people, interactions, processes, tools, and each person’s definition of done.

What is a sprint retrospective meeting?

The sprint retrospective meeting is held at the end of a sprint — a project management approach where teams complete specific tasks within a timeframe.

In a sprint retrospective, you’ll discuss what went well during the previous sprint cycle and what can be improved for the next sprint. You can think of it as a meeting to discuss things to start, stop and continue.

The Agile sprint retrospective is an essential part of the Scrum framework for developing, delivering, and managing complex projects. Since the early 1990s, Scrum has been used to develop:

Continuous, iterative improvement is a core goal in Scrum product management, and the Scrum retrospective meeting is an official opportunity to achieve this at defined, consistent intervals — when teams have wrapped up a sprint and have a space to reflect and improve how things are done.

That said, continuous improvement requires continuous effort. So, it’s important for teams to consciously apply the lessons learned in each retrospective to upcoming sprints.

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What is the purpose of a sprint retrospective?

The purpose of the sprint retrospective is a scrum timeboxed meeting that takes place after the sprint review and before sprint planning.

Its purpose is to:

Everything that affects how the Scrum team develops the product is open to discussion and improvement, including processes, tools, artifacts, environment, and so on. It allows development teams to adapt Scrum to their particular circumstances.

Scheduling a Scrum retrospective at the end of every sprint ensures that needed changes are understood and implemented before they are lost in the rush of new work. It helps each Scrum team member to identify how they can improve the specific things they contributed to the sprint, asking:

During each Agile sprint retrospective, the development team focuses on increasing product quality by improving work processes or adapting the definition of “done.” This definition may vary from Scrum team to Scrum team. But the whole team must have the same understanding of “done” to assess when work has met expected standards.

As Scrum teams gain more experience, their definition of “done” will evolve, including more demanding criteria for higher-quality results.

Who runs a sprint retrospective meeting?

The sprint retrospective team usually includes all development team members, the Scrum Master, and the product owner. The development team is everyone who is designing, building, and testing the product. Collectively, its members have a wide range of valuable perspectives for identifying process improvements from different points of view.

The Scrum Master facilitates the meeting and encourages the development team to improve its workflowpractices within the Scrum process framework, so improvements can be enacted during the next sprint. The Scrum master is also the process coach for the Scrum team, pointing out when it is not adhering to an agreed-upon method of proceeding and providing ideas and expertise as needed.

Stakeholdersand managers who are not directly part of the team usually don’t come to a Scrum retrospective unless specifically invited. They participate in the Sprint review meeting instead, where the Scrum team shows what they accomplished during the sprint, often including product demos.

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How to run a sprint retrospective.

There are many ways to run a sprint retrospective. One of the most common is using a start-stop-continue approach. Each development team member is asked to identify the things the team should start doing, the ones they should stop doing, and the things they should continue doing.

The Scrum Master can facilitate this process by asking attendees to call out ideas during the Scrum, or they can go around the room and get feedback on what to start, stop, and continue in a more orderly fashion, person by person.

Agenda.

While the agendas for sprint retrospective meetings can vary, they generally cover these common steps:

Length.

The length of the Scrum retrospective meeting can vary according to:

That said, as a rule of thumb, sprint retrospectives often run:

Questions to ask after a sprint retrospective:

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Frequently asked questions about sprint retrospectives.

What’s the difference between a sprint retrospective and sprint review?

While the sprint review is an opportunity to inspect and adapt the product—giving everyone input into its development—the sprint retrospective involves inspecting and adapting the process. During the sprint retrospective, teams analyze how they work, identify ways to work better, and make plans to implement these improvements.

When is a sprint retrospective meeting held?

Sprint retrospectives are held between sprints, after the sprint review and before sprint planning for the next sprint. While some teams might be tempted to hold a sprint review and sprint retrospective simultaneously, the meetings work better if kept separate, so only the relevant parties attend, and the purpose of the meeting is clearly understood by all involved.

Who should attend the sprint retrospective?

The meeting should be attended by the Scrum Master, who facilitates the meeting, the full Scrum team, and the product manager. The Scrum team includes everyone who is designing, building, and testing the product. While some feel the product owner shouldn’t attend—because they might inhibit honest discussion among team members—they are an essential part of the Scrum process, so their participation is generally a good idea.

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