Bob Galen : Great sprint reviews

Creating Sprint Reviews that
Attract, Engage, and
Enlighten your ‘Customers'
Bob Galen
President & Principal Consultant
RGCG, LLC
bob@rgalen.com

Great Sprint Reviews
Patterns for Success
Bob Galen
President & Principal Consultant
RGCG, LLC
bob@rgalen.com

Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 3
Introduction
Bob Galen
n  Independent Agile Coach (CEC) at RGCG, LLC
n  Principle Agile Evangelist at Velocity Partners
n  Somewhere ‘north’ of 30 years overall experience J
n  Wide variety of technical stacks and business domains
n  Developer first, then Project Management / Leadership, then
Testing
n  Senior/Executive software development leadership for 20+ years
n  Practicing formal agility since 2000
n  XP, Lean, Scrum, and Kanban experience
n  From Cary, North Carolina
Bias Disclaimer:
Agile is THE BEST Methodology
for Software Development…
However, NOT a Silver Bullet!

iContact
The End State…
•  The entire company would engage in our sprint &
release reviews
•  C-level engagement; the leadership team regularly came
•  We had a room that would handle 60+ folks
•  We started to record them on video; and hang TV’s
•  Consistent meeting overflow!
•  Engagement, questions, feedback, & understanding
•  Reduced the need for serial handling of Customer
Support training
•  After the meeting demos; excitement & team feedback

iContact
In the beginning…
•  My first Sprint Review –
•  Weakly attended
•  PowerPoint's per team; No working software
•  Creative entertainment—photo’s, jokes, etc.
•  Ill conceived in most cases; poorly prepared
•  Audience politely laughed at appropriate moments
•  Over whelming feeling of…what just happened?

Back to Basics

Another Story
n  The Product Owner video tapes
the demo, going through primary
flows of delivered functionality.
Then they take it to the leadership
team for viewing (Demo)
n  Because the stakeholders are busy, the video is “sped up” so that
everything happens in ~ 5 minutes. Also, ~5 minutes are reserved
for Q&A
q  Mickey Mouse voice…
n  Then Product Owner would “debrief” feedback with the team
Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC
8

Let’s Collect YOUR Stories
Anti-patterns
ü  Painful moments
ü  Don’t do this
ü  OMG!
ü  And nobody came…
ü  And then I was looking for
a new job L
Patterns
ü  Do this!
ü  This worked well
ü  Novel approaches
ü  We learned…
ü  And then I was promoted
J
9

My Patterns
•  Don’t do this…Do this
instead format
•  14 patterns to explore
•  Plus a Prime Directive
•  Ultimately, adapt to your
context…
10

1) It’s all about the Team
•  No context setting; where’s the
customer?
•  No connecting the dots
•  Lack of attendee engagement or listening
Instead
•  Focus on results, progress, and goals
•  Have an “Owner” or M/C, usually the Product Owner
•  What we did before, did now, plan to do
•  Solicit feedback; and receive it well. Look around…

2) Mission!
•  Y’all need to watch and learn
•  Here’s some “stuff” to consider
•  Just dive on in…
Instead
•  Set the stage; Product Owner as M/C
•  Review the sprint GOAL, plans, expectations
•  Review the journey, challenges, learning's, etc.
•  Always an eye towards “results”

3) Practice?
•  We don’t need any practice
•  Everyone just “shows up”
•  Chaos, improv, it’s agile
Instead
•  Reserve time in sprint planning for demo prep
•  Perform a dry-run…with real software
•  Remember - it’s a quality step
•  Think about flow, messaging, the “1-Thing” to
communicate

4) Defensive
•  It works as designed
•  We delivered what we were asked to deliver
•  We didn’t have the time
Instead
•  The Team made the commitment – stand as a Team
•  Nobody thrown “Under the Bus”
•  Feedback is the breakfast of champions
•  Take it into the next demo; do something with the
feedback

5) Show Everything or
Show Too Little
•  We did this, then we did this,
then we…
•  We repaired 52 bugs, let us show you
•  And story #22 looks like; 3-hour test automation runs
Instead
•  Have a game plan; regular tempo, time box, agenda
•  Align to sprint goals, themes, anchor stories
•  Tell a story; show a workflow; explain your journey
•  Leave a lasting impression…

6) Only the Feature Film
•  We’re just showing features
•  Nobody wants to see “plumbing”
•  That’s really hard to demo, so we won’t…
Instead
•  Demo everything: features, bugs, architecture,
automation, refactoring, infrastructure, plumbing, plans,
etc.
•  What if it’s hard or ugly to demo? Tough!
•  If it has value and is part of your primary goal, then…

7) Surprise!
•  Why did you do that?
•  Wait for the demo to “sign-off” on work
•  Crap – that’s not what I asked for!
Instead
•  Product Owner should be approving work all along the
sprint; making adjustments as necessary
•  Even pulling in customers & stakeholders for interim
feedback
•  No surprises!

8) Demo or Review?
•  Demo – software centric, some feedback
•  Review – data / communications centric
Instead
•  Do both! Demo the software, key features/workflows
AND key points, journey feedback
•  Explain the “landscape” – team, velocity, complexity,
strategy, challenges/risks, impediments, etc.
•  If needed, ask for Help!

9) 1-Person Demo
•  The ScrumMaster does the
review
•  The Product Owner does the demo
•  The Team Lead does the review
Instead
•  Everyone has a role; “Whole Team” view
•  Everyone can show software; particularly what they have
personally contributed
•  Stage fright – then supporting role

10) Nothing is really
“Done”
•  We “almost” delivered our goal
•  A couple of stories need “cleanup”
•  Worse – hiding the incomplete work…continuation story
Instead
•  Only show done-done-done work; with RARE exceptions
for feedback
•  Talk about incomplete work and how you’ll be cleaning it
up – impact to next sprint
•  Talk about corrective action in your retrospective

11) Are we there yet?
•  +2-hour demos
•  Is someone snoring?
•  Just wait, it’s about to get interesting…
Instead
•  Think in terms of what they want to see? What they need
to see?
•  Feedback opportunity for critical work
•  Empathy, marketing, showmanship, keep it lively and
entertaining

12) Thank you?
Appreciate?
•  We did it ourselves
•  1 for 1
•  And the winner is…US!
Instead
•  Take time to recognize the efforts; kudo’s
•  Say…thank you; within and outside the team
•  Remember leadership and “role players”

13) Let me show us
what we did…
•  Demoing to ourselves
•  We sent an invitation, but nobody came
•  We’re too busy; it takes too long
Instead
•  It’s not FOR the team or the Product Owner
•  The review IS the most important event for stakeholders;
The room should be FULL
•  Don’t simply listen…engage!
•  Feedback – both constructive and affirmative

14) Cut to the chase
•  Thank you for attending
•  We’re playing at this time again next week
•  Just wait, we have 30 minutes to cover in the next 2
minutes
Instead
•  Did you succeed - Yes or No?
•  What about Definition of Done?
•  Any special goals?
•  Velocity? Quality? Value?

A Defining Moment
•  Your Demo / Review IS a
Big Deal
•  View it that way, plan it that
way, deliver it what way
•  Expect big things
•  Ask for and act on ALL
feedback
•  Make it fun
•  You should have to “beat
them away” at the door…

Summary
•  More Subtle Lessons
•  Laser focus on your customer
•  Have a unique demo strategy; Prepare
•  Show everything – not just “features”; don’t “Go Silent” for too
long
•  Constantly explain the impact/import to the business (even for
technical items)
•  Fail Forward
•  Be honest & transparent
•  Every demo is important
•  Have the vision & expectation of Powerful Reviews
26

The Prime Directive
Attendance, Feedback, Action, Delivery
And it’s 360o Feedback

Wrap-up
•  Final questions or discussion?
Thank you!
2828

Contact Info Bob Galen
Principal Consultant,
RGalen Consulting Group, L.L.C.
Experience-driven agile focused
training, coaching & consulting
Cell: (919) 272-0719
bob@rgalen.com www.rgalen.com
@bobgalen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgalen
Podcast on all things ‘agile’ -
http://www.meta-cast.com/
29Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 29

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