Scrum Events

To help with inspection, Scrum provides cadence in the form of its five events

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#scrum-values

events are designed to provoke change.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

sprint

It is repeated several times that there is no time outside sprints¹. A sprint starts with a planning, contains several dailies and end with a review and a retrospective.

fixed length events of one month or less to create consistency.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Not only do sprints follow each other², but they start with the sprint planning³ and end with sprint retrospective⁴. This means that sprint plannings must follow immediately sprint retrospectives.

Sprints are focused toward a sprint goal and only the sprint goal⁵. This goal is the commitment decided by the whole scrum team and fulfilled by the developers. That entails that a sprint can be cancelled only if the developers have renegotiated their engagements. In that case, the product owner will cancel the sprint⁶, as a way to indicate the initial engagement was renegotiated⁷.

what if the scrum team fulfills the sprint goal before the end of the sprint?

During the Sprint:

No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal;

Quality does not decrease;

The Product Backlog is refined as needed; and,

Scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Sprints enable predictability by ensuring inspection and adaptation of progress toward a Product Goal at least every calendar month.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Sprints, provided with a sensible sprint goal, are self contained⁸.

Multiple Increments may be created within a Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

sprint planning

Sprint Planning initiates the Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-planning

Sprint Planning

[…]

Sprint Planning addresses the following topics:

Topic One: Why is this Sprint valuable?

Topic Two: What can be Done this Sprint?

Topic Three: How will the chosen work get done?

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Although it is a collaborative effort⁹, this event is driven by the product owner. In particular, per comes with the product backlog items that are most appropriate to move towards the product goal¹⁰

The whole team then comes to the sprint goal, being the commitment from the developers.¹¹

The team tries to put refined product backlog item in the sprint ¹² in a way that they believe they will manage to have them done.

Because of the empiricism aspect of scrum, this belief is only based on previous experiences¹³. That means that the team need to make arbitrary choices during the first sprints to get a baseline.

The developers convert the product backlog item into planned work that will create increments¹⁴. It may be done by splitting the work into small steps¹⁵, but it is stressed that this is done by the developers for the developers and no other role has the right to intervene in this process¹⁶.

daily scrum

The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

No one other than a developers is allowed to decide how this meeting should take place¹⁷. The only constraints are to

focus only on the sprint goal ¹⁸.
spend less than 15 minutes¹⁹,

This should not be called an excuse not to do that adaptation work during the day²⁰.

If the Product Owner or Scrum Master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

sprint review

Scrum Team presents the results of their work to key stakeholders and progress toward the Product Goal is discussed.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Sprint Review is a working session and the Scrum Team should avoid limiting it to a presentation.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

sprint retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Notes linking here

Permalink

Sprint is a container for all other events

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective, happen within Sprints.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#the-sprint

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Sprint Planning initiates the Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-planning

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The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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During the Sprint:
- No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal;
— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
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Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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Each Sprint may be considered a short project

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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This resulting plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire Scrum Team

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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Product Owner ensures that attendees are prepared to discuss the most important Product Backlog items and how they map to the Product Goal.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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whole Scrum Team then collaborates to define a Sprint Goal that communicates why the Sprint is valuable to stakeholders

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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Through discussion with the Product Owner, the Developers select items from the Product Backlog to include in the current Sprint.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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the more the Developers know about their past performance, their upcoming capacity, and their Definition of Done, the more confident they will be in their Sprint forecasts.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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For each selected Product Backlog item, the Developers plan the work necessary to create an Increment that meets the Definition of Done

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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This is often done by decomposing Product Backlog items into smaller work items of one day or less

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one else tells them how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments of value

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#daily-scrum

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Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#daily-scrum

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The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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They often meet throughout the day for more detailed discussions about adapting or re-planning the rest of the Sprint’s work.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

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