If you're on a Galaxy Fold, consider unfolding your phone or viewing it in full screen to best optimize your experience.
My very first introduction to scrum was working on a content marketing team years ago. After a year or so of our content operating under a long term content strategy, we decided our process wasn’t flexible enough and required a change.
That was when one of our team leads suggested moving over to a more agile-based system for planning and producing content. We ultimately decided on using the scrum methodology and embracing the benefits provided by its iterative style.
Scrum is a methodology that exists under the large tent of agile project management. The methodology is based on the concept of breaking up a project life cycle into smaller, more manageable pieces and executing them through a series of one to two week periods known as “sprints.”
Scrum is best implemented into projects with circumstances and deliverables that are subject to rapid changes that can be addressed between these agile sprints. In essence, it’s the polar opposite of more rigid project management methods such as waterfall.
Scrum uses sprints to deliver a project, and the methodology employs four distinct “ceremonies.” These scrum ceremonies are four different types of agile meetings that are meant to ensure the proper execution of each sprint, leading to a successful project delivery.
Each of these sprint ceremonies are repeated before, during, and after each sprint. Each team member relevant to the project sprint is meant to attend, including the project team, or multiple cross-functional teams, the project manager, the scrum master (refer to the linked agile guide above for more information), and occasionally the project stakeholders.
This ceremony is performed before every sprint and is meant to determine which items in the project backlog the team will work on during this particular period of time. This ceremony includes discussions about goals, what the end result of the sprint is, and potential issues or concerns the team might have about the tasks.
There are four key elements of a sprint planning ceremony that you’ll want to touch on:
Even though sprints rely on shorter durations than planning out an entire project ahead of time, there are key details and factors you should still mind while planning out your iterations. Here are a few tips that’ll help you create a successful plan:
The daily scrum is a short meeting to ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page while working through the sprint.
These meetings typically only last around fifteen to thirty minutes at most and are only meant to inform the team on task progress, current backlog items that are currently in development, and whether any issues are impeding progress.
Since the daily scrum is exceptionally short, it’s important to be vigilant with the meeting topics. These are the four key areas you’ll want to cover:
Here are a couple tips to help you get the most out of your daily scrum meetings:
The sprint review is the first scrum ceremony to take place after the sprint is completed. Once a sprint is finished, the team, project manager, the scrum master, and the project stakeholders convene.
This ceremony is meant to demonstrate the work completed during the sprint, congratulating the team on this work, and soliciting feedback from stakeholders on the results.
Since the review is the first of two post-sprint ceremonies in the scrum cycle, these are the only subjects you ought to cover during this meeting so as not to overlap with the other:
Since the sprint review is all about impressing the project clients or stakeholders, here are a few tips for getting the most out of this meeting:
The sprint retrospective is the second post-sprint meeting and final ceremony of the entire scrum timeline. This ceremony is different from the review because it focuses on improving the processes used and actions taken during the previous sprint.
As I said before, scrum is a methodology that falls under the umbrella of agile, which prioritizes constant change and improvement. The sprint retrospective is the place to identify those improvements.
Your sprint retrospective is different from the review because it focuses on the process rather than the product. These are the core topics you should focus on:
The sprint retrospective is all about driving positive change. Here are a couple tips for facilitating that change in an effective way:
Now that you understand the basics of scrum ceremonies, The Ascent can help you choose the right agile tool for managing your scrum sprints. We’ve even put together a list of the eight best agile software options that’ll give you tools to plan, manage, track, and wrap up every iterative project thrown your way.
Once you’ve found the right tool, the benefits don’t end there. There are lots of other how-to guides and project management basics articles that’ll walk you through every aspect of your project, so be sure to check them out.
Our Small Business Expert
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.