What is Sprint Review in Software Development? [Definition + Purpose + Best Practices]

What is Sprint Review?

A sprint review is a meeting that occurs at the end of a sprint in Scrum, an agile project management framework.

To properly understand a sprint review, you must have a clear understanding of a sprint. If you are unaware of a sprint, we encourage you to learn the meaning of sprint in agile software development from this post. As you understand the definition or meaning of a sprint, you will gain a better understanding of sprint review.

After reviewing the work, you get feedback for future improvements. Conducting a sprint review is a collaborative event. This even helps ensure that the project you are developing stays aligned with the stakeholders’ expectations. The above process discussed for development is done on the base level or micro-level.

Whereas, if you gain a broader approach to how software gets developed with the Scrum method, you need to understand the Scrum method. Read this complete guide on Scrum software development. As you go through the Scrum process, you learn how it helps in the entire method of developing a software solution.

Once you get a clear understanding of the Scrum method, then understanding the whole concept of sprints and sprint review would be easier for you.

Further, let’s understand the purpose of a sprint review.

What is the Purpose of Sprint Review?

As a Scrum master, if you want to know the purpose of a sprint review, check the following points.

A sprint review allows you:

• Evaluate the work your team has completed during the sprint, ensuring it aligns with the sprint goal.
• Gather feedback from stakeholders on the finished work so you can make any necessary changes.
• Evaluate your project’s overall progress and determine if it’s on track to meet the expected outcome.
• Review and update the product backlog based on new insights and feedback from stakeholders.
• Uplift collaboration and open communication between your scrum team and stakeholders. This way, you are making sure everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal.

So as you are aware of the purpose of conducting a sprint review, let’s now know the general duration of a particular sprint review.

What is the Duration of Sprint Review?

Here is a duration table that describes the duration of a specific sprint review. In addition, you will also learn about the suitability of a sprint review meeting.

Next, let’s know about participants involved in a sprint review meeting.

Who are the Participants Involved in a Sprint Review?

The answer is a scrum Team. Here is the list of participants involved in a sprint review meeting.

• The development team demonstrates and showcases the sprint that they have completed during the sprint.
• The scrum master facilitates the event and ensures that it stays focused and achieves its purpose.
• The product owner reviews the product backlog and provides an update on the product’s progress toward the product goal.
• Key stakeholders, customers, users, and sponsors who have an interest in the product.

As of now, you are aware completely of the sprint review. However, if you want to learn in detail about the Scrum process and Scrum team members, read this definition post on what is Scrum method.

Further, let’s learn the best practices followed for conducting effective sprint reviews. Check the next section.

7 Best Practices for Sprint Review

A sprint review is a collaborative event that plays a crucial role in agile software development. To ensure that the sprint review is effective, here are some best practices to follow:

1. Include the Stakeholders and Agile Team Members

   While conducting a sprint review, you need to include all the stakeholders in the sprint review, including customers, users, sponsors, and anyone else who has an interest in the product. This ensures that the feedback received is diverse and representative of the product’s intended users.

2. Discuss and Focus on the Increment of the Development Team

   The focus of the sprint review is to discuss the new development that your team has completed during the sprint. You need to showcase the most critical features and functionality during the sprint. This helps with continuous feedback and iterative improvements.

   All the feedback and iterations are conducted during a sprint review. This event plays an important role in agile principles as it provides flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction.

   So, your team can deliver high-quality software efficiently meeting the expectations of stakeholders. To gain a deep understanding of agile software development and its benefits, here is our article on agile software development.

3. Add Visuals and Representative Points Easily

   Use visual aids such as charts, graphs, and diagrams to help the stakeholders understand the product’s progress and identify any areas that need improvement. Visual aids can also help to communicate complex information more effectively.

4. Make Collaborative Discussion Between Teams

   Encourage collaborative discussion between your scrum team and key stakeholders. With collaborative discussion, you can help to identify areas for improvement and make sure that every team member is aligned on the product’s future goal.

5. Showcase the Working Model of the Software

   Your development team should demonstrate working software during the sprint review. During sprint review, showcasing the working model helps to build trust with the stakeholders. Furthermore, the stakeholders can evaluate the product’s usability and functionality for any improvement if required.

6. Assessing the Product Backlog and Providing Updates

   The product owner should review the product backlog during the sprint review and provide an update on the product’s progress toward the product goal. While verifying the product, you need to ensure that your scrum team is bound on the product’s future direction and helps to prioritize the backlog items.

7. Modify the Product Based on the Feedback

   You need to collaborate with the key stakeholders for gathering feedback on the product backlog. Based on the identified improvements, you can make changes in the product backlog before the sprint retrospective meeting. This helps to ensure that the product is meeting the stakeholders’ needs and that the scrum team is continuously improving.

In conclusion, a sprint review is a critical meeting that is conducted at the end of a sprint. In the meeting, the team, stakeholders, and customers inspect the work completed during spring. Further, feedback is given to improve the product if it doesn’t meet the requirements. So, the product development gets completed as per expectations.