Most valuable event in Scrum
Vivek Jayaraman
25th Apr, 2021
Each event in Scrum is a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt the Scrum artifacts. Scrum events are specifically designed to increase much-needed transparency. Every event has a specific purpose and is created to achieve them. There are five events in Scrum. They are
Let us see what each of these events is supposed to do before deciding the best and the most helpful event in Scrum.
Sprint
Timeboxing stays the core of Scrum and is called Sprint. As the Scrum guide states, Sprint is the heartbeat of Scrum. There is an excellent old proverb that states, "Time and tide waits for none." The day has 24 hours only. We cannot extend it beyond that nor shorten it to our will. That is called a timebox which has a fixed amount of time. It stays the same and will never change now and then. The same is applicable to Sprints. Sprints are timeboxes and have a fixed amount of time. Irrespective of whether the planned work is complete or not, the Sprint ends when the timebox expires. All the other events which are listed above happen within Sprint.
By fixing the time, we measure the work and the progress towards the same. This helps us with predictability by inspecting and adapting the progress towards the Product Goal. As Scrum is applicable to the complex domain, it helps with quicker learning cycles and allows the product teams to fail faster and course-correct sooner. The maximum time duration for a Sprint is one month.
Sprint Planning
Before you start working, you need to understand what you will work towards and how you will achieve it. Sprint Planning event if for strategizing. It is the first event in the Sprint. The outcome of the Sprint Planning is a Sprint Goal and a plan(Sprint Backlog) to achieve it. The input to Sprint Planning is prioritized Product Backlog, Increment, Team capacity, and past performance. For a one-month Sprint, the Sprint Planning event is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours.
Daily Scrum
Daily Scrum is like a team huddle, and as the name suggests, it happens every day inside Sprint. During Daily Scrum, the developers inspect their progress concerning the Sprint Goal and update the plan (Sprint Backlog) accordingly. This event is time-boxed to a maximum of 15 minutes and is not a status meeting. This event is for the developers to inspect and adapt. It is not the only time developers discuss their progress, as they can do it throughout the day. Daily Scrum removes the need for subsequent meetings between the developers. This event mostly happens in the same place and time every day to remove complexity.
Sprint Review
It is an informal event that happens between the Scrum Team and the stakeholders. This event is for the stakeholders to review the increment and provide feedback. The Product Owner sets the stage for this event by giving a brief overview of the Sprint Goal, Plan, and the "done" PBIs. PO also provides the projection of target delivery dates based on the progress done within the Sprint. The developers give a demonstration of the completed work and the problems faced by them. The stakeholders and the Scrum team then collaborate on the time, budget, potential capabilities, and what to do next that brings in more business value. This event happens before the Sprint Retrospective and is a maximum of four hours for a one-month Sprint.
Sprint Retrospective
Scrum believes in continuous learning and continuous improvement. While Sprint Review focuses on the review of the Product, Sprint Retrospective focuses on reviewing the system. The Scrum Team discusses the problems they have faced, and improvements needed to produce a "done" increment more efficiently, and identifies helpful changes to increase effectiveness. This is the last event in the Sprint and is a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint.
The most valuable event in Scrum
Time to uncover the most helpful and valuable event in Scrum. Every event in Scrum is carefully designed for a specific purpose. There is one other question we can ask, "Which event can be removed from Scrum?" The answer is "none." It is because we cannot remove any of the events. Similarly, if we have to consider one event among others to be valuable, then the answer is the same. Every event in Scrum is valuable and helpful in its way as it serves a unique purpose.
To conclude, we need to understand the purpose that each of the events serves. It will help us understand the underlying reason behind conducting these events. Happy Scrumming!
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