Agile Ceremonies

Agile - Ceremonies cer·e·mo·ny serə ˌ mōnē noun 1. a formal religious or public occasion, typically one celebrating a particular event or anniversary. "the winners were presented with their prizes at a special ceremony" 2. the ritual observances and procedures performed at grand and formal occasions. Charter : Confidential 2

Agile - Ceremonies Backlog Refining (a.k.a. Grooming) Weekly for a couple hours Improve the description of the work Estimate the size of the work Gives the team a chance to ask questions and propose ideas Give time for the Product Owner to find answers Why Refine? Creates a common understanding of the work The better the backlog, the more accurate the road map Charter : Confidential 3

Agile - Ceremonies Sprint Planning Start with an empty Iteration Move the top backlog item into the sprint Add Tasks with estimated hours (first time hours are used) If not full, goto step 2 Why Plan? The team is pulling work; work isn’t being pushed into the team. Creates a sense of commitment Product Owner knows what will be delivered during this Iteration Charter : Confidential 4

Agile - Ceremonies Stand Up Each team member take a turn discussing: what they did yesterday what they will do today roadblocks After party - discussions can happen but attendance isn’t required Why Stand Up? Keeps the team in sync (e.g. QA learns when they will be able to test a feature) NOT a status report for the Scrum Master or Product Owner Keeps the Product Owner and any other interested people informed Charter : Confidential 5

Agile - Ceremonies Demo Informal show and tell by the team of what was accomplished Anyone can ask questions Why Demo? Not an acceptance by the Product Owner Good time for Product Owner and others to talk, discuss future direction, bounce ideas around and generally get excited about the changes The team gets an understanding of their efforts value, good time to be proud of work done Charter : Confidential 6

Agile - Ceremonies Retrospective (a.k.a Retro) There is no set format for how this meeting should be ‘run’ Scrum Masters shake it up so it doesn’t get boring Only team members are allowed The goal is to come up with a list of… Things we did well Things we didn’t do so well Things we are going to change in the next Iteration Why Retrospective? Continuous improvement – this is how the team gets better Give the team some time to decompress from the last Iteration Blowing off steam is expected but shouldn’t get out of hand Charter : Confidential 7