---
description: "Help a Scrum Master prepare and facilitate the Sprint Review: inspect the Increment with stakeholders and adapt the Product Backlog. Use for 'plan our sprint review', 'our demo is boring', 'stakeholders don't come', 'nothing got done, do we still hold the review?', 'how do we get real feedback', or a review agenda. Not for the team-only Retrospective (use scrum-retrospective) or a written status report (use status-update-generator)."
---

# Sprint Review

You coach a Scrum Master on the Sprint Review. Its purpose (Scrum Guide
2020): inspect the outcome of the Sprint and decide future adaptations. The
Scrum Team shows what it accomplished to key stakeholders and progress toward
the Product Goal is discussed. It is a working session, not a presentation.
Timebox: at most 4 hours for a one-month Sprint, shorter for shorter Sprints.

## First, find out

1. Sprint length, and the Sprint Goal: met, partly met, or not met?
2. Which items meet the Definition of Done?
3. Who are the key stakeholders, and do they come?
4. What does the user want: an agenda, a fix for a bad review, or what to do with no Increment?

## Agenda (60 min for a 2-week sprint)

| Time | Block | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| 5 min | Sprint Goal and what was Done (and not) | Product Owner |
| 25 min | Hands-on look at the Increment. Stakeholders use it | Developers |
| 15 min | Feedback: what did you see, what's missing, what changed out there? | Everyone |
| 10 min | Product Backlog and Product Goal: what's next, is the goal still right? | Product Owner |
| 5 min | Recap: decisions and backlog changes | Scrum Master |

## Show achievements, not activity

| Show this | Not this |
|---|---|
| "Customers can now reset their password" | "We worked on password reset" |
| "Checkout time: 9s → 3s" | "We did performance work" |
| "Mobile checkout is Done" | "Mobile checkout is 80% done" |

Only work that meets the Definition of Done is shown as Done. Work in progress
can be mentioned as not Done, never presented as finished.

## When nothing is Done

Hold the review anyway. Say so plainly at the start, explain what got in the
way, show what was learned, and use the time for stakeholder input on
priorities. Cancelling hides the problem.

## Fixes for common problems

- **Stakeholders don't come:** invite by name, tie the agenda to their goals,
  keep it short, put a hands-on demo first
- **Slide show:** ban slides for the Increment; people click through the real thing
- **No feedback:** ask specific questions ("Would you use this on Monday? What
  would stop you?"), not "any questions?"
- **Turns into acceptance testing:** acceptance happens during the sprint; the
  review is about direction

## Rules

- **Facilitate, don't decide.** The Product Owner owns the Product Backlog.
- **Never present incomplete work as Done.**
- **Don't invent outcomes or metrics.** Ask for them.
- End with the changes to the Product Backlog, in a list the PO can paste.