Sprint Review Vs Sprint Retrospective

Sprint Review vs Sprint Retrospective

There is no need for an intro about sprint review vs sprint retrospective as it is the most wanted difference for all those who embrace the scrum framework in their project. The former is a broader term of surveying and understanding about the what. On the other hand the latter is to look back and know the how.

They are both conducted after every sprint. But they are different, the former focus on the product and the latter on the process. We can directly get into the actual differences to understand better. We have also explained each term in detail post the difference table for an elaborate education on the same. Every scrum product owner certification course emphasizes this because the product owner plays a key role in both these meetings.

Difference Between Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective

Sprint review vs sprint retrospective

Retrospective	Review
Emphasis on HOW it is built	Discusses the WHAT – what is created by the team
45 mins per week of Sprint which means for a 2-week sprint this meeting can last up to 1.30 hours	1 hour per week of Sprint. For one month sprint, it can last for a maximum of 4 hours
Examine and familiarize yourself the process	Examine and familiarize yourself the product
Sprint review is followed and here the participants understand how the product was built. The process.	Every sprint is followed by this meeting to understand if the sprint goal is met
The scrum team which include SM and PO take part in the meeting	Informal meeting with all participants namely SM, PO, developers, and management
Formal discussion among all in the team to understand the process and motivate themselves to get ready for the next sprint	PO will explain what is completed and what is pending
The team will discuss how to improve the development process by discussing what went well in the previous sprint and how to make things more productive in the coming sprints	The team will discuss what problems they had and how did they resolve them
More talk related to how to make things effective. No discussion about past failures only discuss improvement plan	Sit and discuss the tasks in the pipeline to plan for the next sprint

To look back means retrospective and is a Latin word. The process of looking back at each sprint is known as a sprint review. All team members, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner come together in this session to discuss their performance and take corrective action for future sprints.

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What is a Retrospective Meeting?

Typically, the retrospective meeting is a time-limited meeting that lasts an hour. Depending on the complexity of the project, it can be extended to a maximum of 3 hours to generate more ideas for corrective action. Master how to conduct this meeting in a product owner certification course.

Also Read: Sprint Reports

Role of the Participant

- Members of the development team discuss the good things and the things that went wrong during the completed sprint.

- Assess the process currently being followed and discuss changes.

- You also talk about innovative ways of increasing your efficiency.

- The Scrum Master takes note of this discussion and offers the necessary support to move forward in the next Sprint.

- The Product Owner works together when necessary to solve the greatest challenges.

Also Read: Epic Vs Feature Vs User Story

Three Basic Elements of the Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective Meeting consists of three basic blocks: Good, Bad, and Corrective Actions.

1. Things that went well

2. Things that went wrong

3. Corrective Action

In short, the goal of the retrospective sprint meeting is to propose corrective actions and achieve them in the next sprint which is extensively demonstrated with examples in product owner training sessions.

Sprint Review

So far we walked you through sprint review vs retrospective and now we will discuss each of them in detail as both are part of the certified scrum product owner online training. APO has a greater role to play in making the project a success.

The sprint review is done to inspect the increment and then adapt to the product backlog based on the need. Thus all the team members are brought by the SM to this meeting which is conducted at the end of every sprint.

Role of the Participant

Each stakeholder is updated about the product increment and backlog to optimize the product value

SM will educate everyone about the purpose of this meeting and ensures that it is well completed within the time

PO will explain the PBI that is completed and that is not

The development team will answer questions about the increment. Also, they will discuss what went well and how to go about solving the problems

Finally, the PO will discuss the backlog and decide on the delivery dates based on the progress

Everyone in the team collaboratively works towards the next action required to be done in the upcoming sprint planning session

Also Read: Lead vs Lag

How is the Sprint Retrospective Different from the Sprint Review Meeting?

Sprint Review Meeting - “What” is created by the team.

Sprint retrospective: “How” is built.

Good Features of the Sprint Review and Retrospective Meeting

The entire team must be involved

The discussion should focus on the whole team, not the people.

View and expand the Done Team definition.

Make a list of executable commitments.

Review the outcome of the previous Sprint Retrospective.

The discussion should be linked to all participants.

Progress should be reviewed at the end of each sprint to ensure the team is still nearing the finish line.

It Helps team building, maintains team spirit, and uncovers conflicts that arise.

Also Read: Sprint Planning Meeting

Final Thoughts about Sprint Review vs Sprint Retrospective

In conclusion, we understand that the review meeting is a scrum even that inspects the entire work done in that particular sprint. On the other hand, a retrospective meeting will evaluate the sprint as a whole. This will enable improvement in the process for accomplishing things by overcoming the entire shortcoming in the subsequent sprints.

Every aspiring product owner must register for a CSPO certification online to understand more about sprint review and retrospectives for playing their part correctly.

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