Helping the team get features to “Done”
It is expected for features to go through cycles of development, testing, bug-fixing, and re-testing within the Sprint. Given the short time-frames of Sprints, it is imperative for testers to effectively help the team prove product quality and eradicate critical issues. The goal is to have the issues fixed as soon as possible, and for that to happen, clear and concise communication is needed for defect management as well as test reporting.
Reviewing “Done” items with the stakeholders
The Sprint Review is attended by the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Development Team. Other stakeholders such as managers, investors, sponsors, and users are also invited, as this is an opportunity for them to give feedback and collaborate with the team on the product.
The flow of the Sprint Review will typically be as follows:
- The Product Owner gives everyone an overview of the Sprint: what the Development team has done, and what items were not done.
- The Development team gives the stakeholders a walk-through of the “Done” features, take questions, and answers them accordingly. An overview of the problems encountered during development can also be discussed, to provide more insight on how the features are developed.
- The Product Owner shows the current status of the Product Backlog and where the project is along the Release Timeline.
- The attendees exchange feedback on the current product, add new or modify existing Product Backlog items, and discuss at a high level what will be included in the next Sprint
The Sprint Review is more than a demo for the stakeholders. It’s an opportunity for the scrum team to improve the product through the feedback exchanged in the session. The sprint review is also for learning about market trends and insights. Some teams take the Sprint review as an opportunity to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments and contributions, as positive reinforcement for everyone.
Testers should be ready to be one of the members to demo the features to the stakeholders, as they are part of the development team and anyone on the development team should be able to present. Since everyone is in a single location for this ceremony, testers should be able to observe how the stakeholders react to the demo. This provides additional context for the feedback exchanged during the Sprint Review session. Stakeholder inputs will give more insight on business cases and use case, which can supplement the tester’s knowledge when planning and executing tests.
The Sprint Review is one of the five main Scrum ceremonies, and employs the empirical process of inspecting and adapting. It is the time for the team to show what they were able to accomplish, as well as to collaborate with the stakeholders. Testers will be able to use this time to help prove product quality as well as refine their product knowledge, since inputs from this ceremony can help show where the product direction should be.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: