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Agile Ceremonies
Agile ceremonies refer to the meetings conducted while carrying out projects to determine whether the goals of the project are being achieved. The ceremonies in agile are part of the agile scrum framework and designed around a single term known as sprint. Sprint or iterations refer to a sequence of activities that have to be carried out within a specific time period. Each sprint lasts between two and four weeks. The ceremonies are facilitated to ensure that the whole project team is on the same page while carrying out a project.
Agile ceremonies cannot be conducted in an isolated manner. In order to promote communication, the ceremony must include participation from the entire agile team. This further pave the way to accomplish the goals of a project whilst delivering business value. Several scrum roles perform the ceremonies. Let us have a look at the scrum roles involved in agile ceremonies.
Scrum Roles in Agile Ceremonies
The following three scrum roles play a major role in conducting the agile ceremonies.
Product owner
An individual who represents the client performs this role. User story creation and decision-making for the product under development are the responsibility of the product owner. In addition, product owners engage in converting customer needs into activities for the team.
Scrum master
Scrum masters act as facilitators during the agile ceremony. They are responsible for setting up the meetings, besides performing the role of a project manager. During the agile ceremony, a scrum master is necessary to assess the project’s status and the challenges it is facing
Development team
The development team is created to carry out the activities on a daily basis. It is a term given to developers, designers, and other technical members required for the project. The team indulges in completing the deliverable required for developing a product.
Agile Scrum Ceremonies
Let us have a look at the 4 scrum ceremonies conducted by organizations using the agile scrum framework.
4 scrum ceremonies:
Sprint planning
Sprint planning is the first ceremony carried out before the beginning of a new sprint. the product owner, scrum master, and the development team attend this ceremony. The duration of the sprint planning ceremony depends on the time required to complete a particular sprint. As a result, the time allotted for the sprint planning ceremony should not exceed two hours if the sprint lasts for a week.
During this meeting, questions like “what has to be delivered in this sprint?” and “how can it be achieved?” have to be answered. Without getting answers to this question, sprint planning ceremony is incomplete. Also, the members attending this meeting need to determine whether any discrepancies occur while performing the tasks of the sprint.
Daily scrum
Daily meetings or daily scrum helps the team to plan their work for the day. During this meeting, the development team and scrum master meet up to discuss the solution for three specific questions. They are:
- What work was completed yesterday?
- What is the plan of action for today?
- Are there any obstacles to completing today’s action plan?
Every team member of this meeting should communicate effectively during this meeting. Daily scrum enables team members to work together to achieve their respective course of action by the end of the day.
Sprint review
This scrum ceremony takes place at the end of sprint. During this meeting, the development team can showcase their goals accomplished for the sprint. Sprint review demonstrate the work completed. The team need not engage in proving the work completed during the sprint. Rather, the meeting should reflect on the progress of the project.
The development team, scrum master, product owner, and stakeholders attends this meeting. This ceremony should focus on delivering business value while designing the product as per the needs of the client.
Sprint retrospective
This meeting is the final ceremony among the agile scrum ceremonies. Sprint retrospective assists the development team and the scrum master to look back on the work accomplished. During this meet, the team analyses what could have been improved while performing the tasks. The team also engages in comparing this sprint to the previous sprint to analyze what went well.
It is important to note that this ceremony should avoid becoming a platform for members blaming each other. It should be designed to rely on honest feedback and suggestions for improvement. Typically, this ceremony lasts an hour for a sprint that lasts a week.
Conclusion
Scrum ceremonies are designed to use on projects irrespective of the product and tools used for developing the product. The ceremonies brings the team together while working on a project. Individuals willing to broaden their knowledge on agile scrum frameworks can pursue PMI’s Agile Certified Practitioner Training. With PMI-ACP Certification, professionals can master the skills to lead agile projects and gain a comprehensive understanding of Agile methodology.
