Sprint Rituals

The following regular meetings and Sprint functions are performed by domain teams at intelliHR.

Daily

Stand-ups

Purpose

Quick update of what happened since last stand-up, current tasks and any blockers for today. Some teams will review all open tickets, where some will only review each team members current task.

Who is required

  • Everyone in domain team

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager
  • Product Owner/Manager
  • QA
  • UX team

Duration

10-15 minutes.


Fortnightly

Stand-up-of-stand-ups

Purpose

One representative from each team declares completed work and upcoming work for each team since the last SoS, plus any blockers. Department announcements are also issued at this meeting.

Who is required

  • Everyone in engineering department

Who is optional

  • Account Management
  • Customer Success
  • Partners team representatives

Duration

10-15 minutes.

When in Sprint

Mid-Sprint.

Sprint Retrospectives

Purpose

Evaluate the Sprint that is about to, or has recently, closed. Determine what was successful or unsuccessful, and raise actions to address both. Allow team members to air concerns and share encouragement. This is a session internal to the team and for their own benefit only.

More information on Sprint Retrospectives.

Who is required

  • All domain team members

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager

Duration

45-60 minutes.

When in Sprint

Before end of Sprint, or shortly after completion of Sprint.

Sprint Planning

Purpose

Define the body of work that will compose the next Sprint, and its goals. Team is the key stakeholder of this meeting, it is for their benefit. It is not for roadmap shaping (see Shaping Sessions), nor backlog grooming (see Backlog Grooming).

More information on drafting Sprint Goals.

Who is required

  • All team members
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • UX Team Representative

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager

Duration

60 minutes.

When in Sprint

Before Sprint starts.

Sprint Review

Purpose

Declare success/fail of each Sprint goals and present goals of next Sprint. Sprint deliverables demonstrated if possible.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Senior
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • UX

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager

Duration

10-15 minutes.

When in Sprint

After Sprint finishes.

Backlog and product feedback grooming

Purpose

Senior team engineer and iteration manager meet to triage product feedback and prioritise product backlog items.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Senior

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager
  • Other team members
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • Subject Matter Experts

Duration

60+ minutes.

When in Sprint

Mid-Sprint.


Out-of-Sprint common rituals

Shaping sessions (roadmap or broad-level)

Purpose

High-level overview of effort required for roadmap items and facilitate the product team in making priority decisions.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • Senior
  • Subject Matter Experts
  • UX team representative

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager

Duration

As long as required. May need to be run across multiple meetings.

When in Sprint

Anytime.

Feature Alignments

Purpose

Gather as a team, and invite stakeholders, to review a roadmap item (epic) and finalise a set of acceptance criteria that accurately reflects all the new features and enhancements required to meet the item’s objectives. This session often involves additional scope (MVP) discussion in finer detail than was relevant in shaping sessions. These sessions should be recorded and made available to any stakeholders that can be present.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Senior
  • Other team members
  • Context-dependant stakeholders (CS, product team)

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager
  • UX team representative (as required by Domain Team)

Duration

Usually 1 hour, but if requirements are not clear enough additional sessions might be required.

When in Sprint

Anytime.

Technical Breakdowns

Purpose

Breakdown roadmap commitments into epics, issues, dependencies, and blockers with a focus on incremental delivery.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Senior
  • Other team members

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • UX team representative (as required by Domain Team)

Duration

As long as required. May need to be split across multiple meetings.

When in Sprint

Anytime.

Checkup Sessions

Purpose

Review the new features and enhancements produced by the team with stakeholders to discover any bugs, fully demonstrate behaviour and to identify future work. These sessions should be recorded and made available to the wider company.

Who is required

  • Iteration Manager
  • Senior
  • Other team members

Who is optional

  • CTO
  • Engineering Manager
  • Product Manager/Product Owner
  • UX team representative (as required by Domain Team)

Duration

As long as required. May need to be split across multiple meetings.

When in Sprint

Anytime.