Agile Events Question Bank 

Q: When might a Sprint be cancelled?

A Sprint could be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint.

Q: What should be the length of the Sprint?

The length of the sprint should be :

• One month or less to create consistency.

• It should be short enough to be able to synchronize the development work with other business events.

• It should be short enough to keep the business risk acceptable to the Product Owner.

Q: What does it mean to say that an event has a timebox?

Timeboxed events are events that have a maximum duration. The event can take no more than a maximum amount of time.

Q: When does the Sprint Retrospective typically happen?

The Sprint Retrospective is a Scrum event that takes place at the end of each sprint, typically after the Sprint Review.

The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint. It is timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter.

Q:  What is the Product Owner's responsibility during the Sprint Retrospective?

During the Sprint Retrospective Product Owner participates as a member of the Scrum Team. 

The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools used, and their Definition of Done. Inspected elements often vary with the domain of work. Assumptions that led them off track or target are identified and their sources explored. The Scrum Team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it encountered, and how those problems were (or were not) solved.

The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum team to self-assess and reflect on how to improve its work process. The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness and increase quality. The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint.

Q: What happens when a Sprint is canceled?

When a Sprint is called following are the options considering Scrum's mindset:

• All incomplete Product Backlog Items are re-estimated and put back on the Product Backlog for future consideration.

• If part of the work is potentially releasable, the Product Owner typically accepts it.

• Any completed and "Done" Product Backlog items are reviewed.

Q: Why is the Daily Scrum held at the same time and same place?

The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team. To reduce complexity, it is held at the same time and place every working day of the Sprint.

Q: Who is required to attend the Daily Scrum?

Daily Scrum is for the Developers of the Scrum Team. If the Product Owner or Scrum Master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers, they will need to be at the Daily Scrum.

Q: What is the main reason for the Scrum Master to be at the Daily Scrum?

Scrum Master do not have to be at the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master ensures all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.

Daily Scrum is for the Developers of the Scrum Team. If the Scrum Master is actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers, they will need to be at the Daily Scrum.

Q: What are the popular techniques used in Sprint Retrospective?

Retrospective techniques are a good way to gauge participants engagement and attitude towards the retrospective .These techniques give insight into team sentiments, mindset, encourage open and honest communication (regular and an anonymous feedback) and based on the feedback adapt or adjust to improve quality and effectiveness. This could involve introduce new techniques to improve engagement, changing the format, addressing specific concerns. 

Some of the popular techniques for sprint retrospectives are as follows: 

Start, Stop, Continue Retrospective

Start: Identify Practices or actions that the team should start doing. 

Stop: Highlight the areas that needs to be stopped due to ineffectiveness.

Continue:  Recognize practices that are working well and should be continued.

4 Ls Retrospective

Liking: What the team members liked during the sprint. 

Learning: New knowledge or skills acquired.

Lacked: Resources that were missing . Areas where the team fell short. 

Longed for: What the team wished they had.

Mad, Sad, Glad Retrospective

Mad: Things that made team member frustrated , feel angry.

Sad: Events that caused disappointment or sadness.

Glad: Positive experiences or outcomes.

ESVP Retrospective

Explorer: Eager to dive into Retrospective. Interested in uncovering insights, learning from past sprints and finding ways to improve. 

Shopper:  Open to hearing new ideas and insights. Looking for valuable takeaways that they can use.  May not actively seek out information like Explorer.

Vacationer: Present  at the Retrospective but not fully engaged. See the session as a break from routine work rather than an opportunity for improvement.

Prisoner: Forced to attend the Retrospective . May feel reluctant, disengaged and resentful about being there.

Sailboat Retrospective

Wind: Factors that help team move forward.

Anchor: Challenges and impediments that slow down team performance.

Rocks: Risk and potential problems that could be encountered.

Island: Team goal or what they are striving towards.

Lean Coffee Retrospective

Lean Coffee: A structured but agenda less meeting where participants gather and build  an agenda real time and start talking. Conversations are directed and timeboxed.