Agile Method: The Ceremony

Agile Method: General Overview

The ceremony is the meeting that brings together the agile team (the development team), the Scrum Master (the “manager” of the team), and the Product Owner (the client representative), and occasionally the clients.

Note: This post was translated from french with the help of AI. The original post was written with the knowledge of a younger me.

It usually takes place between sprints, at regular intervals.

This event is divided into several phases. Some teams choose to separate these phases to lighten the meetings.

Phase 1, at the start of the project (Sprint Planning Meeting)

Ceremony Master: The Product Owner assisted by the Scrum Master

Duration: less than 2 hours.

This phase allows detailing most of the stories in the form of Stories, NFR, or Spike and distributing them across the planned sprints.

It also allows estimating the broad outlines of the project. It focuses on team cohesion and getting the team familiar with the clients and the project.

The goal is to start the first Sprint (Sprint 1 or Sprint 0) under good conditions.

Phase 1, during the project (Sprint Review)

Ceremony Master: The Product Owner assisted by the Scrum Master

Duration: less than 1 hour.

This phase allows reviewing the previous Sprint. During this phase, the agile team presents the results of the Sprint to all project stakeholders. Demonstrations may be made during this phase to clients, end users, or a representative panel…

Clients, through the Product Owner, should get an idea of the project’s current state.

During this step, all participants provide feedback to the agile team. This is where the project can be reoriented and phase 2 prepared.

Little Limawi bonus, between the two phases

Ceremony Master: None, it’s a card game

This inter-phase consists of reviewing threat models using the “ Elevation of Privilege” game. This method is explained in a dedicated article.

Phase 2, project-focused (Product Backlog Refinement)

Ceremony Master: The Product Owner assisted by the Scrum Master

Duration: less than 1 hour, can be very quick.

This phase allows reorganizing the stories ( Stories, NFR, Spike) for the next Sprint. The agile team questions the Product Owner about the stories to make them as clear as possible. The team then estimates the workload of all these stories (in terms of complexity points or time) using Agile Poker. Once the stories are estimated, the Product Owner prioritizes them according to the team’s velocity. He/she places them in “TODO” and sends any excess back to the Backlog (marked as “POSTPONED”).

This phase can occur in small touches throughout the Sprint. In this case, the Product Owner can refine much better and faster according to the challenges faced by the team. If this approach is preferred, the phase within the ceremony can be very short.

Phase 2, team-focused (Sprint Retrospective)

Ceremony Master: The Scrum Master

Duration: less than 1 hour.

This phase focuses on the team’s health. It can be done in the form of games. It helps strengthen team cohesion and continuous improvement.

The goal of this phase is to re-motivate the team, address social relationship difficulties among team members, and improve the work environment.