Chapter 5: The End? Improving Product and Process One Bite at a Time

1. Discuss with your team: what do they need to do in order to prepare for the sprint review? Would they like a practice run? Do they know who's demonstrating what? What were the big issues in the sprint that might be worth mentioning? What does your script look like?

2. How would you go about preparing your product owner for the sprint review? What if he/she is not available to attend?

3. What do you feel is the single most important metric to give at the sprint review? Why?

4. You notice that your team is unhappy because stakeholders asked for changes in the functionality as a result of the sprint review. You, on the other hand, are quite happy about this. Why is there a disconnect between you and the team? What do you feel they're most concerned about?

5. What observations did you make about the team during the sprint? When do you feel would be the right time to bring up your observations? Put yourself in the shoes of the team member as you consider the answer to this question.

6. What if part of your team is offshore and follows a command-and-control culture; therefore, they are terrified of speaking up in the retrospective? What can you do to help them feel safe to speak up?

7. After a few retrospectives with your team, you've noticed that one team member is especially profound with his ideas for change. That is, he has some great ideas, but most of them probably won't pass muster with the rest of the organization. How do you keep him engaged and speaking up even though most of his ideas are too progressive for everyone else? You certainly don't want to shut him down!