Scrum Ceremonies

Important Definitions

Sprint: the time period where the scrum team works together to accomplish their increment

Sprint Planning: meeting time spent planning for the upcoming sprint including task ownership and increment decisions

Daily Scrums: short (5-15 minute), daily check ins where each team member speaks very briefly on what they are working on and notify the team of any blockers they are facing

Sprint Review: a meeting held towards the end of a sprint to demo the increment and reorganize the product backlog

Sprint Retrospective: a meeting with the scrum team spent reflecting on what what went well during the previous sprint and what can be improved upon for next sprint

Ceremonies in The Data Mine

Using scrum ceremonies may be the single most important part of using scrum in The Data Mine. It is normal to seek structure in project development, but it is often very hard to find with research and development projects. Scrum ceremonies offer that structure.

By committing to a regular and consistent schedule, scrum teams will find themselves in a steady groove as the project unfolds.

Sprint Planning

Sprint planning should take place at the start of every sprint. Realistically, planning meetings will occur at the first team meeting following the end of sprint. TAs are responsible for creating and maintaining the product backlog by working with their team’s corporate partner mentor to ensure they project is moving with correct pace and direction.

During the sprint planning meeting, an open discussion is held between the corporate partner mentors, TAs, and development team. Each development team member will take ownership of tasks from the product backlog to complete the coming sprint. Each event that is chosen will then be moved to sprint backlog.

Sprint Review

Sprint reviews should occur once every sprint during a meeting time with the team’s corporate partner mentor in attendance. Team members will go around and informally demonstrate their work through live demos, documentation, or presentations. This meeting is where the corporate partner mentor can clearly see the work being done by the team and can give feedback to the team. It is crucial for the team to be prepared for these meetings on a sprint-by-sprint basis because it is direct representation of the work being accomplished. Feedback from the corporate partner mentor should be annotated and applied towards the next sprint.

Sprint Retrospective

Retrospectives in The Data Mine function as a standard retrospective. This ceremony will happen at the end of every sprint and is a time for reflection and evaluation of the sprint. This event can be held with or without a corporate partner mentor, and it is the TA’s responsibility to lead this ceremony.

Sprint Schedule

The sprint start and end dates are slightly shifted depending on when a team has their lab (2 hours) and lecture (50 minutes).

This is so that sprints always start with a lec and follow the format lec-lab-lec-lab.

Scroll down in the table below to compare the two schedules. You can also view the tables directly via this link.

Scrum Ceremonies Cartoon

Turn the light switch off and there it is.
Figure 1. Turn the light switch off and there it is.
I’m sure you will.
Figure 2. I’m sure you will.

Cartoon illustrated by Marija Hajnal