Get the most from your Sprint Review

At Alpe Audio, we’ve been doing bi-weekly sprint reviews for nearly two years. As a growing startup we love the sprint system because it keeps on track and pushing through goals. But as 2021 draws to a close, we wanted to know: Did we learn from our mistakes? Or were we constantly falling prey to the same issues? 

In this article, we’re going to share the results of our first ever sprint review retrospective. We’ll cover the highs and the lows, and talk about ways that you can leverage your sprint review to create better systems.

Let’s dive in! 

Lessons (Un)Learned

Though each sprint has its own personality, there were some themes that cropped up again and again. The most common ‘good’ notes on our weekly sprint review fell into two categories: Times when we had set up our goals correctly, and reaped the benefits. And weeks where we had found a new tool or trick to help with our productivity. 

On the other side of the list, there were a few problems that we could not shake. Weeks where we gave ourselves too much work, and suffered from burnout. Or times when poor planning stymied our efforts.

So gathered all of the data from our sprint review retrospective and set out to compile a list of takeaways. Actionable items we could return to to help us move on from our recurring problems.

Sprint Review Takeaways

The first thing we concentrated on was systems. How can we improve the structure and workflow of each sprint to minimize frustration and maximize success? We came up with four core ideas:

Systems

• Make goals that are concrete and achievable
• Break down goals into discrete tasks 
• Review goals at key points throughout the sprint to stay focused
• Separate out which parts of a task are up to us, and which are dependent on others. Then allocate them time accordingly. 

Then we talked about strategies. Best practices we can use to make our work more efficient:

Best Practices

• Push to get time sensitive tasks done first
• Don’t let ‘great’ get in the way of ‘good’
• Strive for the ‘goldilocks’ zone in goal setting – not too hard and not too easy

And last but not least, we collected all of the little tips and tricks we’d accrued over two years and turned them into a handy list for future reference. 

Tips

• Find a work environment that is conducive to productivity
• Use time-management hacks (like pomodoro) to make the most of your work day
• Leverage automation to save time
• When you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a walk. 

Common Frustrations

Of course, not everything in our sprint review retrospective could be translated into an easy takeaway. We noticed that there were a few common frustrations that impacted the way we viewed our work:

1. Procrastination – Everyone procrastinates, especially on tasks that lack ‘glamor’ or drag out over a long period of time. We need to recognize that procrastination doesn’t just impact our productivity, it also affects the way we view ourselves. And so while we didn’t put ‘curing procrastination’ onto our to-do list, it’s something we need to be aware of.
   
2. The unexpected – Whether it’s a cold, a rough morning following a late night out, or a global pandemic, life happens. But when we’re setting up our sprint goals, we can’t always anticipate what the next two weeks will look like. For a team that’s incredibly driven and passionate about their work, having goals disrupted thanks to unexpected circumstances can be frustrating. We’ve got to remember to roll with the punches and be kind to ourselves. In the long runs, our happiness will matter much more than whether or not we hit one last item on our checklist.

Our 2022 Plans

These items have helped us to re-work our goal-setting infrastructure and workflow. If there’s one thing that defines our ethos at Alpe, it is our firm belief in lifelong learning. And by taking the time to look over our sprint reviews, we were able to learn lessons that will help us improve for the future. 

With 2022 right around the corner, we’re excited to implement the knowledge we’ve gained, and to take on whatever new challenges come our way. 

What do you think?

What do you think about our sprint review retrospective? How would you implement something similar in your own team or company structure? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.