How To Guides

How To: Sizing and Estimation Game

The Zoo Game When starting out with teams I like to facilitate an exercise called “The Zoo Game” to bring relative sizing and estimation to life.  It is a practical exercise that is run with the whole team together. Getting started If the team are located in the same office, then you will need the following…

How To: Backlog Refinement

The Scrum Guide states that, ” Product Backlog Items that can be Done by the Scrum Team within one Sprint are deemed ready for selection in a Sprint Planning event. They usually acquire this degree of transparency after refining activities. Product Backlog Refinement is the act of breaking down and further defining Product Backlog Items…

How To: Sprint Review

As always I have tried to break things down into PO / SM / Team responsibilities so that you know how closely these roles need to work together to get great outcomes. Sprint Review. The Sprint review is held at the end of the Sprint to “inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog if…

How To: Sprint Retrospectives

Sprint Retrospectives are an important part of our inspect and adapt process. It helps our teams to continually improve by looking back at the last Sprint, identifying areas of improvement and creating an action plan to to implement improvements for the next Sprint. The Format The format of a retrospective can be as simple as…

How To: Sprint Planning

Sprint Planning is an event in Scrum where the team come together to align and determine which User Stories they will work on during their Sprint. The Product Owner will come to the event with a Sprint Goal in mind that aligns to their product vision. The team will discuss the Sprint Goal, identify User…

I compiled these “How To Guides” to help Scrum Masters who may be looking for inspiration or new things to try in their Scrum Events. I have used the formats described within them to great effect so hopefully it will give you a good base or some new ideas to try with your teams.