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Agile Meetings Cheat Sheets

Agile Meetings Cheat Sheets

Introduction
This cheat sheet is a guide (using many Real World practices and tips from Agile practitioners) on how to prepare and execute effective and successful Agile meetings. There are 6 levels of planning in Agile, this cheat sheet covers some of the Visioning activities in level 3 in addition to all the primary Agile meetings in levels 4,5,6 (Release Planning, Iteration Planning and Daily Planning).

We would love to hear your feedback, suggestions and how this has helped you so please contact us at info@agiletransformation.com
I hope you find this resource to be valuable and useful on an ongoing base for your Agile meetings! - Sally


Project / Release Kickoff & Visioning Meeting
Meeting Purpose:
For the Product Owner and Sponsor to provide a clear overview of the vision, objectives, deliverables, desired roadmap and perform initial team forming activities.

Attendees:
Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team (All roles needed to get a story ‘Done’ including business SMEs)
Should Have: Sponsor, Key Stakeholders

Duration:
This Initial meeting can take 4 hours

Deliverables:
Product Vision Box
Measures of Success (release level acceptance criteria ‘Done’)
Visioning Artifacts (such as: High Level Process Diagram, Use Case Diagram, UI Flow, Personas)
Desired Product Roadmap (what do we hope to deliver by when? High level as this will change)
Project/Release Risks and Constraints
Team Roles and Expectations
Consensus on Team Norms (working agreements)
Consensus on Agile Execution Process and Tools

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Team Introductions
Overview of the Vision
Product Vision Box Exercise
How Will We Measure Success?
Visioning Artifacts
Design the Release Roadmap
Project/Release Risks and Constraints (Hard dates, costs or risks)
Team Roles and Expectations
Consensus on Future Team Norms
Consensus on Process and Tools
Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Plan team building activities for new teams
Learn and practice 'Visual Modeling'. A picture of their vision is worth a 1000 words so vision by drawing!
Visioning artifacts may include: (High Level Process Diagram, Use Case Diagram, UI Flow, Personas)
Prepare PO for being positive, inspiring and upbeat during this session
Emphasize the concept of Generalizing Specialist
Engage everyone in defining their Team Norms
Prepare short demos of any tools that will be used if applicable


Building the Backlog – Story Writing Meeting

Meeting Purpose:
For the PO and team to collaborate on building and prioritizing the backlog of stories for the upcoming one or two releases.

Attendees:
Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team (All roles needed to get a story ‘Done’ including business SMEs)
Should Have: Key Stakeholders (Remember to invite departments who help setup the foundation for your team during the Foundation/Non-Functional story writing portion)
Could Have: Sponsor

Duration: This meeting can take 4 hours – several days depending on release size

Deliverables:
Prioritized Product Backlog (Themes, Features, Stories)
Foundational, Spikes and Change Management Stories*
Storymap *
Updated Roadmap

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Review Story Writing Guidelines
PO Presents their Initial Story Backlog*
Team and PO writes functional stories (By Persona, Story Map, Brainstorming)
Identify Risk/Spike Stories
Identify Foundational/ Non-Functional Stories, Change Mgmt
Breakdown EPICs (in this release)
Prioritize/Rank Order the Backlog (Dependency, Risk, MoSCoW, H-M-L, Kano)
Update Release Roadmap (R1, R2, R3..)
Consensus, Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Input: Have PO and Analyst prepare an initial backlog
Input: Bring in output from Visioning session
Prepare visuals for Story writing guidelines
Meeting Norm: Discuss the What not the How
Meeting Norm: When brainstorming don't evaluate
Use post-it notes, index cards for brainstorming
Setup room for team collaboration
Don't forget Dependency trumps business value
Spikes are stories designed to mitigate risk or prove a solution


Release Planning & Estimating Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the PO and the team to collaborate on building an initial guiding plan (number of iterations, estimated velocity, release themes, dates) that provides an initial release plan and foundation for how the team will deliver on the vision.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team (All roles needed to get a story ‘Done’ including business SMEs)
Should Have: Key Stakeholders and SMEs
Could Have: Sponsor, Managers

Duration: This meeting can take 4 hours – 1 day+ depending on release size

Deliverables:
Initial Release Plan (knowing it will change)
Estimated Team Velocity
Target Release Dates
Estimated Release During (Iterations) and or Points Delivered
Initial Cost Estimates*

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Establish Story Definition of ‘Done’
Review Story Sizing Guidelines
Size Each Story (T-Shirt Sizing, Planning Poker, Complexity Buckets)
Determine Iteration Length
Calculate Number of Iterations
Determine Est. Initial Velocity
Plan for Iteration 0, Buffers and Team Vacations/Holidays
Calculate Number of Points (best case, realistic, worse case)
Develop Rough Cost Estimates *
Share Agile Guidelines for Grooming
Consensus, Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Input: Story Cards from previous work
Input: Product Vision Box and Release Goals, Constraints
Meeting Norm: 'Just Enough' details to size the story
Meeting Norm: Focus on relativity not precision
Keep reminding the PO that this plan will evolve
Ask the team if they have all the right skills they need
Protect the team from PO or outside pressures


Iteration 0 Planning Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the Team and other supporting (any department that helps setup the foundation for the team) to plan out the foundation/setup work needed before a team can execute their first successful iteration.

Attendees: The ScrumMaster, Team, Technical Leads/Architects, Foundation SMEs
Could Have: PO
Should Have: Infrastructure, Security, DBAs ..etc

Duration: This meeting can take 1 – 2 hrs

Deliverables:
Iteration 0 Stories in Ranked Order
Task List for Iteration 0
Team Consensus on Iteration Plan

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Review Release Plan
Review Initial Backlog of Foundational and Non Functional Stories
Discuss Dependency, Spikes, Risks
Select Stories for this Iteration
Breakdown Tasks
Review Agile Process Basics (for new folks) (planning, daily standup, review, retrospective)
Team Capacity Planning
Consensus, Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Input: Initial Foundational and non functional stories
Engage Infrastructure, Security, DBAs or other departments that help setup the foundation
Shared team members usually are multitasking, get strong commitment
Protect the team from overcommitting
Create an Iteration 0 Checklist and Tips


Story Elaboration – Iteration Pre-Planning (* Optional)

Meeting Purpose: For the PO and a subset of the team to plan ahead the upcoming stories and elaborate the detailed acceptance criteria as preparation for the next Iteration planning session.

Attendees: Product Owner, Business Analyst, Tech Lead, Tester
Could Have: ScrumMaster, SMEs, Sponsor*

Duration: Plan for about 2 - 3 hrs/week (depends on complexity of stories)

Deliverables:
Confirmation of stories for the next iteration
Detailed requirements (acceptance tests, UI Mockup*, Process/Activity Diagram*, Behavior Driven Development tests*, Sample Test Data*)
Technical risk mitigation action items

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Confirm Stories for Next Iteration
Elaborate the Stories (Start with screen mockup or process diagram (something visual) then define clear acceptance tests and business rules)
Discuss Potential Impediments and Action Plan to Manage Them
Consensus, Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Input: Release Plan
Input: Stakeholder's needs/expectations
Schedule this early, shortly after the current planning meeting
PO should reach out to stakeholders and get input
PO should work closely with sponsor to confirm alignment
Tech Lead should foresee technical impediments


Sprint/Iteration Planning Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the PO and the team to plan the current iteration/sprint by agreeing on target stories, confirming acceptance criteria, breaking down the work into tasks and confirming capacity and target completion goals.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team (All roles needed to get a story ‘Done’ including business SMEs)
Should Have: Shared members (allocated for short duration work during this sprint)

Duration: This meeting can take 2 - 4 hours (the more you improve pre-planning the faster this meeting goes! Start with 4 hrs then scale down when feasible)

Deliverables:
Prioritized Stories for this Iteration
Acceptance Criteria for Each Story
Story Elaboration Artifacts
Story Tasks
Sprint Goal/Theme (what goal/objective are we trying to accomplish?)

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Re-Plan any ‘Not Done’ Work from Previous Iteration (if prioritized by PO)
PO Presents Top Stories
PO/Team Defines an Iteration Goal/Theme
PO Clarifies Each Story’s Details
Team May Resize or Slice Story
Team Breaks Story into Tasks
Team Sizes Each Task
Team Reviews Capacity
PO/Team Consensus on Iteration Goal
Team Updates their Wall *
Action Items and Closing

Facilitation Tips
Input: Backlog and Release Plan
Input: Pre-Planning Work (Story Elaboration)
FOCUS on quality and detailed acceptance criteria
Try BDD Format 'Given .. When .. Then ..'
Use 'real' scenarios and data to confirm acceptance test understanding
Use "Yesterday's Weather" for teams that always overcommit
Protect the team from PO or Mgmt pressures - remind of Sustainable Pace


Daily Standup Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the Team to communicate with each other daily on progress, impediments, dependencies and foster a culture of shared responsibility and visibility. This is not a status report meeting to the ScrumMaster or Mgmt.!

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team
Should Have: Shared members from other areas who have active tasks
Could Have: Sponsor, Managers, Stakeholders (but they can’t speak, only observe)

Duration: 15 Min. Anything longer is a sign of dysfunction

Deliverables:
Everyone has a chance to share their progress
Impediments list updated and owner identified
Parking lot items for post standup discussion

Sample Agenda:
Review Standup Norms
Person/Task Based Standup (standard):
What did I complete yesterday?
What am I working on today?
Here is what is stopping/slowing me
Alternative Standup – Story Based:
Walk the wall starting from highest priority/ranked story and answer:
What is remaining to get this Story ‘Done’? (ETA?)
Who can help with this Story?
What impediments does it have?
Parking Lot for Post Standup Conversations

Facilitation Tips
Input: Visible task wall or electronic task wall
Review standup team norms created by the team
Encourage creative ways for team to reward themselves for following their norms
Stand with the team not in front of them
Address dysfunctional behavior
Listen for hidden impediments
Improve standup meeting quality during retrospectives


Backlog Refinement Meeting (* Optional)

Meeting Purpose: For the PO to groom the backlog by adding, removing, reprioritizing, rewording, slicing and planning ahead for stories so that the backlog and release plan is always reflecting the desired future state.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, Business Analyst, Tech Lead
Could Have: anyone else that could contribute to the grooming effort

Duration: Could spend 2+ hours per week (depends on complexity and volatility of backlog)

Deliverables:
Updated Backlog
Updated Release Plan *
Updated Roadmap *
Emerging Risks and Mitigation Strategy*

Sample Agenda:
PO states his/her goal for this session
PO and participants review the backlog and identify areas for improvement
PO grooms the backlog:
writes new stories
slices existing stories
update story wording
move stories up or down in priority
PO reviews upcoming iterations and plans ahead for next goals
Action items and closure

Facilitation Tips
Input: Current Product Backlog and Release Plan
PO Should come in with a goal in mind 'I want to accomplish x'
Limit stakeholder participation to a small number
Schedule this as a standing 1 - 2 hr meeting each week
Spend time planning ahead for the next few iterations/release
Keep an eye on team's velocity to derive realistic future goals


Sprint Review / Demo Meeting

Meeting Purpose:
Part 1 (the Review): For the PO to review all the stories and confirm acceptance criteria have been met. PO accepts or rejects the story as ‘Done’ (typically performed one day before the demo)
Part 2 (the Demo): For the PO and team to showcase to the Sponsor and other Stakeholders what they have completed in this iteration, solicit their feedback and celebrate success.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team
Demo Should Have: Sponsor, Stakeholders, Managers
Demo Could Have: Anyone interested in seeing the team’s progress

Duration: The Sprint Review could take 1 – 2 hrs
The Demo could take 1 hr with 30 - 40 min prep

Deliverables:
Sprint Review:
PO accepts or rejects stories
Demo:
PO and team showcase completed functionality
Input/feedback from sponsor and stakeholders

Sample Agenda for the Demo:
Meeting Purpose and Norms
Welcome Attendees
Introduce the Team, Celebrate and Recognize their Hard Work
PO Reviews the Overall Vision and Current Release Goals
PO Shares Goal for Current Iteration
Team Demonstrates ‘Done’ Stories
PO Solicits Sponsor/Stakeholder Q&A
PO Shares Next Iteration Goal
PO Thanks Everyone for Attending
Document Feedback and Action Items

Facilitation Tips
Schedule 30min - 1hr to prepare / rehearse for Demo
Invite sponsor and communicate to them importance of attending
Only demonstrate stories that are 'Done'
Non software stories can also be demonstrated/reviewed
Keep the meeting upbeat, positive, fun


Sprint Retrospective Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the PO and the team to dig deep into their processes, team dynamics and deliverables so they can celebrate success and identify improvements. A retrospective must result in concrete action items for the next iteration.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team
Could Have: anyone the team wants to invite to contribute, observe or listen to the team and help address their impediments or share their success

Duration: This meeting can take 1 – 2 hrs

Deliverables:
Update on action items from previous retrospective
Current list of Working Well items
Current list of Needs Improvement
Action items for top improvements selected for next iteration
Output from Retrospective Exercises
(Examples: team radar, force field analysis, anonymous Top 5, appreciation game, mad sad glad, happiness meter) Read: Agile Retrospectives – Making Good Teams Great

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose
Discuss Effective Retrospective Norms
Team Identifies a Focus Area
Gather Data (see the list of exercises above)
Group Releated Items on the Wall
Circle and Name the Groups
Vote for Top X Groups/Areas
Root Cause Analysis
Brainstorm Top Solutions
Create Action Items
Add to Iteration Plan
Create Big Visible Chart
Meeting Retrospective, Closure

Facilitation Tips
Input: Action items from previous retrospective
Set the context for a healthy open retrospective through team norms
Address team dynamics not just process
Celebrate success, try the appreciation game
Try different flavors of games from retrospectivewiki.org
Engage everyone, watch for 'going through the motion' participation
MUST follow through with improvements!


TeamHealth Retrospective Assessment Meeting

Meeting Purpose: For the Team to have a deep-dive strategic retrospective that focuses on the top areas that affect team performance/health and develop an actionable growth plan.

Attendees: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, The Team
Could Have: anyone the team wants to invite to contribute, observe or listen to the team and help address their impediments or share their success

Duration: This meeting can take 2.5 – 3 hrs , repeat once a quarter

Deliverables:
Completion of the 360 TeamHealth Radar assessment
Analysis of the results & variance between responses
Review the Team’s strengths (Celebrate success!)
Review the Team’s improvements and opportunities
Target Just In Time coaching on top gaps for the Team
Team Growth Plan with actionable deliverables for the next quarter
Optional: Follow up recommendations on custom training, coaching, AgileVideos and resources to address Team’s target growth areas

Sample Agenda:
Meeting Purpose & Norms
Review progress on previous growth items
Introduce the 5 TeamHealth Dimensions
Take Assessment as a Team (use flashcards)
10 Min Break (Review Results)
Analyze and discuss radar results
Review Strengths
Review Improvements
Review Top Impediments to growth
Build the Team’s Growth Plan
Add ‘Organizational’ growth items
Meeting Retrospective and Closure

Facilitation Tips
Input: Growth items from previous retrospective
Prepare the team for a healthy open retrospective through team norms
Dig deeper into team dynamics and org growth areas
Celebrate success, try the appreciation game
Keep growth plan to a manageable and actionable list
Protect any private textual responses/comments
MUST follow through with improvements through iteration retrospectives!


last updated august 2019