Making the move from waterfall to an agile scrum development environment can be a big move, but for many software teams, it’s definitely worth the transition. When you work in an environment that utilizes the scrum methodology, it’s likely this organization values open communication, collaboration and efficiency.

While we’ve already explored the basics of agile scrum in previous blog posts, we haven’t delved into the actual format of agile scrum meetings. Depending on team preferences and styles, these meetings typically take on different forms and timelines, but they all include certain characteristics of the scrum methodology.

First let’s meet the “typical” agile scrum team. These are the actual people involved and engaged throughout this process. It all begins with the “Product Owner” and his or her vision for the project. Next we have the “Scrum Development Team.” This group of cross-functional members works together in a self-organizing, collective atmosphere. The “Scrum Master” is more of the team manager, providing an important type of leadershipo inside the group. The job of the Scrum Master revolves around facilitating and resolving any issues experienced throughout the entire product development process.

The Agile Process and Different Types of Agile Scrum Meetings

Now that we’ve provided a basic understanding of the team and scrum qualities, it is time to move on to the actual agile scrum process. Agile software development is often described as an incremental development process. This process becomes more of a cycle in terms of movement. If there is an issue or a setback, the process might move backward to resolve such issues. This cyclical process allows the project to easily continue forward as well. This is where the agility of this method becomes vital. But for more of a visual, the scrum process begins with the sprint planning meeting and proceeds from there. Here is an overview of the different types of scrum meetings:

Sprint Planning Meeting:

This meeting begins with the Product Owner. This is where he or she explains her vision for the project as well as ways for the team to meet this goal. During this meeting, team members decide the amount of work they can complete in a timely manner. This is also when the team moves work from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog. This step requires a lot of planning and usually this takes around 8 hours for the group to decide on a finalized 30-day Sprint.

Daily Scrum and Sprint Execution:

From the planning meeting, we move into the daily scrum meetings. Every single day for about 30 minutes, the team gathers together to report any issues or progress on their tasks. Though brief, this meeting is an essential part of the scrum process. It is designed to keep all group members on track in a cohesive manner. Normally the Product Owner is present during all daily scrum meetings to assist in any way.

Sprint Review Meeting:

This meeting is used to showcase a live demonstration of the work completed. During the sprint review meeting the Product Owner, Scrum Master and stakeholders are present. They review the product and suggest changes or improvements.

Sprint Retrospective Meeting:

This meeting is held to facilitate a team’s reflection on their progress. The team speaks openly about their organizational concerns and teamwork. During this meeting, dialogue should remain friendly, non-judgmental and impartial. This review session is a key part of team building and development and it’s also very important for future scrum projects.

Backlog Refinement Meeting:

The last type of scrum meeting reviewed in this article is the backlog refinement meeting. Team members focus on the quality and skill work involved during sprints. This meeting is necessary for the business owners to connect with the development team and is used to assess the quality and development of the final product. This meeting involves important reflection on the team backlogs. These backlogs are often written in User Story form and specify what makes the product useful to the consumer.

Scrum meetings involve so much more than the brief descriptions provided above. There are many additional pieces to the scrum process including things like burndown charts and scaling, but the point of this post is to provide an overview of different kinds of scrum meetings. Regardless of the type, all scrum meetings encourage organization, progress and resolutions. With this incremental and cyclical software development process, all members have the ability to communicate openly and honestly. With the process of scrum and the sprint timeline, projects are more efficiently completed with the help of a capable and cooperative team and Product Owner led by a skillful Scrum Master.

Whether you are already using an agile approach to software development, or are considering transitioning towards a more agile methodology, the senior level agile developers at Number8 can help you make the shift. For additional details about working with a Number8 software developer, give us a call at 502-212-0978 or Contact Us .