Stakeholder involvement in the Scrum Events
‘Stakeholders are not allowed to attend any Scrum event other than the ‘Sprint Review’ that occurs before the end of the Sprint’
How many are familiar with such similar misunderstandings around Stakeholder involvement in Scrum events?
I wasn’t sure since when I found this understanding baseless and with no rationale. But before that, even I took pride in keeping the Stakeholders away as much as possible from the Scrum Team holding onto such belief.
An interesting reference to the Scrum Glossary was also strengthening such belief for me:
“A person external to the Scrum Team with a specific interest in and knowledge of a product that is required for incremental discovery. Represented by the Product Owner and actively engaged with the Scrum Team at Sprint Review.”
Hope it's not the definition’s fault in the glossary, but the way my small brain interpreted it conveniently (and wrongly at the first place) to give a cover to the inabilities.
Debunking the myth
Myths are a definite waste of time. They prevent a Scrum Team from progressing to deliver value. Exploring the myth around Stakeholder involvement is quite essential in times where everything and everyone have gone remote replacing face to face conversation.
Scrum only defines five events namely, The Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective.
The Sprint — There is nothing that stops the stakeholders from interacting with the Scrum Team or its Development Team during the Sprint if it makes sense to do so.
“The Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.” — The Scrum Guide
Sprint Planning — There is no prohibition from people outside of the Scrum Team from attending the Sprint Planning.
“The Development Team may also invite other people to attend to provide technical or domain advice” - The Scrum Guide
Daily Scrum — The Scrum Guide puts the responsibility of ensuring that outside attendees do not disrupt the Daily Scrum onto the role of the Scrum Master, so there is some recognition that outside stakeholders may be in attendance.
“The Daily Scrum is an internal meeting for the Development Team. If others are present, the Scrum Master ensures that they do not disrupt the meeting” — The Scrum Guide
Sprint Review — The Sprint Review happens at the end of the Sprint timebox. Over the course of the Sprint, the Development Team may have produced many potentially releasable ‘Done’ Increments.
The Sprint Review is a designated time to get all of the relevant Stakeholders together to not only look at the work that has been done but to make adjustments to the Product Backlog and adapt to the continuously changing environment.
“During the Sprint Review, the Scrum Team and stakeholders collaborate about what was done in the Sprint.
Attendees include the Scrum Team and key stakeholders invited by the Product Owner” — The Scrum Guide
Sprint Retrospective — There is no strict prohibition on an outsider to the Sprint Retrospective, having people from outside the Scrum Team could be detrimental to achieving the goals of that event.
“Significant aspects of the process must be visible to those responsible for the outcome. Transparency requires those aspects to be defined by a common standard so observers share a common understanding of what is being seen.” — The Scrum Guide
In all said and done, the role of Scrum Master is crucial in striking the right conversations both within the Scrum Team and with the Stakeholders on improving continuous collaboration.
Wrap up!
According to the Scrum Guide, there is nothing that would stop the Scrum Team from involving stakeholders other than the Sprint Review.
This could come in many forms, depending on the context that the Scrum Team is working in.
This could range from quick chat to technical demos of work to obtain feedback to put a potentially releasable increment into the customer environment(s) for getting their hands wet.
The Scrum Team can have frequent candid conversations with the Stakeholders than once per Sprint at the Sprint Review in turn showing an increase in opportunity for feedback and timely inspect and adapt.