Aug 8

Product Showcases & Sprint Reviews

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Showcases and Sprint Reviews are featured in the Stakeholder Management Essentials course.

Sprint Reviews vs Showcases vs Product Update Forums

The first thing I want to get out of the way is the difference between Showcases and Sprint Reviews 

A showcase as the name suggests is where the product team demonstrate their current work to their stakeholders. Sometimes referred to as a demo. The goal of a showcase is primiarily to provide visibility of what the team has been working on and the current state of the product. 

Sprint Reviews on the other hand are an event that comes from the methodology Scrum. 

As described in the Scrum Guide: The purpose of the review is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations.  During the sprint review the Scrum Team presents the results what was accomplished in the sprint to key stakeholders where they discuss their progress toward the Product Goal and any changes in the environment. Based on this information, attendees collaborate on what to do next. Making adjustments to the Product Backlog where necessary. The scrum guide also states: The Sprint Review is a working session and the Scrum Team should avoid limiting it to a presentation. 

This is an important distinction. Whilst they both seek to provide visibility and share what the team have accomplished, showcases are generally one way. Meaning that the primary goal is to radiate information out, not necessarily to discuss the product goals and elicit feedback. Whilst you may do this in a showcase, you’re don’t necessarily need to – showcases can easily be a presentation. Whereas a sprint review is about collaborating with stakeholders on the latest work and eliciting feedback.


Product Update Forums Showcases Sprint Reviews
Goal Keep a broad range of stakeholders updated on the progress and status of the product including current and future product development. To create transparency and visibility of recent changes to the product. The purpose of the  Sprint Review is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations. 
Audience All stakeholders Direct and Indirect Stakeholders Direct and Core Stakeholders
Frequency Typically once per month, or less frequent Once every 2-4 weeks Once per Sprint
Best for Keeping indirect stakeholders up to date and creating visibility of the work the team are doing across the organization. Demonstrate the work that the team have accomplished. Collaborating with Stakeholders and eliciting feedback.

Showcases

A showcase as the name suggests is where the product team demonstrate their current work to their stakeholders.

Sometimes referred to as a demo. The goal of a showcase is primarily to provide visibility of what the team has been working on and the current state of the product.

Product Showcase Template

Typically, I like to split the PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE sections between the product trio (product + design + engineering).

For example, as the Product Manager, I will typically open the meeting however I will pass it to the Design Lead or one of the Designers to talk through the PAST, they would then hand it over to one or more engineers in the team for the PRESENT where they will demonstrate the product changes they made and finally it will come back to the Product Manager to cover the FUTURE, facilitate Q&A and close the meeting.

This gets the whole team involved and allows each part of the trio to own a section.

Showcase Agenda:

Welcome: Welcome and introductions (if necessary).
PAST:

Product health Metrics:
o How is the product performing (key metrics KPIs)
o What’s our progress towards our OKR?
o What are our customers/market saying? (Verbatim quotes, feedback forms, market news, etc)
Current experiments
o How are our current experiments performing?
o What’s the performance of the things we previously shipped?
Findings from latest discovery
o Insights and metrics
o Quotes or snippets from customer interviews or user testing
PRESENT:

- What did we complete since the last showcase?
- Demo selected new functionality and product changes
- Current challenges, risks and learnings we had
 FUTURE: What’s planed next on the Product Roadmap?
Q&A:
 ~10+ minutes for questions.
Close:
Thank you and close

Sprint Reviews

Sprint Reviews come from Scrum. A key distinction between Showcases and Sprint Reviews are that Sprint Reviews are a working meeting.

As the Scrum Guide states “During the sprint review the Scrum Team presents the results what was accomplished in the sprint to key stakeholders where they discuss their progress toward the Product Goal and any changes in the environment. Based on this information, attendees collaborate on what to do next. Making adjustments to the Product Backlog where necessary.”

This means that a Sprint Review is NOT a showcase, it's two-way. It should be a working session where you collaborate together to inspect the latest product increment and make adjustments to the product backlog where necessary.

Sprint Review Template

Sprint Review Agenda

Welcome: Welcome and introductions (if necessary). 
PAST:
Reminder on the Product Goal
o   How is the product performing (key metrics KPIs)o   What’s our progress towards our OKR?
o   What are our customers/market saying? (Verbatim quotes, feedback forms, market news, etc)-        Current experiments
o   How are our current experiments performing?o   What’s the performance of the things we previously shipped?
Findings from latest discovery
o   Insights and metrics
o   Quotes or snippets from customer interviews or user testing. 
PRESENT: Walk Stakeholders through what we completed in the current sprint and discuss current challenges, risks and learnings we had. 
FUTURE: What’s next on the Product Backlog? What adaptations to the Product Backlog do we wish to make? 
Close: Summary and close.
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