A better approach to sprint reviews

Sprint reviews, originally intended as a scrum ceremony to inspect increments from previous iterations and guide future directions, often devolve into ineffective status updates due to company culture, software delivery processes, and human factors. Common anti-patterns in these reviews include PowerPoint-driven presentations, overly detailed demos focusing on past work, status meetings, and internal meetings that lack fresh perspectives. To address these issues, the text suggests implementing strategies such as limiting slides to a concise summary, separating demos from reviews to focus on future initiatives, and renaming the meeting to reflect its purpose, which can enhance engagement and make the meeting more valuable. By tailoring the review to address specific team challenges and encouraging genuine discussion and feedback, these changes can transform a mundane sprint review into a strategic planning session that fosters collaboration and alignment across teams.