Agile Rituals

Agile rituals are structured ceremonies that rhythm development cycles and foster collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement within the team.

Overview of Rituals

Standard Agile Cycle (2-week Sprint)

Agile rituals include four main ceremonies:

1. Sprint Planning Meeting - Define sprint content
2. Daily Stand-up Meeting - Daily team synchronization
3. Sprint Review - Present completed work
4. Sprint Retrospective - Reflect and improve

1. Sprint Planning Meeting

Objectives

• Define the content of the upcoming sprint
• Estimate the effort required for each task
• Collectively commit to a sprint goal

Participants

• Product Owner: Presents and prioritizes User Stories
• Scrum Master: Facilitates the ceremony
• Development Team: Estimates and plans work

Process (4 hours max for a 2-week sprint)

Phase 1: What? (2 hours)

• Presentation of sprint objective
• Product Backlog review
• User Stories selection

Phase 2: How? (2 hours)

• Technical task breakdown
• Detailed estimation
• Sprint Goal definition

2. Daily Stand-up Meeting

Objectives

• Synchronize the team daily
• Identify obstacles quickly
• Maintain transparency on progress

Format (15 minutes maximum)

Each member answers:

1. What did I do yesterday? (concrete achievements)
2. What will I do today? (commitment for the day)
3. Do I have any obstacles? (blockers, dependencies)

3. Sprint Review

Objectives

• Present work accomplished during the sprint
• Gather feedback from stakeholders
• Adapt Product Backlog based on feedback

Participants

• Complete team (PO, SM, Dev Team)
• Stakeholders (clients, management, end users)
• Other teams interested in deliverables

4. Sprint Retrospective

Objectives

• Identify what works well in the team
• Discover improvement points
• Define concrete actions for the next sprint

Retrospective Formats

Classic Format: Start/Stop/Continue

• START (To begin): New practices to adopt
• STOP (To stop): Practices to abandon
• CONTINUE (To continue): Practices to maintain

4L Format: Liked/Learned/Lacked/Longed for

• LIKED: What we enjoyed
• LEARNED: What we learned
• LACKED: What we missed
• LONGED FOR: What we wished for

Best Practices for Effective Rituals

Preparation

• Strict timeboxing: Respect maximum durations
• Necessary material: Boards, post-its, collaborative tools
• Active facilitation: Scrum Master guides without imposing

Team Engagement

• Active participation: Everyone contributes to discussions
• Transparency: Openly share difficulties
• Kindness: Criticize processes, not people

Continuous Improvement

• Experimentation: Test new formats
• Impact measurement: Track change effectiveness
• Adaptation: Adjust according to team context

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This page is currently available in French only. English translation coming soon.

For the complete content in French, please visit: Rituels Agiles