Definición RápidaTeam ceremonies are a series of recurring meetings, popularized by agile methodologies like Scrum, designed to structure work, foster communication, and promote continuous improvement. The most common ones are the Daily Stand-up, Sprint Planning, and Retrospective.
What Are Team Ceremonies?
Imagine a Formula 1 racing team during a race. They have very defined “ceremonies”: the pit stop is a quick, synchronized ritual to check the car’s condition and change tires (the Daily Stand-up). Before the race, they have a meeting to define the tire and pit strategy (the Sprint Planning). And after the race, they analyze the data and performance to see how they can be faster next time (the Retrospective).
These meetings are not bureaucracy; they are essential rituals that allow the team to perform at the highest level. In a product team, agile ceremonies serve the same function.
Key Ceremonies and the Designer’s Role
1. Daily Stand-up
- What is it? A short daily meeting (15 min max.) where each team member answers three questions: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? Do I have any blockers?
- Designer’s Role:
- Listen for blockers: Pay attention to developers’ impediments. Sometimes, a technical blocker can be resolved with a small design adjustment.
- Communicate progress: Report on the status of your designs. “Yesterday I finished the checkout mockups. Today I will start prototyping them for Friday’s usability test.”
- Ask for help: “I need 15 minutes with a backend developer to understand the API limitations for the profile design.”
2. Sprint Planning
- What is it? A meeting at the beginning of each sprint (usually 2 weeks) where the team decides what work can be completed in the next cycle.
- Designer’s Role:
- Present ready designs: Show the designs that are ready to be developed. Explain the flow, the use cases, and the reasoning behind your decisions.
- Clarify doubts: Developers will have questions. Your job is to resolve all their doubts so they can estimate effort correctly.
- Ensure design stays one step ahead: Ideally, design works “one sprint ahead” of development. In the current Sprint Planning, you should be presenting the work you designed in the previous sprint.
3. Sprint Retrospective
- What is it? A meeting at the end of each sprint to reflect on the process. It focuses on three topics: What went well? What went wrong? What can we improve?
- Designer’s Role:
- Bring the design process perspective: Was there enough time for research? Was the design-to-development handoff smooth? Did you receive feedback on time?
- Be constructive: The retrospective is not for blaming – it is for improving the system. Focus on process problems, not people problems.
- Propose improvement actions: If the handoff was a problem, you could propose: “In the next sprint, let us try having a 1-hour meeting to review the designs before Planning.”
Mentor Tips
- Prepare for Planning: Never arrive at a Sprint Planning with half-finished or unvalidated designs. It is the most important meeting for collaboration with development – make the most of it.
- The Daily is not a reporting meeting for the manager: It is a synchronization meeting for the team. Be brief and get to the point.
- The Retrospective is sacred: It is the best opportunity the team has to improve how it works. Participate actively and honestly.
- Talk to your Product Manager: Make sure you are aligned with the PM on priorities before Planning. The designer and the PM should be the closest allies.
Resources and Guides
- Resources:
- Scrum Guide: The official Scrum guide, where these ceremonies are defined.
- A Designer’s Guide to Scrum - UXPin Blog
- How Designers and Developers Can Collaborate Better - InVision Blog