HKSM

This end-of-project (or end-of-release) ceremony brings business stakeholders and the Scrum Core Team together to reflect on the entire effort, capture and absorb lessons learned, and agree on specific, actionable improvements to apply in future initiatives.

Key Points

• Held at the conclusion of a project or release to formally close the effort.
• Includes organizational business stakeholders and the Scrum Core Team.
• Focuses on identifying, documenting, and internalizing lessons learned.
• Outputs are clear, prioritized improvement actions for future projects or releases.

Example

After deploying a major release of a banking app, the Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers, QA, and key business stakeholders meet to review what went well, what caused defects, and how handoffs worked. They document lessons learned and agree on actions such as refining the Definition of Done, adding automated regression tests, and improving release communication templates for the next release.

PMP Example Question

Which activity best describes the purpose of a Retrospect Release?

1. Building the next sprint backlog items.
2. Approving the final product features for market launch.
3. Conducting an end-of-release reflection to capture lessons learned and define improvement actions.
4. Creating the long-term product roadmap for future quarters.

Correct Answer: C — Conducting an end-of-release reflection to capture lessons learned and define improvement actions

Explanation: Retrospect Release closes the project or release by gathering stakeholders and the Scrum Core Team to identify, document, and internalize lessons learned and agree on actionable improvements for future work.