It’s Demo Time

The Sprint Demo is a critical ceremony in completing a sprint, but it is also an opportunity for the development team to show off and brag about their work and to excite stakeholders and the other members of the team about the work being done.

But for the team/person that is doing the Demo this may, however, be very challenging, due to a lack of confidence, structure, or practice. So, if you’re nervous about giving your first demo or haven’t had the best experience in the past, or you just want to get better at demoing, this article is for you!

I’ll provide some useful tips, and leave hints that can help you to manage the process of presenting a Demo.

All Demos are equal?

The easiest answer would be yes. You prepare, deliver and collect feedback, but NO they are not all the same.

The first one: you always eared that there isn’t a second chance to make a first good impression right? The first Demo is probably the most critical one, it is where as a team you must dazzle, impress and get the stakeholders excited about the project.

The last one: you are done developing, you have your product ready, let’s go. Is the cherry on top of the cake, final delivery, it has to be perfect, everyone must believe that we achieved the business goals that we settled at the beginning of the process.

And then there are all the others in between: regardless of its importance we can adjust and navigate through it, depending on stakeholders mood.

The Time Line:

1. The Day Before:

The “Demo Script”: It’s time to think about the content you are going to show on the demo. In order to decide what you’ll show, don’t forget to:

· List all the work that has been done so far.

· Group it by logic and by functional area.

· While grouping it by functional area, take the opportunity to discard the less important work, or components that are not at its best or that will not demo well.

Now that we’ve decided what to show let’s build your demo script. Given the way that we usually structure our daily bases work is easy to fall into the trap of making the demo a showcase of tickets, which is not necessarily bad, but probably won’t excite any stakeholder. So what you should do?

. Sell a story, organize your sprint goal into a logical flow of how the application should work, even if that means to leave work aside. Don’t forget to insert quick wins by pointing out some last demo feedback. Split it by blocks of content, this will minimize context switching.

· Write down every step and expected result.

· Write as if it was someone else outside of the project to do the demo.

· Involve whenever possible your teammates on the job.

· And finally test that flow until it’s perfect.

The Dry Run: Well, now that you have what you want to show, and how you want to show it, let’s present it to someone else, just not your stakeholders yet.

· Make sure that the environment where the demo is presented is clean and stable

· Try to mimic a real life scenario for your showcase

· Invite someone outside of the project if possible, the most detailed oriented person you know

· Stick to the demo script

· Control the room (remember that the idea is to recreate a real scene)

· Ask for feedback

· Try to incorporate the valuable feedback given

The big Day:

Now that you chose what to show, organized it, and even presented it, you are more than prepared for the big moment, but nonetheless there are some things to take into consideration:

· Understand your audience. For example, if you’re presenting to the CEO or a Director, the stakes are high, and you will probably want to adjust your level of preparation

· Adjust your language to whoever is listening. You are not going to talk about webservices, client actions, javacript or Html, to someone from the business sector, because they probably don’t understand it

· Once again keep the environment stable and clean

· Have a little Slideshow with the relevant information. (Delivered work, Achieved goals, Next steps, etc.)

· Arrive early to set up the equipment

· It’s time to deliver all your work: how you present the demo is 50% of the success of the demo so:

. Keep Calm

· Don’t forget to thank everyone

· Promote a Q&A session

· Be gentle, but assertive

· Speak clearly and straight to the point

· Always address the audience to keep them engaged

· Adjust the speech to your audience (speak their language)

· Stick to the demo script, no slips

· Even if after all the preparation something unexpected occurs, try to handle it with grace

· Don’t forget to collect feedback

· Embrace any criticism that come as feedback, as an opportunity to improve

· Ensure a commitment on testing

· Before the meeting ends make sure that all the next steps like backlog grooming, sprint planning, next demo are scheduled

At the end of the presentation, it is important that you write down the feedback that was given and to share the next steps appointments. And to celebrate it. You deserve it!