The four core Agile meetings are Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum (Standup), Backlog Grooming, and Sprint Retrospective. Sprint Planning sets the sprint goal and assigns tasks; Daily Scrum uncovers blockers and aligns the team; Backlog Grooming prioritizes and cleans up the backlog; Sprint Retrospective identifies improvements for the next sprint. (source)
The recommended agenda for Sprint Planning includes: reviewing incomplete items from the last sprint (5-10 min), discussing deliverables and assigning tickets (40 min), and addressing any other issues or concerns (5-10 min). (source)
The product owner, Scrum Coordinator (Scrum Master), and the entire engineering team should attend Sprint Planning meetings. (source)
Sprint Planning meetings typically last 60 minutes and are held at the start of each sprint, usually bi-weekly depending on sprint length. (source)
The agenda for a Daily Scrum includes: blockers (2 min), what was done yesterday (3 min), goals for today (3 min), and checking progress toward sprint goals (2 min). (source)
Daily Scrum meetings should last 10 minutes or less and be attended by the Scrum Coordinator, the engineering team, and optionally the product owner and relevant stakeholders. (source)
The purpose of Backlog Grooming is to keep the backlog up-to-date, prioritize tasks, and clean up irrelevant items. The agenda includes reviewing incomplete items (5 min), new issues (10 min), prioritizing tasks (10 min), and discussing potential disruptions (5 min). (source)
The engineering team, Scrum Coordinator, and product owner should attend Backlog Grooming meetings, which are typically 30 minutes and held bi-weekly. (source)
The Sprint Retrospective agenda includes: demo (20-30 min), product acceptance and change requests (10 min), discussing what went well or could be improved (5-15 min), and demo day preparation (5 min). (source)
Spinach AI provides collaborative meeting agendas, automates note-taking, and emails meeting notes to the team, helping Agile teams stay focused and accountable. (source)
Recommended tools include video calling platforms (Google Meet, Zoom, Teams), meeting agenda apps like Spinach AI, project management tools (Linear, Jira), and whiteboard apps (Miro) for brainstorming. (source)
Agile emphasizes iteration, collaboration, and frequent evaluation, while Waterfall is linear, process-driven, and less adaptable to change. Agile allows for ongoing adjustments, whereas Waterfall follows a set plan from start to finish. (source)
Common challenges include difficulty with content-heavy whiteboarding, presentation issues, and decentralized communication. Using the right tools can help overcome these challenges. (source)
Spinach AI offers a library of meeting agenda templates for every type of Agile meeting, helping teams stay organized and productive. (source)
Spinach AI automatically captures meeting notes, action items, and outcomes, then emails them to the team for accountability and follow-up. (source)
Using a meeting agenda app like Spinach AI keeps meetings focused, ensures clear agendas, and provides automatic documentation, which helps teams stay aligned and productive. (source)
Teams can run asynchronous Daily Scrums by having members submit their scrum notes at a set time each day, for example, in a Slack channel. (source)
Documenting action items ensures that issues discussed are addressed and followed up in future sprints, leading to continuous improvement. (source)
Spinach AI integrates with video conferencing and collaboration tools, automates meeting documentation, and helps teams stay aligned regardless of location. (source)
Spinach AI documents insights and creates action items during retrospectives, making it easy to track and revisit issues in future meetings. (source)
Spinach AI offers AI Meeting Assistant, automated note-taking, workflow optimization, AI-powered insights, seamless integrations with tools like Zoom, Slack, Jira, and Salesforce, and tailored solutions for different roles. (source)
Yes, Spinach AI integrates with project management tools such as Jira and Salesforce, as well as communication platforms like Zoom and Slack. (source)
The Spinach AI Transcript & AI Summary API is an add-on (included in the Enterprise plan) that provides advanced capabilities for generating and managing transcripts and AI-generated summaries. (source)
Spinach AI automates tasks such as generating sprint plans, PRDs, and managing tickets, reducing administrative burden and improving team productivity. (source)
Spinach AI is SOC 2 Type 2 certified (verified by EY), GDPR compliant, and HIPAA compliant. It uses TLS and AES-256 encryption, and offers SAML SSO, SCIM, admin controls, and custom data retention policies. (source)
Spinach AI uses TLS and AES-256 encryption, does not use user data for training, and offers strict privacy standards and custom data retention policies. (source)
Spinach AI can be set up almost instantly by signing up with Google or Microsoft accounts and connecting calendars. No complex IT involvement is required. (source)
Yes, premium users have access to an onboarding program to ensure a smooth transition and full utilization of Spinach AI's features. (source)
Customers consistently highlight Spinach AI's ease of use. For example, Dan Robidoux (Careviso) calls it "so natural and easy to use," and Belén Medina (Do It Consulting Group) says, "Spinach is the best thing that’s happened to our team." (source)
Spinach AI increases productivity, streamlines workflows, enhances collaboration, enables data-driven decisions, and improves customer engagement by automating meeting tasks and integrating with key tools. (source)
Spinach AI is designed for product managers, engineering teams, project managers, marketing, HR, customer success, sales, finance, and accounting teams—anyone seeking to improve productivity and collaboration. (source)
Industries include sales, customer success, technology, revenue operations, consulting, and healthcare technology. (source)
Ron Meyer (Infinite Ranges) uses Spinach AI to manage sales cycles; Sergio (AlfaDocs) automates meeting recaps; Matt Filion (Authvia) improved team productivity; Jason Oliver (Product Director) leverages AI-powered analysis for product management. (source)
Spinach AI solves pain points such as manual note-taking, administrative overhead, workflow inefficiency, extracting insights from feedback, and team misalignment. (source)
Spinach AI offers tailored features: automated roadmap meetings and PRD generation for product managers, CRM integrations for sales, onboarding automation for customer success, and sprint planning for engineering. (source)
Spinach AI uses AI-powered analysis to identify trends, pain points, and opportunities from user interviews, enabling data-driven decision-making. (source)
Spinach AI integrates with tools like Zoom, Slack, and Jira, automates updates, and ensures team alignment even in remote or distributed setups. (source)
Key benefits include automated note-taking, streamlined administrative tasks, improved workflow efficiency, actionable insights, customizable solutions, and enhanced productivity. (source)
Spinach AI stands out for its tailored features for different roles, advanced AI-powered insights, seamless integrations, and customizable solutions, as highlighted by customer testimonials. (source)
Customers choose Spinach AI for its unmatched specificity for different roles, enhanced productivity, AI-powered insights, seamless integrations, and positive customer feedback. (source)
Spinach.ai is enterprise-ready, offering robust security and compliance with SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and HIPAA certifications. The Enterprise plan provides advanced features essential for large organizations, including SAML SSO, custom data retention, a dedicated API, compliance monitoring, and a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
In this article, we review some basics about the Agile method, the Agile meetings you need on your calendar and agenda templates to run them.
Chris Fraser
Operating under the Agile methodology is second nature to many software developers. In fact, given the success it’s had over the last 20 years in supporting fast-paced, high-performing teams, it’s now also gained popularity across other functions.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the core 4 Agile Scrum meetings and answer the following questions:
Let’s get started!
The Agile framework is more of a philosophy than an actual method. The approach was founded in 2000 by a group of software developers and centres around 4 main values:
Under the Agile umbrella, you can find many more specific methods that aim to foster the values listed above, including the infamous Scrum framework (which we use at Spinach AI!).
Because of the constant collaboration and iteration required for Agile, work is broken down into short timeframes, known as sprints, that range between 1-4 weeks.
You may have also heard of Waterfall methodology — an alternative to Agile that’s commonly used. In case you’re trying to decide which is best for your team, here’s a quick review of the differences between the two before we dive further into Agile.
Agile is conducive to iteration throughout a project, while Waterfall is a more linear approach.
What does this mean?
Waterfall uses sequential phases that rely on a plan. You can’t move to the next phase without first completing the one before it. This method is process-driven and less favorable to change in the middle of a project. Whereas Agile emphasizes continuous collaboration and evaluation every few weeks, Waterfall sets the scope of work and deadlines at the beginning of the project and sticks with them through to delivery.
Along with many other start-ups, here at Spinach AI we prefer Agile. The method allows us to easily adapt and find the best solutions through ongoing collaboration. But which method you use will depend on the demands of your respective industry.
Agile meetings help facilitate continuous collaboration. When you’re managing an Agile team, daily communication and regular intervals of reflection are a must.
In fact, the original Manifesto states, “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.”
Within each sprint there are a handful of meetings that help drive collaboration, facilitate iteration and keep everything and everyone on track, including:
While that might seem like a lot of meetings for everyone to attend regularly, it ultimately ends up saving you time—especially when you’re trying to brainstorm the best solutions and iterate quickly.
Plus, these purpose-driven meetings can help you reduce the one-off meetings that would occur otherwise. You’ll be able to tackle roadblocks as they occur, prioritize work more frequently, and adapt to the changing needs of the business and its customers.
👉 Skip to the four types of Agile meetings and their agenda templates
Because Agile development teams thrive with face-to-face conversation, for those who weren’t already working remotely pre-pandemic, the shift to remote work has been a challenge.
In fact, Mckinsey wrote a report on the challenging shift that agile teams faced at the beginning of 2020. Some of the greatest challenges they identified with remote agile meetings include:
Despite the initial challenge, running productive Agile meetings virtually is more than possible. The key? Using the right tools. If you’re looking for the best solutions for remote Agile meetings, here are a few apps that we use to make them just as productive as in-person meetings, if not more.
📹 Video calling: The phone won’t cut it. For your remote meetings, you need a video calling platform so you can communicate “face-to-face.” At Spinach AI, we use Google Meet. But you could also use one of the many other video calling tools available, such as Zoom or Teams.
📅 Meeting agenda app: Using a meeting agenda software, like Spinach AI, allows your meetings to stay focused, with a clear agenda each time. It also automatically emails the team meeting notes, so you can easily look back on what was discussed and hold everyone accountable.
(Ps. if you’re already using Spinach AI but aren’t sure how to integrate it into your agile meetings, check out our article on how to introduce the app to your team.)
📋 Project management tool: We use Linear to keep track of moving parts and track any issues. Another commonly used tool is Jira. While you don’t necessarily need this for every meeting, it’s helpful to pull up in sprint planning and backlog grooming meetings to manage tasks and keep the team aligned between meetings.
🧠 Brainstorming app: Since everyone’s no longer in the same room for brainstorming, it’s helpful to use a whiteboard app like Miro to foster more dynamic collaboration.
Within each sprint, there are 4 core Agile meetings that take place:
The goal of the sprint planning meeting is for the Scrum Coordinator (or manager) to leave knowing who is doing what—and the team to leave understanding the work that’s required over the course of the next sprint.
Use this time to set a sprint goal for your entire team and decide what needs to get done to reach that goal.
Once you’ve identified your sprint goal and have distributed your tickets (tasks to complete), try to stick with it. Sprints are short amounts of time for a reason—they allow you to break down big puzzles into smaller pieces and focus on one thing at a time. But if you keep changing around what you’re working on within a sprint, it gets more complicated and your burn-down charts won’t look so great.
Meeting length & frequency: 60 minutes, Sprintly (bi-weekly depending on your sprint length)
Who should attend: The product owner, Scrum Coordinator (also known as Scrum Master) and the entire engineering team.
Agenda template:
⚡️ Pro tip: When assigning tickets, make sure you communicate expectations for the work to be done. (You want to ensure that everyone understands what “done” means!)
The purpose of the agile scrum meeting, also known as a daily standup, is to uncover blockers for the day ahead and commit to what you’re going to accomplish each day.
Ideally, you’re having these meetings each morning, and you’ll want to keep them as quick as possible. If you’re working in-office, we recommend doing them while standing up (hence the name standup). If you’re remote, you may need a bit more time, but try to stay on topic so the meeting doesn’t run too long. These are meant to kick start your day, not take it over.
If you’re new to Agile, daily meetings may seem like overkill. But, daily scrums mean that you can apply learnings faster and tackle roadblocks as they come, rather than wait a month to share why things aren’t done.
Meeting length & frequency: 10 minutes or less, daily
Who should attend: The Scrum Coordinator and the entire engineering team, product owner (optional) and any outside stakeholder as needed each day.
Agenda template:
⚡️ Pro tip: If you’re part of a distributed team or prefer to hold these meetings asynchronously, decide on a time every day when people need to submit their scrum notes by. For example, perhaps at 9 am every morning the team knows to add their scrum notes for the day into your team Slack channel.
Your backlog is a list of all upcoming tasks or ideas that the team will have to tackle at some point. Backlog grooming meetings are intended to keep your backlogs up-to-date and ready to be pulled from for upcoming sprints. With changing priorities and customer needs, your backlog can get real messy and overwhelming, fast. To minimize the chaos, backlog meetings offer an opportunity to:
Before deciding what needs to get done in the upcoming sprint, you need to go through the backlog of items to get done and decide which items need to be prioritized.
Meeting length & frequency: 30 minutes, Sprintly (bi-weekly)
Who should attend: The engineering team, Scrum Coordinator and product owner
Agenda template:
⚡️ Pro tip: Keep your project management tool, like Linear and Jira, open while you’re running this meeting. Use it to look at new bugs, issues, and technical debt to help facilitate the meeting.
Your retrospective meeting is all about identifying what went well—and what didn’t—throughout the sprint and using that information to improve your next sprint. Consider things like:
An important thing to remember here is to actually follow through on your discussions. This means documenting insights and creating action items to help solve any issues that came up in your last sprint. Continue to check in and revisit issues in the future to ensure they’re being dealt with, rather than merely discussed.
Meeting length & frequency: 60 minutes, Sprintly (bi-weekly)
Who should attend: The engineering team, Scrum Coordinator and product owner (optional)
Agenda template:
⚡️ Pro tip: Try not to let the “What’ prevented you from doing your best work?” agenda item monopolize the conversation. You can avoid this by having a place for your team to share issues and add comments asynchronously throughout the sprint, when they’re top of mind (psst…Spinach AI does that!). This keeps the conversation during the meeting quick, and focused on making decisions.
If you want to implement the Agile method on your team, start by adding these 4 meetings to your calendar. To optimize the productivity of these meetings and stay on track, try Spinach AI’s collaborative meeting agendas. ✨
Next, here are some things you can do now that you've read this article:
helps managers run better
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hit their
Goals flag
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and share better
Performance feedback insights
, faster.