How to find the best time to run your sprint reviews

A sprint review exists to inspect progress, gather constructive feedback, and adapt the plan. The calendar slot you choose either enables that or undercuts it. Put the review at a low-energy time and people show up late, half-present, or not at all. Feedback drips in afterward, tickets reopen, and the team leaves with more questions than decisions. Pick a higher-energy window with the right overlap and the same meeting becomes crisp: demos land, critique is honest, and next steps are clear enough to unblock the next sprint.

Signs your schedule needs fixing (and why it hurts)

• Key people join late or leave early → demos run long, decisions slip.

• Feedback arrives after the review → tickets re-open, rework increases.

• The time slot cuts focus time → multitasking rises, issues are missed.

These are timing problems masquerading as agenda problems. If two or more are true, move the slot before you rewrite the format. In most teams, simply shifting the meeting an hour or two changes the energy in the room, cuts side-DMs during the session, and reduces the “follow-up” work that usually spills into the next sprint.

Principles for choosing the best slot

• Maximize energy: mid-day, mid-week (Tue–Thu) beats first/last thing.

• Respect overlap: pick the largest time-zone intersection; if perfect overlap isn’t possible, alternate who flexes each sprint.

• Keep it concise: target 45–60-minute reviews; push deep dives to 1:1 follow-ups.

• Be consistent: same day and time each sprint builds habit and attendance.

• Integrate stakeholders smartly: offer a short demo window via a Booking Page.

These principles work because they match how attention actually behaves. Mid-week avoids Monday triage and Friday fatigue. Alternation makes cross-region collaboration fair, which improves attendance. Short reviews force sharper demos and keep debate from swallowing the hour; deeper questions get answered in focused 1:1 slots where decisions happen faster anyway.

Scheduling tactics

• Time blocking: reserve the last 2–3 hours of the sprint (with buffers) for the review.

• Group related demos: bundle similar work to keep context.

• Use Doodle’s tools:

  • Booking Page for a stakeholder “demo window.”

  • Group Poll to land one cross-team, cross-zone slot.

  • Sign-up Sheet so presenters grab 7-minute demos with 3-minute Q&A.

Treat scheduling as part of delivery, not admin. A dedicated end-of-sprint block means presenters aren’t sprinting from incident channels to demos. Grouping related demos keeps the room in one mental mode, which surfaces better questions. And by offloading coordination to Doodle—Booking Page for stakeholders, Group Poll for the main slot, Sign-up Sheet for the running order—you remove the DM swirl that usually steals hours from the team.

Recommended times by region

Think of this table as a starting template, not a rule. Run a quick experiment for two sprints: pick the nearest matching window, measure attendance and decision throughput, then adjust. If a critical audience can’t make the live review, keep the core slot stable and route them through the Booking Page demo window instead; their feedback still arrives on time without derailing the main meeting.

This week (quick wins)

• Publish a Doodle Booking Page: “Demos Window – Sprint Review.”

• Launch a Doodle Group Poll (close in 24h) to lock the slot.

• Set up a Doodle Sign-up Sheet with 7-min demo + 3-min Q&A slots.

Use this as a lightweight trial, not a reorg. Announce the why, run the new timing for two sprints, and compare. You should see shorter meetings, fewer reopened tickets, and faster acceptance of done work.

Closing

Right timing turns the sprint review from a status ritual into a decision engine. When Doodle handles the Booking Page, Group Poll, Sign-up Sheet, and 1:1 follow-ups, you agree on a slot once, keep the session focused, and give your team more hours to build—not chase calendars.