Why Sprint Reviews Are Hard in English
For many Vietnamese developers, writing code is the easy part. The real challenge comes at the end of the sprint: standing in front of stakeholders, product managers, and sometimes senior leaders — and explaining your work in English.
Sprint Review is not just a “show and tell.” It is a business conversation. Stakeholders want to know: did the team deliver value? Does it meet the acceptance criteria? What is next? If your English is not confident at this moment, your great technical work can be misunderstood or undervalued.
The good news: Sprint Reviews follow a predictable structure. You can prepare specific phrases, practice your demo script, and sound professional even if English is not your first language. This post gives you the exact words and scripts you need.
🗣️ Key Phrases to Say Out Loud
Practice these phrases before your next Sprint Review. Say them aloud at least five times each — the goal is fluency, not perfection.
1. “This sprint we focused on…” /ðɪs sprɪnt wiː ˈfəʊkəst ɒn/
Use this to open your sprint summary. Keep it short and goal-oriented.
“This sprint we focused on improving the checkout flow and reducing page load time.”
2. “Let me walk you through the demo.” /lɛt miː wɔːk juː θruː ðə ˈdeməʊ/
This phrase signals the transition from talking to showing. It sets a professional, confident tone.
“We have about ten minutes for the demo — let me walk you through the demo.”
3. “As you can see here…” /æz juː kæn siː hɪər/
Use this while pointing at your screen during the live demo. It guides the audience’s attention.
“As you can see here, users can now complete checkout in three steps instead of five.”
4. “We hit a blocker but resolved it by…” /wiː hɪt ə ˈblɒkər bʌt rɪˈzɒlvd ɪt baɪ/
Stakeholders respect transparency. If something was difficult, name it — then explain how the team solved it.
“We hit a blocker with the third-party payment API, but resolved it by switching to the sandbox environment for testing.”
5. “This is not yet in production — we plan to ship it next sprint.” /ðɪs ɪz nɒt jɛt ɪn prəˈdʌkʃən — wiː plæn tʊ ʃɪp ɪt nɛkst sprɪnt/
Never pretend something is done when it is not. Use this phrase to set honest expectations.
“The email notification feature is not yet in production — we plan to ship it next sprint after QA sign-off.”
6. “Any questions before I move to the next item?” /ˈɛni ˈkwɛstʃənz bɪˈfɔː aɪ muːv tʊ ðə nɛkst ˈaɪtəm/
This is a natural pause that keeps the meeting interactive and prevents a Q&A avalanche at the end.
7. “We’re tracking this metric to measure success.” /wɪər ˈtrækɪŋ ðɪs ˈmɛtrɪk tʊ ˈmɛʒər səkˈsɛs/
Connect your demo to business outcomes. Stakeholders love to hear numbers and measurements.
“We’re tracking cart abandonment rate as our key metric to measure success here.”
📚 Vocabulary
demo /ˈdeməʊ/ — giới thiệu trực tiếp (live demonstration)
“The demo took fifteen minutes and the client was impressed.” Tip: “Demo” is both a noun and a verb in English. You can say “let me demo this feature.”
stakeholder /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊldər/ — bên liên quan (anyone with an interest in the project)
“We have three stakeholders joining the Sprint Review today: the PM, the CEO, and the marketing lead.” Tip: Always refer to non-technical attendees as “stakeholders,” not “clients” or “bosses.”
deliverable /dɪˈlɪvərəbəl/ — kết quả bàn giao (a completed output promised to the team)
“Our main deliverable this sprint was the redesigned user profile page.” Tip: Use the plural “deliverables” when listing multiple completed items.
iterate /ˈɪtəreɪt/ — lặp lại cải tiến (to improve through repeated cycles)
“Based on your feedback, we will iterate on the design in the next sprint.” Tip: The noun form is “iteration.” Both are used frequently in Agile meetings.
velocity /vəˈlɒsɪti/ — tốc độ team (the measure of work completed per sprint, usually in story points)
“Our velocity this sprint was forty-two points, up from thirty-eight last sprint.” Tip: Only reference velocity to stakeholders who understand Agile. For others, use “output” or “throughput.”
acceptance criteria /ækˈsɛptəns kraɪˈtɪərɪə/ — tiêu chí chấp nhận (conditions a story must meet to be “done”)
“All acceptance criteria for this story have been verified by QA.” Tip: Always use the plural “criteria” — “criterias” is incorrect.
🎯 Practice Now
Script A: Opening a Sprint Review (60-Second Opener)
Read this aloud, then practice without looking. Time yourself — it should take about 60 seconds.
“Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Sprint Review for Sprint 42.
This sprint, our team focused on three main goals: improving the search experience, fixing the top five reported bugs, and completing the API integration for the mobile app.
I’m happy to report we met all three goals. Our velocity this sprint was forty-five points, which is our highest this quarter.
We do have one item that is not yet in production — the push notification feature. We hit a dependency issue with the device token service, but we’ve resolved it and plan to ship it in the first week of next sprint.
Let me walk you through the demo now, starting with the search improvements. As you can see here…”
Practice tip: Record yourself on your phone. Listen back. Focus on: Are you speaking at a clear pace? Are you pausing at the periods? Are you saying “um” or “uh” too often? Replace filler words with a short pause.
Script B: Handling a Tough Question During Demo
Stakeholders sometimes ask hard questions mid-demo. Here is how to handle them professionally.
Stakeholder asks: “Why didn’t you complete the reporting feature? It was on the roadmap.”
You respond:
“That’s a fair question, and I appreciate you raising it.
The reporting feature was originally in scope for this sprint. However, we discovered mid-sprint that the data pipeline it depends on had a schema mismatch with our database. We escalated this to the data engineering team, and we made a decision to unblock the higher-priority API work instead.
The reporting feature is now at the top of the backlog for next sprint, and we’ve aligned with the data team to fix the schema issue by Monday. Would it be helpful if I shared the updated timeline after this meeting?”
Why this works:
- You acknowledge the concern without being defensive.
- You explain the why behind the decision — not just “we didn’t finish it.”
- You show the issue is already being resolved.
- You end with an offer to follow up, which signals ownership and professionalism.
Demo Day Checklist
Run through this checklist before every Sprint Review:
- Test the demo environment — never demo on production; use staging and confirm it has fresh, realistic data
- Prepare your opening summary — write three bullet points: what the sprint goal was, what you completed, and what was not finished and why
- Know your acceptance criteria — for each item you demo, be ready to state the acceptance criteria and confirm they were met
- Anticipate three hard questions — think about what stakeholders might push back on (delays, missing features, metrics) and prepare your answers
- Assign a timekeeper — Sprint Reviews easily run over; designate one person to signal when the team has two minutes left on each demo item
Sprint Reviews are your team’s moment to show the value you created. With the right English phrases and a clear structure, you can turn a potentially stressful meeting into a confident, professional presentation. Practice the scripts above before your next demo — and remember, clarity beats perfection every time.