Status: documented, untested. A suggested routine for solo marketers and small, busy teams; adapt the timings to actual availability.
Use the MktOS Guide for the framework and the marketing plan template for a first application. Keep commitments and status in one shared tool. Evidence and decisions can live there too, or be linked from it; a separate Work Record is optional.
Four purposes, one connected routine
The complete cycle is Sprint Planning → delivery and daily inspection → Sprint Review → Sprint Retrospective → next Sprint Planning. The compact Review/Retro → Planning agenda below spans the end of the previous sprint and start of the next. It is not the whole sprint. See the operating cadence for yearly/quarterly/monthly connections and the catalog for each process's inputs, responsibility and outputs. Daily solo/asynchronous inspection is a MktOS adaptation of the purpose served by Scrum's Daily Scrum.
Inspect the integrated artifacts in this routine: accepted Increments and Learning Cards provide delivery and experiment evidence; changes update the A3/Canvas where relevant, Product Backlog and next Sprint Backlog. Respect the Definition of Workflow when selecting or moving work. Use existing artifact links rather than creating a parallel review tracker.
These purposes can share a short session. They do not require four separate meetings.
| Purpose | Inspect | Leave with |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery inspection | Useful work produced, acceptance criteria, stakeholder feedback, and unresolved defects | Accepted delivery or specific changes, with an owner |
| Outcome review | Evidence against the baseline, target, and observation window | An evidence-backed continue/change/stop decision, or a named next observation |
| Retrospective | How the work happened: capacity, dependencies, coordination, and friction | One useful improvement to try and inspect next time |
| Planning | Current direction, previous inspection, ready work, and actual availability | A sprint goal, realistic tasks, owners, and first next action |
Inspect delivery and outcomes before deciding what comes next. Distinguish observations from interpretations, and investigate working conditions without blame. A delivered asset does not prove marketing impact. Missing evidence remains unknown.
In the first week, review the starting evidence, skip the retrospective, and begin Planning. Experiments may span several sprints; retain their declared observation windows.
A compact weekly example
The following agenda totals 60 minutes, including recording. It is an example configuration, not a universal requirement. Gabriel's local constraints are recorded in Q4 operating rules and Operately governance.
Inspect and improve: 30 minutes
| Step | Minutes | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare | 3 | Open the goal, selected work, acceptance checks, outcome evidence, and last improvement action. |
| Review | 7 | Inspect delivery and stakeholder feedback separately from outcome evidence. Record acceptance, necessary changes, and any pending observation. |
| Inspect | 10 | Examine the most consequential success or friction in how the work happened. Separate facts, contributing conditions, and what can be influenced. |
| Modify | 7 | Consider Stop, Start, Continue. Choose one improvement with an owner, capacity cost, and evidence to inspect next time. |
| Execute | 3 | Carry the improvement and delivery/outcome decisions into Planning. |
Invite relevant stakeholders for delivery inspection or obtain feedback asynchronously. If their involvement or an important decision cannot fit these timeboxes, arrange time within actual capacity rather than claiming the hour covers it.
Plan: 20 minutes
| Step | Minutes | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Envision | 7 | Choose a useful sprint goal connected to the project and KR. Check deadlines, skills, and dependencies. |
| Speculate | 9 | Select ready tasks. Count carryover, routine work, and the improvement action against each contributor's availability. Narrow or defer work when it does not fit. |
| Execute | 4 | Record the goal, tasks, owners, acceptance checks, first next action, and unresolved dependencies. Confirm who can commit resources or make required decisions. |
New requests replace existing commitments or wait in the backlog. One person may hold several responsibilities in solo use. Teams check specialist availability rather than assuming all hours are interchangeable. Choose work-in-progress limits explicitly; Gabriel's one-active-item configuration is not a universal team rule.
Record: 10 minutes
Retain only what helps the next decision:
- Sprint goal and accepted/open delivery, with evidence or feedback links.
- Outcome evidence or pending observation, with person responsible and date.
- One process improvement and how its effect will be checked.
- Next goal, tasks, owners, capacity constraints, and first action.
Use the same live record rather than duplicating the board. The Work Record can support detailed provenance, agent handoffs, or workflow-development evidence when needed.
Between sessions and at a broader review
A brief daily inspection is a suggested practice: check progress toward the goal, blockers, and what to adjust next. It can be a solo check or short team exchange. This adaptation is not a claim that MktOS follows the full Scrum framework.
Periodically review the broader pattern of outcomes, assumptions, capacity, and priorities. A monthly example can replace the ordinary hour with 8 minutes inspection/retro + 7 minutes Planning + 5 minutes recording + 20 minutes broader reflection + 20 minutes KR/project review = 60 minutes. Ensure delivery inspection and necessary decisions still have room. Exports or additional administration consume real capacity and are not silently included.
Close a project according to its declared purpose. Accepted delivery can be complete while an owned outcome observation remains pending in the same record. Validation work needs its specified evidence and decision, or an honest inconclusive result. Waiting for measurement need not occupy an active delivery slot.
Sources and adaptation
- Solo Retros & Plannings, a local reference supplied by Gabriel, is the source for Prepare → Review → Inspect → Modify → Execute, Envision → Speculate → Execute, and the monthly reflection outline. Its full bibliographic identity is unresolved and should be verified in the source audit. The original agendas are 45 minutes + 25 minutes = 70 minutes before recording; compact timings above are MktOS adaptations.
- Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, The Scrum Guide, November 2020: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective provide relevant source concepts. The combined, shortened routine and solo/asynchronous practices here are adaptations; they do not redefine official Scrum events.
- Maintain provenance and unresolved questions in the source inventory. Do not infer that a local reference originated all the concepts it uses.
Record actual duration, useful decisions, friction, and improvement effects when this routine is tried. Documentation review alone does not validate independent use.