Towards the end of the iteration, the team should jointly assess whether the objectives and evaluation criteria established in the Iteration Plan were met, and whether the team adhered to the plan and completed all the work items committed to the iteration. It should use objective measures to the greatest extent possible. To assess that a given work item is completed, the team should ensure that the corresponding test cases were successfully run against it.

The team should demonstrate the product to customers, end-users, and other stakeholders to collect their feedback, or better yet, have end users to use the product themselves. This should be done throughout the iteration, or at least in a separate session towards the end of the iteration (see Guideline: Iteration Assessment). Work that is not completed should not be demonstrated. Resulting knowledge, such as new functionality, requested changes and defects are recorded in the Work Items List, so project priorities, scope and duration can be refined in the next iteration planning.

Review with the team the approach taken to development and collaboration, the effectiveness of the development environment, the suitability of the working environment, and other factors. Discuss what things went well, what could have gone better, and how things could be changed to deliver better results. Capture assessment results in the current Iteration Plan as well as stakeholder feedback and actions to be taken to improve the development approach for next iteration. Record lessons learned in this iteration with a collection of lessons learned for the entire project.  

When the assessment period coincides with the end of a phase the corresponding milestone review takes place. These are informal reviews of the work accomplished where the team and stakeholders agree on moving the project on to the next phase, spanning a set of iterations with a new common goal, in accordance with the emphasis of the following phase. For more information, refer to Concept: Phase Milestones.

This step must be performed only when the iteration review coincides with the end of the project. Involve the team and stakeholders in a final assessment for project acceptance which, if successful, marks the point when the customer accepts ownership of the software product. Complete the close-out of the project by disposing of the remaining assets and reassigning the remaining staff.