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Retrospectives

Expectations:​

  • Retrospectives lead to actionable items that help grow the team's engineering practices. These items are in the backlog, assigned, and prioritized to be fixed by a date agreed upon (default being next retrospective).
  • Is used to ask the hard questions ("we usually don't finish what we plan, let's talk about this") when necessary.

Suggestions:​

  • Consider other retro formats available outside of Mad Sad Glad.
    • Gather Data: Triple Nickels, Timeline, Mad Sad Glad, Team Radar
    • Generate Insights: 5 Whys, Fishbone, Patterns and Shifts
  • Consider setting a retro focus area.
  • Schedule enough time to ensure that you can have the conversation you need to get the correct plan an action and improve how you work.
  • Bring in a neutral facilitator for project retros or retros that introspect after a difficult period.

Use the following retrospectives techniques to address specific trends that might be emerging on an engagement:

5 whys:

If a team is confronting a problem and is unsure of the exact root cause, the 5 whys exercise taken from the business analysis sector can help get to the bottom of it. For example, if a team cannot get to Done each Sprint, that would go at the top of the whiteboard. The team then asks why that problem exists, writing that answer in the box below.  Next, the team asks why again, but this time in response to the why they just identified. Continue this process until the team identifies an actual root cause, which usually becomes apparent within five steps.

Processes, tools, individuals, interactions and the Definition of Done:

This approach encourages team members to think more broadly.  Ask team members to identify what is going well and ideas for improvement within the categories of processes, tools, individuals/interactions, and the Definition of Done.  Then, ask team members to vote on which improvement ideas to focus on during the upcoming Sprint.

Focus:

This retrospective technique incorporates the concept of visioning. Using this technique, you ask team members where they would like to go?  Decide what the team should look like in 4 weeks, and then ask what is holding them back from that and how they can resolve the impediment.  If you are focusing on specific improvements, you can use this technique for one or two Retrospectives in a row so that the team can see progress over time.

Mention good things:

Don't forget to mention something good. Tell us about all your work achievements, about all the positive moments. Do this at the very beginning of the meeting and at the end - this way you won’t have the feeling that everything is bad.