Running A Retrospective

Setting the Stage

The Retrospective is about how the work was done, not the work itself. Have everyone focus on processes or behaviors that were beneficial or caused problems delivering the planned work, and on previous retrospective commitments¹ and whether they were satisfied.

Remember that other parts of the organization don't see you as individuals, but a team. As a result, there is shared accountability within the team to produce high quality work that satisfies the needs of organization.

The Retrospective is "Blameless", meaning its important to think about success and failure at the team level, not individual. If you are addressing a behavior, think carefully about how to frame it in such a way that it is not obviously calling out team members.

The Retrospective can be hard at first, but don't stop. In a few months your team will begin to openly talks about success and failure with a genuine desire to improve.²

Some things to remind your team when getting started.

Don’t make it personal, don’t take it personally
Listen with an open mind
Everyone’s experience is valid
Set the time period you’re discussing (last sprint, last quarter, entire project, etc.)
Focus on improvement, rather than placing blame

¹If you’ve run a Retrospective previously, quickly revisit the themes and actions from last time to build a sense of continuity.

² If this is the first time your team is doing a retrospective, spend a few minutes longer talking about the nature of the meeting outlined in the previous paragraphs

Step 2: Write your cards

10 Minutes

Using a digital whiteboard have each team member write down what the team should start doing, stop doing, or keep doing. Add one idea per note and put them in the correct category.

Step 3: Group Your Cards

10 minutes

Have everyone write down what they think can be improved, one idea per note. Post the notes, and group similar or duplicate ideas together. Cards on identical/similar topics and themes from different columns should be grouped together to promote a richer discussion.

Step 4: Discuss the themes

45 minutes

Have everyone brainstorm actions that can be taken to improve problem areas, one idea per note.

Post the notes and group similar or duplicate ideas. Discuss each idea as a team, and assign owners to these actions and due dates as necessary. Define as many action items or commitments as you want to during this discussion

Step 4: Agree on the commitments and action items

20 minutes

As a team, discuss the commitments to behavior and process changes that were identified in the themes discussion. Rule out items that are outside the sphere of the teams control. Decide on which ones your team will focus on in the upcoming planning period, with a maximum of three commitments. Any more and the team will be overwhelmed by the continuous improvement effort.

Then, create a list of the action items and prioritize them. If they constitute significant effort, create a new work item for your team and measure it's importance against the other items in your backlog.

Note that action items can be in the team or individual's sphere of control or influence.

TIP: CREATE A SAFE SPACE

Define how the information will be discussed after the Play. Will it be shared with leadership? Consider adopting the Chatham House Rule.

TIP: MAKE SURE ALL ARE HEARD

If the discussion is dominated by one or two people, the facilitator should step in and call on others before moving on.

TIP: UPDATE YOUR WORKFLOWS

If any of the action items have corresponding Jira issues, include links to them on the page so it's easy to see their status.

Incorporate actions from the retrospective into your day-to-day, whether it’s in stand-ups, or weekly team status updates.

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