In part 1, we covered who’s at your Retros, how long you’re spending, and the bandwidth of your facilitator. I have a few more questions for people who tell me their Sprint Retrospectives aren’t working:
Are you having the same Retro every single time?
This is Dave Westgarth. Dave makes the coolest Retros. Recent themes include The Simpsons, Dungeons and Dragons, and – after my own heart – Dragon Ball Z. (I have a cat named Vegeta.)
Nerding out aside, if your team has to look at the same board in the same format week after week, it wouldn’t hurt to switch it up a little to spark some new ideas.
Tools I’ve used and liked include EasyRetro (free), Retrium (free trial), Trello (free version), Miro (free version), and Mural (free version). Speaking of Mural, I’ve put together a free Starter Retro template.
For formats, I’ve spun the wheel countless times on Retromat for ideas. My go-tos are sailboat, circles and soup, timelines, and drawing or LEGO retrospectives.
An easy way to switch it up? Ask someone outside the team to facilitate the Retro. Having a new approach can generate new insights from the team.
How are you accommodating different ways of thinking?
I’m a processer. I can’t think on the spot. I need some time to mull over ideas and problems from all different perspectives and consider all scenarios before arriving at something I want to share. (Some may call it overthinking.)
And I prefer to do it in writing. I have an easier time putting thoughts down in writing where I can control the flow and go back and change things where I need to.
So put me in a room where we’re all thinking out loud in real time and I tend to shrink into the walls. I don’t feel comfortable.
But give me a time limit and some sticky notes and we are talking.
It’s the same with Retros. Give people options. If they don’t want to talk out loud, give them the option to write. Or chat. Give a time limit and space for thinking. Try some creative ways of expression, like drawing or music. Pay attention to when people unmute or get interrupted, especially people on the quieter side. Give space for all needs.
What are you doing?
“We talk for a while and that feels good and then it ends and nothing ever happens.”
I find it useful to have one or two “action items” from the Retro. You can call them whatever you want – experiments, to dos, followups, improvements. Whatever they are, focus on only a few. Teams with a laundry list of items are unlikely to complete them. You’ve got to focus on and prioritize only the most important ones.
Then you need to figure out who‘s going to do them. Ideally, this is multiple members of the team in collaboration and they’re choosing to act without being volunteered. You want to be clear on what they are doing, by when they’re aiming to do it (usually by the end of the Sprint) and how you’ll follow up on progress or completion (usually in Daily Scrum and the next Sprint Retrospective).
Make sure these action items are displayed somewhere for the whole team to see. I like to put them in Jira if that’s what the team is using.
And then follow up on them. Make it a habit to bring them up in Daily Scrum. At the next Retro, discuss how it went. If it didn’t get completed, it’s not about punishment, it’s about curiosity. What were the conditions that led to it not being completed? Is it even a priority anymore?
Close the Retrospective
These won’t solve all of your Retro problems, but nailing these will provide a solid foundation for continuous improvement as a team.
And, when in doubt, ask the team for feedback. With regard to our Retros, what’s gone well? And what could we improve?
Photo by Marjan Blan on Unsplash