The word Retrospective comes from the Latin word retrospectare meaning “look back”.

If you are familiar with the term “Lessons Learned” then retrospectives may seem very familiar.

There are several types of retrospectives:

• event retrospectives (how did an event go)
• project retrospectives- scope is entire project (several months to a year)
• sprint retrospectives (focus of this short)

Sprint Retrospectives have become a core principle in the agile SCRUM world. These are performed in an effort to continuously improve. (the Inspect & Adapt process in agile)

Sprint Retrospective Logistics:

The meeting is typically an hour in length but not longer than 3 hours.

Only the team should attend, no managers or product owners. This is for the team.

Pigs Only!                          No Chickens..

Facilitation is often handled by the Scrum Master however this is not a rule. You may find that having a team member facilitate is a good way to keep the retrospectives fresh while at the same time giving other teams the opportunity to practice some facilitation.

Retrospectives should occur at the end of every sprint.

Goal of the Retrospective:

The focus of the retrospective is to look back at:

1. What went well?
2. What did not go well and needs improvement?

At the end of the meeting you should come up with 2 to 3 actionable items that you can realistically look at getting done in the next sprint. 

Retrospective techniques:

Card form – Hand out 3x5 cards/stickies- can be colored, green/red and blue for action items

• 20 minutes filling out cards for what went well
• 20 Minutes filling out what needs to be improved
• When finished hand up to facilitator to place the cards on the wall or table (group by topic)
• Remaining time going through each topic and deciding on actionable items.
• Works well in larger groups / newly formed groups / shy groups

Free form - Overhead projector and or flip chart / white board
Team calls out answers, while facilitator records

• 20 minutes focusing on what went well
• 20 minutes focusing on what needs to be improved
• Remaining time discussing actionable items
• Works well in a very open and tight-knit team where everyone is comfortable speaking their mind

There are other flavors but I find these two approaches are Simple and work (KISS!). Do what works for your team.. The key is getting participation and finding valuable action items so your team can adapt.

Look for trends – Keep the results of the retrospective and every 3-6 months look back.. do you see the same problems, do you see trends, are the action items being completed ? Same problems or new?

See the video here on SsZ.tv.