How To - Retrospective

Introduction?

For the past sixteen years, I was acting as a manager in the IT industry. I started my adventure in the times when the waterfall was OK cause it worked. Agile was an interesting idea that people played with - and more and more people were starting to take a closer look at it.?

I was working agile, scrum, kanban, waterfall, agile “but”, and many more methodologies through this time. The one item I was zealous about was retrospective - I really like this meeting, and I believe this is the best Agile offers. In a nice package, with instant deliverables.??

In this article, I want to share my take on the retrospective. Then, I will try to present you with a recipe I am using to run my meetings, and I will explain every item, step and trick I am using to skip my mistakes and get the final product in Your hands, ready for cooking.?

Important to note?

This approach towards retrospective is focused on small to medium companies. This is because corporations tend to focus more on effectiveness, and the teams involved in the retrospective process will require a different approach.?

Agenda?

My first observation for an optimal retrospective is repeatability. You do not want to surprise the team every time there is a new meeting. Instead, you want to build a haven to discuss problems and propose a solution - they must understand and accept how the meeting works.??

Below you can find the template I am using on confluence. Whether the retrospective is held on the prem, remotely or in a mixed environment, this is my go-to tool.?

My retrospectives are always run in the same way, with the invite details below:?

Agenda:?

1. Introduction & Agenda?
2. Filling in the board?
3. Action items from the previous retrospective?
4. Board review - What I like
5. Board review - What I do not like?
6. Board review - What I hate?
7. Unofficial part?
8. Summary?

The reasoning for the meeting:?

1. To do better?

Introduction & Agenda?

During the initial few minutes, Your goal is to go through the agenda and explain two items:?

• Item one: This is not a blame game - this is a way for the team to point out issues and propose a solution to make their life easier. What this means is?

ONE: You will explain your point and provide an example when needed?

TWO: You will propose a solution for the said problem?

THREE: The team will discuss the problem, proposed a solution and finally agree on a fix when needed.?

• Item two: This one is more complex. It is HOW we will use the board and what we should be putting there.?

We will start with the - Like - column. The team can share the positives and praise people, processes and changes that made their life easier in the past weeks.?

Example - “I love the way we are running our standups - it is effective, efficient, and I know what is going on. - Lukasz”

The second column - Don’t Like - problems You believe are important enough to raise, and You are accepting that this item may not be addressed nor deemed worthy to address by the team.?

Example - “I do not like the way we are running some of our standups, I believe we are wasting too much time, diving into details - Lukasz

Solution: We should “park” the technical topic after the standup so that the people interested in it can stay, NOT the whole team”.?

Last one - Hate - problems You believe are critical and must be addressed by the team. The level of problems You are putting in this column is why you update Your CV and start answering headhunters that bombard your LinkedIn.?

Example - “We should NOT have 60 minutes standups! - Lukasz

Solution: Let’s have one person running and administering the standup. Let’s go with a quick JIRA board review first and wrap up the meeting after all updates.?

You can share the link for the board or a clean whiteboard (make sure to draw columns and title them) with the team days/hours before the meeting. I can bet You that there will always be at least a few people that will wait for the last moment to add something in. That is OK as we know how to handle that.?

The team will have 5-15 minutes to fill in the board. Feel free to cut it short if no one is adding anything new for at least a minute.?

At this time, Your focus is to put the attention OUT of the board. For 15 minutes, you are the jokester, keeping the mood right and making sure people feel they are in a safe space.?

My rule of thumb is to start with a topic that will interest them and not start a war in the room. Of course, it helps if you know the room.?

You want their attention placed on the discussion, not the board, so that shy people can add their points too.?

Few default ones I am always falling into when I got nothing in my head:?

• Holidays - “so Tom, am I right - you were on holiday somewhere, right? How was it?”?
• Books - “recently I got an amazing book that I can’t get from my head - anyone read the X.”?
• Movies - “I need help! - I need something to watch on Netflix/Amazon/HBO - help me out, what is the best movie you have watched in the past weeks?”?

Wait - but why??

• Push them away from the board so that those who are a bit stressed can have a moment to write down their points without everyone looking at it?
• Remove the “silence pressure” for the team to put something on the board?
• Force the team to focus only on items that are important - as the majority of the people will prefer to have a fun chat rather than to type a complaint that is not that important?

Action from the previous retrospective?

This is when you want to go through all items created and NOT marked as done during the last retrospectives. You are reading the description and asking if you can mark it as done to the person assigned to observe/chase/verify the task - simple “done” is more than enough if the team will raise concern, discuss and try to enforce the final say “so can I mark it as done or not?”.?

The idea here is to make sure that there is always a follow-up and check on actions we decided to take - an action flagged at retrospective must be monitored, even if this is a simple discussion within the team about new tech and potential usage of it OR a change in the processes.?

Do not allow a single task to get lost. Once created, an item will be repeated until the team, or the assignee will resolve it.?

Board review?

The meeting is in progress, the board is filled, and the team is slowly wrapping up the topics You have started. So let us start the real retrospective.?

What I liked - The Good?

The first stop You are making in the discussion is an introduction to the positive topics. We are going through the items in likes, one by one, reading the description and asking the creator if there is more to add. You want to be pushing them to add more, as this will give you and the team insight into what they are happy with.?

The item says - a new way of task estimations - ask what the changes are and why they are better, let them speak up and describe it.?

IMPORTANT: Watch Your time. If one of the topics you have on the board is big and will require a long discussion OR there are many topics to go through - you can go quick and dirty.?

How to lead it:?

• Be cheerful,?
• Make sure that every item in the column is discussed and people are aware of the details,?
• Watch time and adjust the speed of discussion to the number and size of items You have left.?

What I did not like - The Bad.?

Here I like to remind the team what these items are - we are talking about elements that are not working out for a person. These are the points that we as a team can do better. It can be anything from a coffee grinder to the JIRA ticket workflow.?

Important to note that the team may decide NOT to do anything with the issue You have raised.?

Go through the items, ask the person who created them for more details and allow them to defend their idea.?

How to lead it:?

You have two items for You to use to adjust the discussion:?

• “So what You are saying is…” - for You to align the team to the same topic?
• “OK, what is an action Item You want from this”?

What You need at the end of every point are few items:?

• You want Your team to say YES to the proposed solution?
• You want a single sentence to describe the solution to a raised problem?
• There may be items that the team believes are not solvable or are not a problem that it is worth to face?

What I hate - And the Ugly?

This is the point that people are willing to fight for. This is the one that they believe is the most important and must be solved. In my history, after three to four retrospectives, this column should be empty - or should contain some obvious items. So do not be worried about the number of items at the start. Instead, start solving them one by one.?

Remind the team that we will go through the essential items and ensure that all of them are addressed. Every item on the list should be raised as before, read it and ask for clarification from the person that raised the issue.?

How to lead it:?

Above all, the same suggestions from the “What I did not like.”?

• Do not allow anyone to hijack the problem or ridicule it?
• Make sure that there is an action item addressing every item from the column?

Wrap it up?

The official part of the retrospective is over. There is no more to write or document.?

You have two more tasks to do.?

1. “Is there something we want to discuss - without writing it down??

Let it sit there for a few seconds and assume there is nothing after 5-10 seconds of quiet.?

If there will be something - listen, discuss and propose a solution. There may be an action item, and there may be something on your plate to address.?

I know You will handle it - go with the same behaviour you did before with items from don’t like and hate columns.?

1. Sum it up - say thank you, focus on the positives and positive changes.

Close the meeting with a positive twist. This is the moment you are cracking a joke, putting the focus on the positive sides. Make sure that the team leaves with a smile on their faces.?

• If this is the first retrospective, thank you and let them know they did an awesome job opening and addressing their problems.?
• If this is another one - point out the positives they have introduced and mention that You are happy that the end.