Sprint Retrospective Meeting
Retrospect Sprint
In this process, the Scrum Master and Scrum Team meet to discuss the lessons learned throughout the Sprint. This information is documented as lessons learned, which can be applied to future Sprints. As a result of this discussion, there may be Agreed Actionable Improvements or Updated Scrum Guidance Body Recommendations. Agreed Actionable Improvements are the primary output of this process. They are the list of actionable items that the team has created to address problems and improve processes in order to enhance their performance in future Sprints. Once the Agreed Actionable Improvements have been elaborated and refined, the Scrum Team may consider action items to implement the improvements. The Retrospect Sprint Log is a record of the opinions, discussions and actionable items raised in a Retrospect Sprint Meeting. The Scrum Master could facilitate creation of this log with inputs from Scrum Core Team members. The collection of all Retrospective Sprint Logs becomes the project diary and details project successes, issues, problems and resolutions. The logs are public documents available to anyone in the organization.
Following the three processes of the Review and Retrospect phase helps those involved in a Scrum project to review deliverables and identify impediments to neutralize in the future. Remember that the processes do not need to be performed sequentially or separately. They can be adjusted to complement the specific requirements of each project. Before leaving the Review and Retrospect phase, however, it is imperative to analyze the project and determine what worked and what didn’t work.
Primary objectives of the meeting are to identify three specific things:
- Things the team needs to keep doing: best practices
- Things the team needs to begin doing: process improvements
- Things the team needs to stop doing: process problems and bottlenecks
- These areas are discussed and a list of Agreed Actionable Improvements is created.
Other tools used in the Process of Retrospect Sprint are:
- ESVP
- Speed Boat
- Metrics and Measuring Techniques
- Scrum Guidance Body Expertise
The outputs of the Retrospect Sprint are:
- Agreed Actionable Improvements
- Assigned Action Items and Due Dates
- Proposed Non-Functional Items for Prioritized Product Backlog
- Retrospect Sprint Log(s)
- Scrum Team Lessons Learned
- Updated Scrum Guidance Body Recommendations
How is the Retrospect Sprint Meeting related to the ‘inspect-adapt’ aspect of Scrum?
The Retrospect Sprint Meeting is an important element of the ‘inspect-adapt’ Scrum framework and it is the final step in a Sprint. All Scrum Team members attend the meeting, which is facilitated or moderated by the Scrum Master. It is recommended, but not required for the Product Owner to attend. One team member acts as the scribe and documents discussions and items for future action. It is essential to hold this meeting in an open and relaxed environment to encourage full participation by all team members. Discussions in the Retrospect Sprint Meeting encompass both what went wrong and what went right.