Just before lockdown we ran a lively session with a group of scrum masters on tips for great retrospectives.
To run an effective retrospective remember PARCELS
Planning
Where is it taking place? Get a room booked or a good space. Think about the time of day – late in day retros often get different results to pre-lunch ones
Who is going to facilitate? What format are you going to use? Is the retro about the last sprint, the last release, or a specific issue(s) that need discussion?
Adapt
Consider who is attending – is your team co-located or in different locations? If a mixture use online tools to help gather data. Try and use video if possible to engender a one team philosophy? Blend a mixture of exercises from visual, spoken, silent, depending on the make-up of your team.
Rotate
Some teams like to change the facilitator to inject fresh ideas – this also would be necessary if scrum master wants to participate with opinions in the retro. Don’t force the role on somebody who doesn’t want to do it though (smile) Change the format so people don’t get bored with the same old, same old.
Climate
Tricky one this but think about the mood/harmony of team as this may affect the format/location. If you suspect there could be strong discussions ahead, don’t hold in an open-access part of the office. If it is sunny outside, don’t be afraid to take the retro into the fresh air.
Energy
Lots of opportunities to keep the retro alive and fun through use of games and just a positive approach from the facilitiator. Try and inject pace and freshness wherever possible.
Limit
Beware of trying to take too much actions – use dot voting to discuss the topics most important to the team rather than those just belonging to the Single Loudest Voice (SLV). Some discussions may run on; as facilitator time keeping is crucial so limit sections so that the retro can be completed to time.
Structure
Effective retros usually have 5 part structure consisting of: 1) warm-up activity to get people focussed, 2) gathering data 3) generating insights, 4) deciding what to do, 5) closing activity. A popular technique is to blend this structure with a visual metaphor such as a sailing, film, sports, mountains, etc.
Links
1.Games and ideas to spice up your next retro
a.www.funretrospectives.com
b.www.tastycupcakes.org
c.www.retrospectivewiki.org
d.www.retromat.org
2.Books
a.Agile Retrospectives – Making Great Teams Great – Esther Darby – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agile-Retrospectives-Making-Pragmatic-Programmers/dp/0977616649
b.Agile Strides – Free Retrospective Book – 40+ Ideas – https://agilestrides.com/blog/40-ideas-to-spice-up-your-retrospective/
3.Podcast
Scrum Master Toolbox – https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/
4.Online resources
a.Retrospective cheat sheet available for download at https://www.agiletrainings.eu/agile-retrospectives/
b.Tools for running retros with distributed teams – https://luis-goncalves.com/tools-distributed-agile-retrospectives/