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Agile Retrospectives​

Learn how to turn a good team​ into a great one with continuous improvement practices.

How to run Agile Retrospectives playbook header

How to start

The Five Phases of a Retrospective​

Retrospectives – Set the stage icon

Set the Stage

Greet all attendees, break the ice, and ensure everyone understands the session’s goal.​

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Gather Data

Review the past work cycle: What went well? What didn’t go as well?​ What could be better?​

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Generate Insights

Group similar ideas into topics, let everybody vote to find the most relevant ones.​

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Decide What to Do

Group similar ideas into topics, let everybody vote to find the most relevant and define action items.​

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Close the Session

After assigning action items, make a brief abstract of the session and its outcomes. ​Thank everyone.​

Improve your technique​

Retrospectives’ Basics​

Before going all in, you might want to get solid foundations to prevent any risk.​

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Retros for Beginners​

In these sessions, the team gets together and looks back on past events or situations to achieve continuous improvement.

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They're usually celebrated at the end of each sprint.

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The whole team, including the Scrum Master, should join the session.

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The Business Value​

Business Value is vital in product and project management. There is not, however, a single way to measure Business Value. Still, you should add it as a critical parameter to review.​

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Reviewing the correct KPIs is a good north-star for your sessions.

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Conceiving Action Items to address the issues brought up is vital.

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The Prime Directive​

Gathering your team to discuss how the past work cycle went is excellent, but it can easily turn into a blaming game, potentially hurting your team’s health.​

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The Prime Directive sets the correct mood for any Retrospective.

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It was first coined by expert Norman Kerth in his 2001 book Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team's Reviews

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Post-Mortems vs. Retrospectives​

They might sound similar but be careful not to confuse them: Post-Mortems are not the same as Retrospectives. Each one is driven by a distinct goal and dynamics.​​

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A Post-Mortem analysis focuses on studying the failures encountered after a project has been finished.

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Retrospective sessions' purpose is planning ways to increase quality and effectiveness, without requiring the project to be finished.

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Become a Pro

Good Practices​

Creative and Engaging Techniques

 

You can’t expect things to change if you keep repeating the same. ​

That’s why establishing different scenarios than the old three-question formula is ideal for fostering participation and getting different outcomes. ​

– The Sailboat or the Three Little Pigs Retrospectives are ideal for creative thinking.

– The Sad, Mad & Glad is a format that focuses on the emotional journey of the team.​

​- The I liked, I wished, I longed for template will set a positive mindset for discussions.​

​- The 4Ls  is a standard formula that assesses four aspects.​

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Do's and Don’t's for Your Sessions

 

A team review about the past can quickly turn into a hostile discussion on who’s to blame if you’re not careful enough. ​

Following the basic four-step format is step one, but there are other recommendations you should follow to have practical sessions.

– Don’t end up having to justify why the Devs spent so much time in sapless meetings.​

– Plan your sessions and consider throwing some ice-breakers.​

​- Be mindful about who you invite and what information is shared.​

These tips will get you closer to mastering Retrospectives.  ​

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Efficient Follow-up of Action Items

 

The main goal of running Retros is to help teams understand how they can improve. ​

It’s vital to produce Action Items and follow up on them, guaranteeing continuous improvement.​

Always remember to:​

– Assign all Action Items to owners, who will ensure they are implemented.​

– Keep balance; defining lots of action items might be counterproductive.​

​- Make sure that all of them get documented in your project management tool.​

​- Consider creating an Action Plan for enhanced follow-up.​

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Run Retrospectives Easily

We’ll Do The
Heavy Lifting

Simple and highly customizable sessions​

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Choose between templates or create your own.

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Create an anonymous session to boost participation.

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Export action items for enhanced follow-up.

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Available on

Jira

Jira

Confluence

Confluence

monday.com

monday

Trello

Trello

FAQ

Frequently Asked

What is a Retrospective?

It’s a session held at the end of each sprint or work cycle where a team gathers to review what went well, what didn’t, and what could be improved for the subsequent iterations.​

What is the purpose of Retrospectives?

Its main goal is to foster a continuous improvement culture inside a team or organization, delivering more value in less time.​

When is a Retrospective meeting held?

Retrospectives are usually performed at the end of each sprint, which traditionally lasts between two and four weeks. You can set a custom frequency to better fit your needs.

How to do Retrospectives with remote team members?

Our Agile Retrospectives app supports remote and asynchronous work. ​It’s available on Jira, Confluence, monday.com, and Trello, so any team can benefit from its customizable features.