2. Outline
● What a retrospective is and why we have them
● Typical retrospective format
○ Ice breakers & energizers
○ Collecting topics
○ Voting
○ Facilitating a discussion
● Generating actions
Objective: show you how to plan + facilitate a retro
5. Prime Directive
“Regardless of what we
discover, we understand
and truly believe that
everyone did the best job
they could, given what
they knew at the time,
their skills and
abilities, the resources
available, and the
situation at hand”
- Norm Kerth
http://www.funretrospectives.com/the-retrospective-prime-directive/
6. Why Retrospect?
- Team building
- Problems that haven’t
been discussed
- Take a step back from a
work project
- Continuous improvement
- Fun :)
8. Resistance
Too irregular - Regular schedule
Not needed - “So are we perfect?”
Always same topics - Constructive actions
Lack of actions - Actions = work
Too busy - Slow down to go faster
Boring - Mix it up!
11. Why do we do them?
- Bring participants into the room
- Improve communication
- Get to know each other
- Breaks down boundaries
- Buy into the purpose of the event
- “As your body moves, your brain grooves” - Jim Kwik
- Fun
12. Candy Love
One thing you
love about your
job
Life goal that
you’re working on
Favourite
book/movie
Favourite way to
revive yourself
during your work
day
One stressful
thing about your
job
Favourite food
http://www.funretrospectives.com/candy-love/
13. “How safe do you
feel to speak out
and discuss issues
in this group?”
5 – I’ll talk about anything
4 – I’ll talk about almost
anything; a few things might
be hard
3 – I’ll talk about some
things, but others will be
hard to say
2 – I’m not going to say much,
I’ll let others bring up
issues
1 – I’ll smile, claim
everything is great and agree
http://www.funretrospectives.com/safety-check/
14. More examples
- Human rock/paper/scissors
- Collaborative face drawing
- Fake artist
32. What makes a good
facilitator?
Discuss (2 min)...
33. GOOD FACILITATION
Not there to give answers
Constructive disagreement
Check timing
Keep conversation on track
Everyone is heard
Recording discussion
34. Powerful questions
For example:
- What does success look
like?
- What makes this
important?
- What is stopping us?
Encourage different
perspectives
http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PQ-Cards-4-to-
a-page.pdf
38. What are actions?
- Actions are points obtained from a discussion that can be
completed to improve the processes of the team
Why do we have them?
- Record of discussion
- Documentation of tasks
- Reminder of past retros
Introductions:
Katie first
I can introduce the title of the workshop, and give a one sentence outline of what we’re going to cover
Mattia second
Katie: experienced facilitator; passionate about subject
Katie
Quick ice breaker - 4 MINS
Katie: Clapping https://vimeo.com/296802161 (2:50 ish)
Gonna count down from 3 and when I say go we’re gonna clap at the same time
Explain the rules again and do it again
It makes your brain and body come into the room
Mattia: Line up according to retro experience: left = no experience; right = experienced
Ask the two extremes how they feel
Explain these are example ice breakers which you can use
Katie:
Talk about what a retrospective is
In practice, the team meets consistently, at intervals which work well for them, discuss what’s gone well, what didn’t go well and how to improve - usually through the generation of actions
In what situations they are used
Can be used in any industry that is project based
How we use them in the context of software development
Normally at the end of sprints/iterations or at the end of projects
Mattia:
Prime directive
What the prime directive means
No blame
Mattia: read slide :-)
Katie (dramatically): but what about resistance, I hear you ask????
Discuss with the person next to you, what kind of resistance there might be to retros and your experiences of resistance
Flip Chart responses after discussion
Katie = top half?
Too irregular -> schedule them on a predefined cadence
Too busy -> if you slow down and take some time to correct problems with process etc, you will be able to work faster and more efficiently
Not needed -> still useful for other reasons; also, ask them “so are we perfect?”; also, not everyone might agree
Mattia = bottom half?
Always same topics -> regular retros help; constructive actions; an experienced facilitator can steer the conversation to topics within the teams control/escalate problems outside
Lack of actions -> reserve time to follow up; actions that can actually be followed up, if the topic is out of your control, then there will be no actions
Boring -> use various formats; rotate facilitators; discuss with your facilitator what you did last time for variety; use snacks and sweets!!
Katie:
The next section will be about how to build a retro and the typical format. Explain format:
Ice breaker
Collect topics (Metaphor)
Vote
Facilitate discussion
Katie - we’ve already done a couple of ice breakers at the beginning, and these are a few more ideas which you can use
Katie:
Why we do ice breakers?
Katie
Katie and Mattia demonstrate beforehand
Pick a skittle
Tell the group one thing (2 minute)
Mattia:
Useful for teams that are not used to retro, to assess safety
Vote anonymously, discuss
Twist: “how comfortable do you think others are in the group?”
Katie
List of examples
Katie
Any questions on icebreakers before we move on?
Ice breaker
Collect topics (Metaphor)
Vote
Facilitate discussion
Mattia
Mattia: Cards against agility
Katie: WARP
Mattia: Story cubes
Katie: Timeline
Katie: (what she just said)
You can build a retro out of pretty much anything.
Mattia
Example - Space Jam
Katie
Example - Mario Kart
Mattia
Example
Katie
Gone well: “He’s her lobster”
Obstacles: “we were on a break!”
Helping: accidentally having a baby “baby girl geller-green”
Goal: Ross + Rachel getting together - “I got off the plane”
Katie
In your metaphor, include these sections
Mattia
15 mins, in groups, to plan a retro based on a metaphor
5 mins to share topics
TODO - use music from phone
Mattia (dramatically): what makes a good facilitator?
Flip Chart responses after discussion
Katie
Not there to give answers, but to help the team get to their own
Ensuring everyone is heard, steering dominant voices
Avoid destructive conflict, use constructive disagreements
Stay on topic
Timing
Notes taking
Mattia:
Another important trait for a facilitator is asking powerful questions
Encourages different perspectives
List examples
Katie
Discuss in the group how they would deal with each personality (2 - 3 minutes)
Loud, dominating, talking over others
Disengaged, doesn’t care
Quiet, shy
Feedback afterwards
Mattia
Reminder of how the time is getting on
Explain that if the format doesn’t work then can be adapated
Remind at 10 mins?
Mattia
Katie
Feedback:
1 bucket, red, green and yellow coloured paper
On the way out, pick a colour of paper and chuck it in the bucket (can also write a comment if they want)
