I recently acted as an independent sprint retrospective facilitator for a client team – this was a great experience which served as a useful reminder of how valuable sprint retrospectives can be to project teams.
For those not familiar with this concept, a sprint retrospective is held at the end of every agile sprint. It is a key part of the agile ‘inspect and adapt’ cycle as it allows the team to reflect on the previous month and assess the following:
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What went well and therefore should be continued
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What didn’t go so well and therefore should be done differently next time
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What learnings can the team apply to make improvements in the future
As an impartial observer I watched the client team identify issues that would have remained completely hidden had they not taken the time to think back on the highs and lows of the previous month. Some of these were as fundamental as one team member stating they saw no value in the daily stand-ups as he didn’t feel the work he was doing was of interest to others! The rest of the team quickly reassured him that this was not the case.
The team I’ve spent most of my time working within for the last 18 months have also gained many benefits from holding monthly retrospectives and this has been a contributing factor to the success of the team. We’ve used the learning’s from our retrospectives to make improvements to areas of the project such as testing processes, release processes, team working and communication. This really helped us to form as a team as it assisted us with getting past some of the difficulties that can be encountered when a group of people first start to work together (I hope to write more on team formation and dynamics in a later post). We’ve also made some improvements to the way we run our retrospectives, such as:
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Discuss the ‘went well’ items after the ‘not so good’ items - that way the retrospective ends on a positive note and the team feels more motivated
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Keep any actions agreed in the retrospective on a visible white board/flip chart and review progress on them at least weekly
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Be honest with each other – this is a chance for the team to get any worries or concerns out in the open. It may feel uncomfortable at first but the team dynamics will benefit from it in the long run
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Respect each other – no rants or personal attacks
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Everyone should attend if possible. If someone really can’t be there (because of holiday etc) then they should email the ScrumMaster their thoughts so they can be raised during the retrospective
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Leave enough time to cover things properly – don’t try and squeeze it all into an hour
I know a lot of project teams feel they are far too stretched to make time for retrospectives and the thought of the whole team taking even a couple of hours out a month fills them with horror when deliverable deadlines are looming. But if you find yourself in this situation I’d really encourage you to make the time and hold regular retrospectives - the benefits gained will far outweigh the time spent on them!