I recently conducted my first Sprint Retrospective since becoming a Certified ScrumMaster and although I think it went ok, I’m sure there’s room for improvement. I’m hoping that by writing about it I perform a more in-depth personal reflection than I normally would and if someone else finds it useful or can provide feedback, I’ll be very happy.
Brief Background
This is an established team that has great morale, but they’ve been through the ringer a bit. I was worried the enthusiasm for Agile was fading, or worse, we were just going through the motions.
Five Stage Retrospective
When I first joined, I asked twitter about the various retrospective techniques others liked and Ben Linders kindly responded. So when I saw the book he’d written on the very subject – http://www.benlinders.com/getting-value-out-of-agile-retrospectives/ – was cheap I bought it!
Unsurprisingly, I followed the 5 stage retrospective mentioned in that book and used the techniques within.
- Set the Stage
- Gather Data
- Generate Insights
- Decide what to do
- Close the retrospective
Stage 1 – Set the stage.
The aim/context of this Retrospective was two-fold:
- Understand the teams opinion of our sprint retrospectives
- Discover the biggest issue/worry that we currently have
We used ESVP Check-In to discover the first, which resulted in 4 E, 2 S, 2 SP, 1 ESV and 1 P. I’m reading that as I was partially correct in my fear that the team were beginning to lose faith in retrospectives, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
Stage 2 – Gather data.
To gather data from the team, I used the Sailboat Retrospective technique. I’m pleased to say it resulted in a lot of post-it notes, so the team were clearly engaged, but I’m worried/disappointed about the number of negative things that were noted.
Stage 3 – Generate insights.
The team talked through each post-it on the sailboat, discussing in-depth the reason for it being there. I used this time to try and see how strongly the team felt about the issue, if they all agreed and how big an issue it was.
Stage 4 – Decide what to do.
There were too many post-it notes to tackle at once, so I used the Constellation technique on a few I hand-picked and a few I asked the team to select as most important.
Not only did this get everyone back on their feet and engaged (there was a definite increase in discussion afterwards) but is a really clear indicator of the teams feeling.
We then took each one from most important to least important and came up with some actions to hopefully resolve the issues before the next retrospective in 2 weeks.
Stage 5 – Close the retrospective.
Nothing special to note beyond thanking the team for the patience and enthusiasm for a new approach. I also asked for feedback, which I’m hoping will come willingly over the next couple of days.
Personal Retrospective
In summary, I’m really happy with the retrospective. I certainly gained some insight and I think the team got something out of it.
What went well?
ESVP, Sailboat and Constellation proved very nice techniques.
What could I have done better?
I’m slightly worried I led the Generate Insights stage too much. I think the team lost interest a little and some of the momentum was lost.
What should I not do again?
In preparation for the retrospective I ran out of time to think about stage 4 onwards. I think that led to the loss of momentum.
Comments Section