Post on 13-Apr-2017
RetrospectivesAgile Ottawa Meetup Oct 2015
Foundations of Great Retrospectives
SafetyRetros examine ‘what could have gone better’
Emotions and defensiveness can come into play
Failures happen in complex environments (like your organization)
It is easy to look back and find causes - but not vice versa
Most failures are a result of unpredictable interactions in a complex adaptive system
The whole team, but not the manager
Foundations of Great RetrospectivesSafety - The Blameless Post-Mortem
What actions were taken over time?For each contributor
What effects were observed?Expected results?Assumptions made?Understanding of events as they occurred?Without fear of punishment
Foundations of Great RetrospectivesHave an agenda
Have a goal
What has happened recently? Do we want to reduce build failures?
Plan your activities
Know how much time you are going to use for each step
Set the stage - 6 min
Gather data - 40 min
...
Foundations of Great RetrospectivesUnderstanding facilitationManage the process, not the content
Ask for permission to interrupt - ‘time check, we have another minute’
Introduce activities, monitor the activity, then debrief
Manage the meeting dynamics
Parking tangential conversation
Stopping the blame game, encourage ‘I’ language
‘You missed the release date’ vs ‘I’m upset the date was missed’
Keep track of time
Foundations of Great RetrospectivesFacilitation skills
Active listening
Positive attitude
Professional behaviour
Competent with activities and tools
Well prepared, well organized
Retrospective Structure
1.Set the stage2.Gather data3.Generate insights4.Decide what to
do5.Close the
retrospective
Set the stageGreet people as they come inWelcome
Thanks for the time
State the goal
Remind people of the meeting length
Ask everyone to say somethingPsychologically, people are more engaged and willing to participate
Review the agenda
Set the stageUse a working agreement created by the team
No cell phones
No laptops
Everyone participates
Blameless retrospective ...
Have an agreement before you encounter conflictHow do we solve our problems?
Gather dataQuantitative Data
Velocity
Milestones
Defect counts …
Qualitative DataHow was the iteration?
What events made you mad, sad, glad?
Rate our use of team values
Generate insightsWhy?
What helped us succeed?What patterns do we see?Investigate deficienciesExample ActivitiesBrainstorming, 5 whys, force field analysis
Decide what to doWe have some possible improvements - pick 1 or 2
A long list is overwhelming
Treat them as experiments
Take ActionWho is going to do what, by when?
Assigning it to the team means it’s someone else’s job
Focus on what the team can actually do
Not on what another team ‘should’ be doing
Close the retrospectiveBe Decisive
‘OK, finishing the retrospective ...’
Make sure results are recordedQuickly review outcomes and commitmentsOccasionally review prior commitmentsOccasionally retro the retrospective
How engaged are we?
Do we need to change the activities?
Is it producing valuable results?
Change the activity for each step occasionallyKeep energy and engagement upApply different techniques for different problemsModify the steps or use a new process
When your retrospectives are mature
Tip: Change your Activities
Reference and ResourcesAgile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great: https://pragprog.com/book/dlret/agile-retrospectives
Presentation: Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8w-dFrmovQ
Fifty Quick Ideas To Improve Your Retrospectives: https://leanpub.com/50quickretrospectives
Blameless PostMortems and a Just Culture: https://codeascraft.com/2012/05/22/blameless-postmortems/
Retrospective Wiki: http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page