RETROSPECTIVES IN AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Mai Müür

Tallinn 2014

Table of content Retrospective as a part of Scrum The idea of retrospectives Rules of the game Impact to IT team Strenghts and weaknesses

SCRUMframework

Sprint planning meeting

Daily scrum

1-2 weeks

Sprint review

meeting

Sprint retrospecti

ve1-3 hours

Release

Sprint backlogProduct

backlog

Updated product backlog

The Purpose of RetrospectivesHere is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump,bump,bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there is another way, if only could stop bumping for amoment and think of it. *

*qoutation from Winnie the Pooh by

Norm Kerth, (Kerth 2001)

Norm Kerth**

**Norm Kerth -the founder of the modern-day movement of retrospectives

The Idea of Retrospective MeetingWhat went well? Where we failed?What should we

improve?What should we stop?What should we start?

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

• Tehnical event•Organizational event• Personal event

INSPECT ADAPT

Made by Scrum TeamSupported by Scrum Master

Procedure of Retrospective Meeting

Scrum retrospective prework Timebox for meeting 1-3 hours Scrum exercises Decisions for next sprints : What? Who?

When? Changes to product backlog

1. Exercise: event timeline and emotions seismogram

2. Exercise

KEEP DOING STOP DOING TRY

INSIGHTS

PREASSIGNED CATEGORIES

SILENT GROUPING

SHARED CONTEXT

PRIORITIZING INSIGHTS

DOT VOTINGDETERMINE THE SOLUTION/WHO WILL DO IT/ HOW LONG DOES IT

TAKE

INSIGHTS BACKLOG. CLOSING.

FOLLOW UP

Retrospective Meeting INPUT Agreed focus Precollected objective

data Team members with

subjective data and spirit

Backlog of insights from previous retrospective

Exercises and materials for visualization

OUTPUT Process

improvement actions

Insight backlog Changes in

teamspirit

Retrospective Impact to Team

You might not like Your job, but still enjoy the

camaraderie

of the people You work with.*

* Explanation to the word “camaraderie” in Vocabulary.com

EstimationSTRENGHTS Fixed rules and

timetable Positive

mindsetting Equal possibility for

every team member

Simple decision making tools

WEAKNESSES Weak Scrum Master Inactivity in

reflection/participation

Team doesn`t have clear understanding about Scrum process

Take home message

Take retrospective as a good advantage to look inside the process, before You are

totally lost.

Thank You!

References Derby E., Larsen D., Agile Retrospectives, The

Pragmatic Bookshelf; version: P 6.0 – 2011 Schwaber K., Sutherland J.; The Definitive

Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game, The Scrum Guide TM , July2013

Rubin, Kenneth S. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn)) (Kindle Location 21). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. (2012-07-20