Picasso Monet Rembrandt Malczewski + Chelmonski

The Power of Retrospection

Linda Rising

Android programmi

ngSang Shin

The Productive Programme

rNeal Ford

GitLuca Milanesio

Introduction to Scala

Hubert Plociniczak

Project Retrospectives

Linda Risingwww.lindarising.org

linda@lindarising.org

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how

to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts

its behavior accordingly.

agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Is that a postmortem?

Project RetrospectivesA retrospective is an

opportunity for the participants to learn how to improve. The focus is on learning—not fault-finding.

Norm Kerth

Agile RetrospectivesHow to mine the

experience of your software development team continually throughout the life of the project.

Reflect and find a better way

Here 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 he could stop bumping for a moment

and think of it.

A. A. Milne Winnie the Pooh

Why a retrospective? To learn from the past

We want to believe that learning from experience is automatic, but it requires profound skills.

Experience provides data, not knowledge.

Why a retrospective? To plan the future

People want to improve themselves but usually they don’t know what to work on.

When they get good feedback on specific goals, that releases the natural internal inclination to improve. James Fallows

Why a retrospective?To reach closure

Research shows that when organizations go through changes, people have feelings and thoughts but no place to express them in the normal course of business. Thus, their experience is carried forward as a heaviness that slows them down and keeps them from moving into the new setting with enthusiasm.

Retrospective ExamplesMilitary: After Action Reviews, Navy Lessons

Learned, Coast Guard Uniform Lessons Learned

“Learning in the Thick of It,” M. Darling, Charles Parry, and Joseph Moore,, July-August 2005. Harvard Business Review

Post-Fire Critiqueschiefmontagna.com/Articles/post%20fire%20critique.htm

The CEO & The Monk – corporate funeral

What a retrospective isn’tNo naming, no blaming. But praise is always

welcome!

Kerth’s Prime Directive: Regardless of what we discover, we must understand

and truly believe that everyone did the best job he/she could, given what was known at the time, his/her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.

Why take so much time?Memories are short and selective – Challenger

experimentWe tend to focus on recent events, especially if

they are painfulTechnical people see technical problems, while

many (or most) of the problems we face are people problems.

External facilitation is required

Appropriate times for a retrospective At the end of project While the project is still running

o At milestoneso Heartbeato Custom – response to a “surprise”

What are the driving questions?

What worked well that we don’t want to forget?

What should we do differently? What did we learn? What still puzzles us?

Agile vs. End of Project On an agile project, each iteration should

involve a few small experiments The retrospective questions should focus on the

experiments, e.g. “What worked well about moving the time of our stand-up?”

Agile retrospectives are about getting ready for the next iteration, not about solving all the problems the team has. You may not be able to solve a given problem, but you can always set up a small experiment.

Who should attend? Represent many viewpoints:

DevelopmentMarketingCustomer SupportQAManagers

May split into specialist groupse.g. Testers, Developers, to tackle

special topics

What happensDuring the meeting

Readying Look at the past Prepare for the future

Ground Rules

Examples:Try not to interrupt (use a talking stick)Speak from your own perspective and

not speak for anyone elseNo jokes at the expense of anyone in the

room

Create SafetyCreate an atmosphere in which team

members feel comfortable talking openly and honestlyEverything is optionalSecret ballot

4 = “No problem” 1 = “No way”

Establish ground rules

Example Exercises Artifacts Contest Offer Appreciations Time Line – agile teams do this in “real-time” Mine for Gold

•Readying•Look at the past•Prepare for the future

What happensDuring the meeting

Time Line Exercise

•Readying•Look at the past•Prepare for the future

What happensDuring the meeting

Time Line Exercise

•Readying•Look at the past•Prepare for the future

What happensDuring the meeting

What worked well? What to do differently? What did we learn? What still puzzles us?

•Readying•Look at the past•Prepare for the future

What happensDuring the meeting

Determine actions to take for the next iteration or release or project

Identify the next “experiment” For agile projects, each iteration should identify

a few small changes and ask “the driving questions” about those changes at the next retrospective

•Readying•Look at the past•Prepare for the future

How is knowledge shared? Web postings. Team meetings, staff meetings, tech forums. Training courses. Interaction during checkups and

retrospectives. Process feedback and knowledge sharing

operates continuously. Minstrels and story-tellers!

How to “sell” retrospectivesThe purpose of a retrospective is learning

To avoid recurring mistakes To identify and share successful practices To prepare for the next iteration and future

projects

Everyone says they want to learn, but few take the time to do so.

Fearless Change: patterns for introducing new ideas, Mary Lynn Manns & Linda Rising, Addison-Wesley, 2005.

Facilitation resourcesInternational Association of Facilitators - certification program

http://www.iaf-world.org/ASTD - American Society for Training and Development - local chapters

http://www.astd.org/index_NS6.htmlISPI - International Society for Performance Improvement -

certification, local chapters http://www.ispi.org/ NASAGA - North American Simulation and Gaming Association

http://www.nasaga.org/Workshops by Thiagi - Freebies http://thiagi.com/Roger Schwartz, The Skilled FacilitatorSam Kaner et al, Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision MakingIngrid Bens, Facilitate with Ease!  Josey-Bass Inc., 2000.R. Brian Stanfield, ed., The Art of Focused Conversation. ICA

Canada,1977.R. Brian Stanfield, ed., The Workshop Book. ICA Canada, 2002. Training and development Yahoo group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trdev/Jean Tabaka, Collaboration Explained, Addison-Wesley, 2006

Next Steps Buy and read Norm Kerth’s book: Project

Retrospectives, Dorset House, 2001 Buy and read Esther Derby and Diana

Larsen's book: Agile Retrospectives, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2006

Check out Linda’s web site – click on Articles, then Retrospectives

Sign up for the Yahoo group: retrospectives

Retrospectivesa closing thought

from Norm Kerth (and Edward Bear)

… we bump our heads in project after project, day after day. If we would only take a moment to stop and think of alternative ways to proceed, I’m sure we could find better ways to do our work. Norm Kerth

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