Any retrospective meeting will involve the following steps: Set Stage – Organize meeting – Involves setting up of the meeting by the facilitator (PM., scrum master, etc.) and sending a meeting invitation to all the required team members and stakeholders.
- Create a safe environment. Project retrospectives are an opportunity to facilitate a meeting, as opposed to dictating a meeting. ...
- Define parameters of the retrospective. ...
- Have an agenda. ...
- Conduct a project review.
How to run an effective retrospective?
To run a good retrospective, follow your agenda and conduct the following steps in order:
- Welcome: Greet participants, and explain the ground rules, especially if there are new team members or people new to retrospectives. ...
- Review: Recap what the team accomplished, and cite specifics. Also list any scheduled work that members did not finish. ...
- Brainstorm: Solicit ideas for solving problems and embedding helpful practices. ...
How to run a great scrum meeting?
When holding a sprint retrospective meeting, keep these tips in mind:
- Only the Scrum Master and the Scrum team may attend this meeting.
- The team reviews their processes and adapts them for the next sprint.
- The Scrum Master might determine if there are common challenges that affect the team and work to resolve them. ...
How to run the ideal meeting?
Make Everyone a Judge
- Lead a brainstorming session and put the ideas on a wall or whiteboard.
- Give everyone three index cards: One says, “Wow,” another says, “Nice,” and the third says, “Who cares?” Everybody sits around the table with their cards face down.
- Someone gets up to pitch one of the ideas on the wall.
How to run a really great project meeting?
Tips for a Good Meeting
- Have an Objective. I would hope that, of all people, you don’t need this tip. ...
- Set an agenda in advance. ...
- Invite the right people. ...
- Ground Rules. ...
- Start on time. ...
- Make sure everyone gets to contribute. ...
- Use a parking lot to avoid getting side-tracked. ...
- Summarize and conclude as you go
- Write down actions on a board. ...
- Keep it moving. ...
How do you prepare for a retrospective meeting?
To follow, break up your Retrospective into the following five stages:Set the Stage.Gather Data.Generate Insights.Decide What to Do.Close the Retrospective.
What should I say in retrospective meeting?
Questions to ask when closing a sprint retrospectiveCan you reiterate the most important thing you learned today?How are you feeling about our next sprint now that we've identified these issues?Is anyone confused or unclear on any of the items we discussed today?Do all of our next steps make sense?More items...•
How do you hold a successful retrospective?
6 Tips for Better Product Retrospective MeetingsCreate a safe space. ... Make retrospectives a habit. ... Don't forget to look at the positives. ... Think outside the office. ... Bring in backup. ... Sometimes your product retrospective meetings need retrospectives of their own.
What three things should teams do during a sprint retrospective meeting?
During the sprint retrospective, teams analyze how they work, identify ways to work better, and make plans to implement these improvements.
What are the 3 retrospective questions?
Three things you can do todayWhat went well (keep doing these things)What could be improved (went OK, but could be better)What went badly (don't do these things again)Focus for next period/sprint/month/quarter (One or two things to focus on)
What are the three questions to ask every team member at a standup?
A quick Google search will show you that the 3 daily standup questions in a scrum meeting are: What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? What (if anything) is blocking your progress?
What should you not do in a retro?
In this article, I want to drop you some hints on how to run a valuable Sprint Retrospective.DO run a Retrospective meeting at the end of every Sprint. ... DON'T turn the Retrospective into witch hunt. ... DO make Action Points during each Retrospective. ... DON'T let others know what the team has discussed during the Retrospective.More items...
What does a good retrospective look like?
The retrospective should create a safe space for people to share their honest feedback on what's going well, what could be improved, and generate a discussion around things that should change next time around – with actionable items documented.
How do I run my first retrospective?
Start of the project: How to run the first retrospectiveStart building team spirit.Remind the values of the retrospective / scrum.Set up a baseline for process metrics.Focus on action points generation to make sure the team sees the real value of this meeting.Motivate the team for the successful project.
What is the main goal of a retrospective meeting?
Definition: A retrospective is a meeting held after a product ships to discuss what happened during the product development and release process, with the goal of improving things in the future based on those learnings and conversations.
What is the main purpose of retrospective meeting?
The purpose of the retrospective meeting is to: Evaluate how the last sprint, iteration, or work item went, specifically around the team dynamic, processes, and tools. Articulate and stack rank the items that went well, and those items that did not.
Who is responsible for retrospective meetings?
Typically, the Scrum Master runs a sprint retrospective meeting, but other team members can act as a facilitator. The attendees of a sprint retrospective include the Scrum Master, the product owner and members of the development team; they all engage in design, development and testing.
What do you discuss in sprint retrospective?
During the Sprint Retrospective, your team should discuss four main questions:What did you like in the sprint?What's still puzzling you?What didn't work well?What are your improvement ideas?
How do you give retrospective feedback?
Start the next retrospective by reminding people of what was agreed in the last one. Most retrospectives tend to be too project-focused. Encourage people to address team issues such as collaboration, communication, etc. Coach the team to identify what's under their control, and what's not.
What is the main purpose of retrospective meeting?
The purpose of the retrospective meeting is to: Evaluate how the last sprint, iteration, or work item went, specifically around the team dynamic, processes, and tools. Articulate and stack rank the items that went well, and those items that did not.
What to write in what went well?
What Went Well ideas and examples in an agile environmentWe shipped on time with no bugs reported.The collaboration was great in our paired coding sessions.User testing was better developed this sprint.The team had a good time working together.All members knew what they had to do — and did it!
What to do if you have run a retrospective?
If you’ve run a Retrospective previously, quickly revisit the themes and actions from last time to build a sense of continuity.
How to improve teamwork?
Identify how to improve teamwork by reflecting on what worked, what didn’t, and why. We recommend running a Retrospective with your team every couple of weeks or at the end of a project milestone.
What should a facilitator do when a discussion is dominated by one or two people?
If the discussion is dominated by one or two people, the facilitator should step in and call on others before moving on.
What Do You Say in a Retrospective Meeting?
The best way to do this is by asking thought-provoking questions.
How to welcome participants to a retrospective?
1. Welcome: Greet participants, and explain the ground rules , especially if there are new team members or people new to retrospectives. Consider holding an icebreaker to help people feel more comfortable, a mood check to gauge the team’s temperament, or a safety assessment that explores whether participants feel safe expressing their honest opinions.
What Is a Project Retrospective?
A project retrospective is a structured meeting for a team to review, reflect on, and learn from their work on a project. This exercise can occur during and at the end of a project, and it’s part of the Agile framework of project management, which strives for continuous improvement.
Why do Agile practitioners use retrospectives?
Agile practitioners rely on retrospectives to achieve continuous improvement. To reach your goal, check out this how-to guide on facilitating a productive retrospective and find a starter kit to kick off your process.
Why use retrospective tool?
Using a retrospective tool often makes it easy to turn ideas into action steps and to automate reminders. Similarly, the tool can automatically send people questions to think about in the days leading up to the next retrospective.
When does Agile retrospective take place?
In technical fields, where Agile arose, the retrospective usually takes place after every sprint, a two-week period during which the team tackles a predetermined body of work such as writing software code for certain features. To learn more about Agile, see “ The Comprehensive Guide to Agile Project Management .”
How to set up a blameless retrospective?
At the beginning of the meeting, go over any ground rules, such as Norm Kerth’s Prime Directive, an agreement in which everyone believes all participants did the best job they could. This instills the idea of a “blameless” retrospective. Do a safety or mood check activity and an icebreaker.
How to keep retrospective discussion at the front of the team?
Starting the daily scrum by asking about progress made on retrospective action items is another way to keep the retrospective discussion at the front of the team's mind. This might seem too simple, but it can make a large difference in your retrospective process. And it becomes an even more powerful opportunity for improvement in combination with the Ambassador technique, since the team can ask each Topic Ambassador updates, and then make sure that person is working on it.
How does the Ambassador technique relate to agile retrospectives?
How does this relate to agile retrospectives? Using the Ambassador technique, a team would nominate someone to be a "Topic Ambassador" for each item on its action plan. This person is responsible for "owning" his or her action item and must ensure the team does everything it can to follow through on it during the upcoming iteration.
Does a Scrum Master have to be the only person responsible for solving the team's problems?
Keep in mind that the Scrum Master does not need to be (and in fact shouldn't be) the only person responsible for solving the team's problems. Any team member can take this task and should be encouraged to do so. In my own personal experience, for example, I've had many times in which the Scrum Master did not have the technical skills to tackle certain action items, the responsibility was given to another team member.
What is the issue with Scrum Retrospective Meetings?
But before doing so, you need to prepare your team for a meeting. One of the issues with scrum retrospective meetings is that people tend to forget things. So there is no guarantee your team will remember all the iteam they wanted to discuss. Here’s the way how to gather sprint retrospective agenda during the sprint.
What is a sprint retrospective?
Retrospective means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. In Scrum Framework, there a concept of a Sprint Retrospective meeting.#N#Scrum Retrospective helps a team to look back, and improve its productivity and transparency. As a result, the Scrum team comes up with a plan of improvements for a next Sprint.#N#A Sprint Retrospective meeting is run after Sprint Review and before the next Sprint Planning. Scrum Master makes sure that the team understands its purpose and holds a retro meeting on schedule.
Can you record retrospective feedback from a team member during a sprint?
Standuply can record retrospective feedback from team members during the sprint and then send it directly to Scrum Master or PM via DM to be discussed on the “live” retrospective meeting at the end of an iteration.
Can you have a retrospective meeting in Slack?
The retrospective meeting inside Slack. This way you can have your retro meeting inside Slack without a need to get together on a call. It's also convinient because you have all the data saved in Slack and in Standuply. 4.
What is retrospective meeting?
True to definition, retrospective meetings are intended to reflect on the most recent sprint /project/milestone and identify areas that need improvement and celebrate team wins.
When should a sprint retrospective meeting be scheduled?
Retrospective meetings can be scheduled towards the closing days of a sprint and before the next sprint is started to reflect on the most recent sprint
How many items can a facilitator provide in a meeting?
E.g. Every team member needs to provide 1 item each for Start, Stop, and Continue list and can provide a maximum of 3 items per type.
Why are product owners invited to a meeting?
Higher management, product owners may be invited to the meeting for addressing any concerns they might have or any concerns that the team has regarding their governance.
Why should team members be comfortable?
At the same time, team members should be made comfortable so that they can express their true point of view without the fear of being judged or fear of backlash as a result of speaking up.
Should retrospective meetings be conducted at all levels?
It is recommended that retrospective meetings be conducted at all levels and not just at the development team level.
Is a retrospective meeting a finger pointing meeting?
A retrospective meeting is not a finger pointing or venting out meeting.
What is the purpose of the agenda in a retrospective meeting?
The agenda helps the team stay focused on the things they need to get done during a retrospective: make process improvements, remove blockages, and celebrate wins. The agenda should include: Setting the goal.
How long is a retrospective team meeting?
The time box of a sprint retrospective meeting is four hours for a four-week sprint and two hours for a two-week sprint.
Who Takes Part in a Sprint Retrospective Meeting?
The sprint retrospective meeting comprises the scrum master, development team, and the product owner. The development team refers to all the people who are building, designing, and testing the product. These members play an essential role in identifying possible ways of product improvement.
How Efficient is a Sprint Retrospective?
The team conducts sprint retrospective meetings as the final session in a sprint. The conference takes place just after the sprint review and before the next sprint planning. It should incorporate a clearly defined goal. The primary focus of the current sprint is usually to review all related aspects of the scrum team process.
What is the role of scrum team in sprint retrospective?
The scrum team takes full responsibility for the sprint retrospective. They choose an appropriate location that promotes successful deliverables. However, few teams prefer the retrospective meeting to be in the standard team area to access large visible charts.
Why is sprint retrospective important?
Thus, it’s very critical for a company to incorporate sprint retrospective meetings to ensure success of their projects.
What is sprint retrospective?
Sprint Retrospective is a meeting held every two weeks. It aims to review how things went during the previous sprint cycle and how to improve. It’s held after a sprint review and before sprint planning. Additionally, it’s a vital part of the scrum framework for delivering, developing, and managing complex projects.
What is retrospective meeting?
A retrospective is a meeting that can bring a lot of value, but also has pitfalls. I have seen teams that seized their retrospective meetings because there was no value in it. After investigation, this was due to one of the following reasons: There is no variation in the format, the same discussions were repeated.
Why are retrospectives doomed to fail?
Retrospectives with a part of the team, or even nobody from the team present, are doomed to fail. Management decisions about internal teamwork easily miss their goal, because management typically only sees the broad lines of the problem and possible solutions.
When I was just a scrum master I only asked two questions in the retrospective?
When I was just a scrum master I only asked two questions in the retrospective: “what went well” and “what could be better”? The same questions were addressed in every retrospective.
What is a retrospective meeting?
Retrospectives are not meant to be huge , strategic meetings that change the direction of the organization. They’re about taking a look at a small increment of work and making small changes to improve teamwork, collaboration, or processes, bit by bit.
Why are retrospectives important?
Retrospectives are made for the execution team to identify what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve. Anyone who didn’t take part in the retrospective likely wouldn’t be able to contribute meaningfully to this goal because they did not perform the work and therefore cannot credibly comment on it.
Why do agile teams need to cultivate psychological safety?
Because retrospectives deal with sensitive topics about the quality of team-work and processes, emotions can flare up, so agile teams need to cultivate psychological safetyso people feel they can be honest about problems and get to a solution without feeling threatened.
Why should sprint retrospectives not be held?
There are two key reasons why: ❌ They are unhelpful in retro spectives because they are a few steps removed from the work (too many cooks in the kitchen)
What to do if someone does not have a legitimate reason to join a meeting?
If the person does not have a legitimate reason to join the meeting, reiterate the point of a retrospective meeting and mention the ways in which external spectators can damage the process.
What is sacred in retrospective?
A sacred part of the retrospective process is openly and honestly calling out what didn’t work so you can fix it. Management teams and C-Suite execs might be interested in that if they think a team is under-performing or has an irresolvable tension. But participants might be worried that anything they say will be used against them in performance reviews. This looming threat can seriously damage the psychological safety of the team and creates an incentive to only talk about the good stuff, which undermines the point of holding a retrospective.
Can you provide a summary of a sprint retrospective?
Many people are just curious or want to know what a team is struggling with and what iterative improvements the team is committing to in retrospectives. In these cases, you can offer to provide a summary after the fact. There’s also the possibility that they want information that isn’t discussed in a sprint retrospective (for example, the plans for next sprint – which are put together in the sprint planning meeting). In these cases, you can direct them to the right resources.