pre mortem retrospectives

Pre-MortemRetrospectives

G.Mazzanti

@mgaewsj

catch ‘failure’before it occurs

circumvent any need for a painful postmortem

“You’ve seen your own future, which means you can change it if you want to.”Chief John Anderton, Minority Report

+

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Gary Klein,“Performing a Project Premortem”, 2007, HBR

agile retrospective

a special meeting held

throughout a project

where a team inspect and review

events, methods and teamwork

and immediately learn and adapt

agile retrospective

a special meeting held

throughout a project

where a team inspect and review

events, methods and teamwork

and immediately learn and adapt

premortem

before

prevent

anticipate p

Retrospective Structure

Set the Stage

Gather Info

Generate Insights

Decide Actions

Close

time-travel to a date after the scheduled release date

assume that the project has failed miserably

welcomestate purpose

everybody speaksoutline approach

5’

team identify key events & feelingsgood, bad and neutral (but relevant)

who what whenfacts

feelings

mar

apr

may

jun

jul

aug

sep

oct

10’

team identify key eventsgood, bad and neutral (but relevant)

10’

what didn’t workwhat worked well

whycauses & effects

then each person writes 4* sticky notes

(2 for what worked well

and 2 for what didn’t work)

*choose what suit best

25’

silent grouping

items are grouped silently by the team

each group is then given a name

one or two groups are selected for action

25’

generate quick ideas

what

25’

howwho & when

pick 2 or 3 actions (dot vote),

elaborate

two dots per persontop prioritysecond choice

15’ 15’

pick 2 or 3 actions (dot vote)

two dots per persontop prioritysecond choice

15’ 15’

put actions on a task board, be sure there is commitment and energy to

achieve goals to do in progress done

15’ 15’

5’

ROTI Return On Time Invested

Take Visual Records

Plan for Follow-Up

Appreciation for everyone

time-travel to a date after the scheduled release date

assume that the project has been a huge success

variant

see also Tim Mackinnonhttp://www.planningcards.com/iterex/papers/Futurespectives.pdf

Gaetano Mazzanti

Gama-Tech@mgaewsj

info@gama-tech.net