25/06/07

Retrospective Techniques

Luca GrullaESSAP, Varese (Italy)

What is a retrospective ?

“A ritual held at the end of a project to learn from experience and to plan changes for the next

effort".

The Prime Directive

"Regardless what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their

skills, and abilities, the resource available and the situation at hand".

Through exercises......we want to find an answer to these 3 questions:

• What went well ?• What didn't go well ?• What still puzzles us ?

Retrospective structure • Set the stage• Gather data• Generate insights• Decide what to do• Close the retrospective

Set the stageDefine the ground rules

• Set mobile to silent• We will try not to interrupt• No jokes at the expense of anyone

as well as....

• goes through the agenda• define the goals

Gather data• Identify the important events happened during

the retrospective• Use artifacts like burndown charts, documents,

meeting minutes etc.

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Daily Defects Summary

Row 11 Row 12 Row 13 Row 14 Row 6

Timeline

Simon Bakerhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/agileinaction/255135338/in/set-72157594512572071/

Generate insightsMine the timeline looking for useful information

you can...• Cluster the stickies• Put dots to prioritize

Simon Baker http://www.flickr.com/photos/agileinaction/255135338/in/set-72157594512572071/

Decide what to do

• Two or three root causes• Identify things that make the difference !!

From the facilitator point of view...1. Preparation2. Leading the retrospective3. Closure e follow-up

Preparation

• Find the topics of the retrospective• Decide the exercises• Prepare the room• Attention to details !! (do we need markers ? Flip

charts ? Stickers ?)

Leading the retrospective• Facilitator vs team member role • Handle different personalities • Handle different cultures• Attitude

Closure• Always identify actions as outcomes of the

retrospective

but...do we have enough energy for this ?

Bibliography

Norman KerthProject Retrospectives: A handbook for team reviews

Bibliography(2)

Ester Derby, Diana LarsenAgile Retrospectives: making good teams great

Are you ready for your first retrospective ?

creates team of four peopletake a scenarioeach member of the team leads one stage of the

retrospective (set the stage, gather data, generate insights, closure)

...let's play !!