Why Should We Do Retrospectives?
The point of a retrospective is to enable change. Improvement. It’s reserved time to look at how we are working together as a team and tweak that.
- Allow time for (self-)reflection
- During the daily grind, it’s difficult to step back and assess how you’re working. A retrospective provides the space to do just that.
- Create shared understanding within the team
- Everyone sees things a bit differently. In retrospectives, we can learn how teammates perceive and interpret events.
- Agree to try new things: action items or updates to the working agreement
- Retrospectives give room to consider several improvement ideas and pick one that all team members commit to.
(Bullet points adapted from Why do you do retrospectives?)
Are retrospectives necessary?
A common argument against retrospectives is that continuous improvement should happen naturally. However, in reality, we’re often just continuously working. Retrospectives ensure that improvement is actually happening.
Not all improvements should wait for a retrospective. Some things can be fixed right away. But retrospectives guarantee a structured focus on improvement.
General guidelines for the facilitator?
- Retrospectives should produce a concrete, actionable (and measurable) outcome.
- Retrospectives are for the team, and only for the team.
- The facilitator is not an attendee of the retro; they are only there to facilitate.
- The facilitator can be someone who is not part of the team.
- If the facilitarot is a part of the team, rotate the facilitator role to give everyone a chance to facilitate.
- The facilitator ensures that the retro moves forward:
- They track time and keep the team on the agenda.
- The facilitator is responsible for decisions related to the process, ensuring the team moves forward. Do not ask the team for process decisions.
- The facilitator does not decide on action items; the team decides by voting.
- Assign action items to team members to clarify responsibility.
- Write a short summary of the retro and send it to the team.
Retro Formats
Depending on the team size and the time available, retrospectives can be done in different formats.
- Intro (5 min)
- Review last week’s action items
- Discuss the chosen topic for the week
- Explain the board
- Go over the timeline
Small Team (60 min):
- Gather data
- Filling the board (10 min)
- Discussing the board (15 min)
- Identify themes
- Group similar comments to themes and voting on the most important topics (10 min)
- Generate insights
- Discussion on most voted topics (10 min)
- Create action items (5 min)
- Wrap-up and closing (5 min)
Larger Team (90 min):
- Gather data
- Filling the board (10 min)
- Group discussions (20 min)
- Summaries of the group discussion for the full-team (10 min)
- Identify themes
- Grouping themes and voting on the most important topics (10 min)
- Generate insights
- Discussion on most voted topics (20 min)
- Create action items (10 min)
- Wrap-up and closing (5 min)
Retro Topics
The topic of the retrospective can vary depending on what the team feels is most important at the time. Some examples include:
- How did the last sprint go?
- How did the recent release go?
- How was the handling of the last incident?
- How did the last project progress and conclude?
Retro Templates
Miro offers many templates for retrospectives. Here are a few examples:
It’s a good idea to change templates periodically to keep retrospectives fresh.
Some templates work better for specific topics, while others are more general.
Fast “Chaos Retro”
A great starting point for teams is the fast “Chaos Retro.” It’s informal, quick, and helps teams get accustomed to the retrospective process.
The format can be as simple as “What went well,” “What didn’t go well,” and “What went badly” (similar to Mad, Sad, Glad). This can be done using a shared Google Doc.
- Filling the board (5 min)
- Voting on the most important topic (3 min)
- Discussing the most voted topics (10 min)
- Deciding on actions (5 min)
- Closing (2 min)
Conclusion
Retrospectives are a powerful tool for continuous improvement, giving teams the opportunity to step back from their daily work, reflect, and collaboratively decide on the best course of action. By dedicating time to structured reflection and open discussion, teams can address issues, celebrate successes, and ensure ongoing growth. Whether using formal templates or more casual approaches like the “Chaos Retro,” the key is to foster a safe, constructive space where all voices are heard, and actionable improvements are made.