Rob's guide to effective retrospectives - Revision history

Robbowley: /* Who is Rob? */

2013-03-10T16:43:16Z

Who is Rob?

Robbowley: /* Who is Rob? */

2013-03-10T16:41:50Z

Who is Rob?

Robbowley at 16:41, 10 March 2013

2013-03-10T16:41:09Z

Robbowley at 16:31, 10 March 2013

2013-03-10T16:31:28Z

Robbowley: /* Rotate the facilitator role */

2013-03-10T16:31:09Z

Rotate the facilitator role

Robbowley: /* Retrospective facilitation is a skill */

2013-03-10T16:25:09Z

Retrospective facilitation is a skill

Robbowley: /* Rotate the facilitator role */

2013-03-10T16:24:07Z

Rotate the facilitator role

Robbowley: /* Rotate the facilitator role */

2013-03-10T16:22:11Z

Rotate the facilitator role

Robbowley at 13:03, 10 March 2013

2013-03-10T13:03:42Z

Robbowley at 12:54, 10 March 2013

2013-03-10T12:54:16Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:43, 10 March 2013
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	====Who is Rob?====		====Who is Rob?====
−	I'm [https://twitter.com/@robbowley Rob Bowley], the ~~chap that~~ set up ~~the Agile Retrospectives Resource Wiki~~.	+	I'm [https://twitter.com/@robbowley Rob Bowley], the person who set up this wiki.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:41, 10 March 2013
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	====Who is Rob?====		====Who is Rob?====
−	I'm Rob Bowley, the chap that set up the Agile Retrospectives Resource Wiki.	+	I'm [https://twitter.com/@robbowley Rob Bowley], the chap that set up the Agile Retrospectives Resource Wiki.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:41, 10 March 2013
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	If the team took 5 actions but completed none, there's not point taking any more than 1 action away from this retrospective. Once the team has got better at completing the actions they've comitted to then maybe they can take more actions away.		If the team took 5 actions but completed none, there's not point taking any more than 1 action away from this retrospective. Once the team has got better at completing the actions they've comitted to then maybe they can take more actions away.
		+
		+
		+	====Who is Rob?====
		+	I'm Rob Bowley, the chap that set up the Agile Retrospectives Resource Wiki.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:31, 10 March 2013
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	If the team took 5 actions but completed none, there's not point taking any more than 1 action away from this retrospective. Once the team has got better at completing the actions they've comitted to then maybe they can take more actions away.		If the team took 5 actions but completed none, there's not point taking any more than 1 action away from this retrospective. Once the team has got better at completing the actions they've comitted to then maybe they can take more actions away.
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−	~~===Be well prepared===~~
−	~~As facilitator, make sure you've chosen a retrospective plan and have all the materials you need well before the retrospective is due to start.~~

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 ===Rotate the facilitator role===
-Are you finding your team aren't particularly enthusiastic or engaged in your retrospectives? The most common reason I see for this is it being one person's job (usually a scrum master or project manager) to facilitate/lead them. This is a bad thing in my opinion - it prevents a team from feeling truly empowered to solve their own problems. It may be one person's job to make sure they happen and everyone turns up, but that does not and should not mean they also have to run every retrospective as well.
+Are you finding your team aren't particularly enthusiastic or engaged in your retrospectives? The most common reason I see for this is it being one person's job (usually a scrum master or project manager) to facilitate/lead them. This is a bad thing in my opinion - it prevents a team from feeling truly empowered to solve their own problems. It may be one person's job to make sure they happen and everyone turns up, but that does not (and should not) mean they also have to run every retrospective as well.
 Instead try and get everyone to take turns facilitating. Not only does this ensure no one feels retrospectives are always being driven by one person's agenda, there are many other side benefits, including:

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 __NOTOC__
 ===Retrospective facilitation is a skill===
-I'm continually amazed by the number of people I speak to who run retrospectives but haven't read Derby and Larson's [http://pragprog.com/book/dlret/agile-retrospectives Agile Retrospectives: Making good Teams Great] (or similar material on effective facilitation, see [[External Resources]]). Making sure the meeting is not being driven by whoever shouts the loudest or just ending up as a long ineffectual rambling debate takes thought and practice. The first three chapters of Derby and Larson's book are a must read in my opinion.
+I'm continually amazed by the number of people I speak to who run retrospectives but haven't read Derby and Larson's [http://pragprog.com/book/dlret/agile-retrospectives Agile Retrospectives: Making good Teams Great] (or similar material on effective facilitation, see [[External Resources]]). Making sure the meeting is not being driven by whoever shouts the loudest or ending up as a long ineffectual rambling debate takes thought and practice. The first three chapters of Derby and Larson's book are a must read in my opinion.
 ===Rotate the facilitator role===

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 A big smell I regularly see and hear about is it being one person's job (usually a scrum master or project manager) to facilitate the team's retrospectives. When this is the case you will often find a general lack of engagement or enthusiasm from the rest of the team. It may be one person's job to make sure they happen and everyone turns up, that does not and should not mean they also have to run every retrospective as well.
-Instead try and get everyone to take turns facilitating. Not only does this ensure no one feels retrospectives are always being driven by one person's agenda, there are many other side benefits including:
+Instead try and get everyone to take turns facilitating. Not only does this ensure no one feels retrospectives are always being driven by one person's agenda, there are many other side benefits, including:
 * Learning how to facilitate is great for developing communication skills and generally how to have effective meetings.
 * The burden of planning retrospectives is shared across multiple people.
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 ===Achievable actions and owners for each action===
-Probably the most common failing with retrospectives is either not taking actions away or the actions not being completed. My first tip here is make your actions small, really small. Big wafty goals like "write more unit tests" are pointless. A great retrospective to encourage small achievable actions is the [[Plan Of Action]] retrospective.
+Probably the most common failing with retrospectives is either not taking actions away or the actions not being completed. My first tip here is make your actions small, really small. Big wafty goals like "write more unit tests" are pointless. A great retrospective to encourage small achievable actions is the [[Plan of Action]] retrospective.
 Once you have your achievable actions make sure someone is responsible for each and every one you choose to take away. This does not have to be the person who is going to do the work, just the person who is responsible for making sure it happens before the next retrospective.