Retrospectives

How to make a good one ?

Created by Michał Lewandowski / @lewandm4

Hi, I'm Michał. I am ..

.. a software developer

.. a blogger at lewandowski.io

.. a community fan

Chapter 1

Why?

Good software?

What can you lose?

Let's talk about you

How many of you?

Write code on a daily basis?

Have been in a retrospective?

Have led a retrospective?

Thinks to be go at it?

Retrospective

Team work

Engineering

Process

Team work

Before meeting

Talk!

Team work

Question

Write it down - paper, smartphone

What do you know about person you like to work with?

Hobby, Work, Family, Past

What do you know about person you

like

to work with?

What do you know about person you

don't like

to work with?

Team work

Conclusion

High correlation

Team work

Candy Love

Team work

Candy Love

• Yellow - life goal
• Green - book or movie
• Purple - one fact from history
• Red - leisure time
• Blue - ???

Engineering

API specification

Process

Only complaining?

Think positive

Process

Thing that you all don't like

Chapter 2

Starters

Starter

Creating safety

• New team
• New environment

Starter

One word exercise

• Helps with openess
• Good for shy people

Chapter 3

Structure

Structure

Retrospective types

• Without topic
• With topic

Structure

Retrospective without topic

• Data collection and generating insights
• Selecting topic
• Setting action points

Data collection

Sticky notes

Good, Bad, Change

• Worked well, Do it differently
• Hopes and concerns
• Smiley, Frowny
• Prouds, Sorries

Data collection

Sticky notes

In practice...

• Big mess
• Round-robin
• Write it down on the white board

Data collection

Balloon

Data collection

Boat

• Wind -> What gives us a speed?
• Anchor -> What slows us down?
• Direction -> How do we know it is Right thing to do?

Data collection

Timeline

Selecting topic

Dotmocracy

25% rule

Action points

Outcome

• Action points
• Rules

Problem 1

Picnic instead of work

How to handle it?

Solution 1

4 minute rule

Solution 2

Dedicated meeting

Solution 3

Visual token

Topic retrospective

When to use?

• Specific problems
• Recurring problems
• No need for whole team

Topic retrospective

The goal

• open for discusion
• not blaming

Bad: How to convince management for faster Jenkins machines?

Better: What is wrong with our testing system?

Best: Find a way to improve CI.

Chapter 4

Leader

Leader

Tasks before retrospective

• Preparing activities
• Preparing agenda
• Setting up room
• Inviting everyone

Leader

Tasks during retrospective

• Making notes
• Keeping discussion up
• Timeboxing
• Summary

Leader

Tasks after retrospective

• Continuity

Leader

Feedback

1-2 minute feedback session

Leader

Checklist

Leader

Working agreement

Problem 2

How to handle lack of results?

Solution 1

Retrospective summary

Solution 2

Lack of time in the sprint

Solution 3

Repeat at daily

Solution 4

smartER?

E - Evaluate

R - Readjust

Solution 5

Not only action points. Define new rules.

Chapter 5

Details

Scrum retrospective

• After sprint review
• 3 hours for one month sprint
• Improvements plan for the next sprint

Insights methods

5 whys

• Technical problems

Insights methods

Transforming communication

• I-messages (Observation, Feeling, Needs, Request)
• Reflective listening

Basics

Process of change

• Rejection of old
• Chaos
• Stabilization
• Integral part

The Party

The Party

Something good - do more

Something bad - do less

Basics

Retrospective coherence

• Easy to think about past
• Hard to predict future
• You can not clone good actions
• Multiple happy endings

Chapter 6

Summary

Motivation

1% Improvements

Every day 1% better \[\begin{aligned} 1.01^{365} & = 37.8\\ \end{aligned} \]

Workdays 1% better \[\begin{aligned} 1.01^{225} & = 9.4\\ \end{aligned} \]

Warren Buffett rule

Take offs

• Teamwork, engineering, process
• Candy Love
• Creating safety
• One word excercise
• Balloon and boat
• "Whiteboard" sticky notes
• Timeline
• Dotmocracy
• 4 minute
• smartER (evaluate and re-adjust)
• Retrospective checklist
• Quick feedback after
• 5 why's
• Transforming communication

Bibliography

Thank you