Agile Retrospectives

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What is a retrospective?

What is a retrospective?

● Latin - Retrospectare

● Software development: Inspect the last iteration in order to improve the work process and teamwork

Why do we do retrospectives?

Agile Retrospectives – Why?

● Build better-faster-cheaper products● Raise happiness and satisfaction at work

But first, who am I to speak about retrospectives?

What are the prerequisites of a successful retrospective?

Agile retrospectives - Prerequisites

Team culture – what people in a team do when nobody is looking at them.

Alex Bolboacă

Agile retrospectives – Healthy Team Culture

● Safe space● Continuous improvement mind set

Agile Retrospectives – My Team's agreements

What is the structure of a retrospective?

Agile Retrospectives - structure

● Set the stage● Gather data● Generate insights● Decide what to do● Close

Set the stage

Agile Retrospectives – Set the stage

● Goal● Time● Check in ● Team values● Check last retrospective actions● Norm Kerth's Retrospective Prime Directive

Agile Retrospectives – Retrospective Prime Directive

Regardless of 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 resources available, and the situation at hand.

Gather data

Agile Retrospectives – Gather data

● Everyone shares their perspective ● Construct the puzzle

Gather Data -

The Good/Bad on Split Areas

Agile Retrospectives – Gather DataSeparate Areas

Gather Data -

The Boat

Agile Retrospectives -Gather DataBoat format

Gather Data -

The VSM

Agile Retrospectives – Gather DataVSM Format

Generate insights

Agile Retrospectives – Generate Insights

● Why did this happen?● Identify patterns● Brainstorming● Dot voting● Five Whys

Decide what to do

Agile Retrospectives – Decide what to do

● Prioritize● Pick next actions● Smallest step to solving the problem● Name the person owner● Agree on a deadline● Shared responsibility

Agile Retrospectives – Decide what to do

● Prioritize● Pick next actions● GTD - Smallest step● Name the person responsible● Shared responsibility

Closing

Agile Retrospectives – Closing

● How do we follow up?● Retro of the retro● Well done team!

My team's experiments & improvements

Agile retrospective – My team's experiments & improvements

● Code review column on board● Process guardian● Move next to technical lead every other week● Code smells practice● Brutal refactoring game

Resources

● Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Liana Larsen

● Brutal refactoring game: http://blog.adrianbolboaca.ro/2013/07/brutal-refactoring-game/

● VSM:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/10/howandwhytocreatevaluestreammapsforswengineerprojects/http://mozaicworks.com/public-trainings-and-workshops/improving-business-process-with-value-stream-mapping/

● http://www.funretrospectives.com/

Thank You!