Sprint Retrospective
The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness.
What?
The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness.
The scrum team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done. Inspected elements often vary with the domain of work. Assumptions that led them astray are identified and their origins explored. The scrum team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it encountered, and how those problems were (or were not) solved.
The scrum team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness. The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint.
The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint. It is timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. Typically for a 2 week Sprint, 1-2 hours is recommended.
Why?
For the whole Squad to pause and reflect on the previous Sprint, so that they can identify improvement areas and agree actions to advance the Squad’s performance.
Who?
- Everybody on the scrum team
- Typically lead by the ScrumMaster
- Note: no Management or observers, as this might disrupt the “safe space” feeling of the squad!
When?
At the end of each Sprint after the Sprint Review
How?
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1️⃣ Setup / Preparation |  1. The ScrumMaster (or someone from the scrum team) book a room or area that does not have thoroughfare and provides a safe isolated space for everyone to talk, and express how they feel about wins and any issues. 2. Attendance in person should be encouraged wherever possible; obviously, this doesn’t apply if the team is distributed and MS Teams / Zoom is the only option to meet. 3. If the meeting is virtual / MS Teams, prepare a Retro Board (e.g. on MS Whiteboard or preferably on the Squad’s Confluence space) and ask the squad to populate it with cards before the session. 4. If the meeting is in person, Post-It notes are used to collect feedback and limit it to short personal notes, not essays. |
| 2️⃣ Brainstorm |  The facilitator (typically the ScrumMaster) reminds everyone that Retro is a safe space and asks the team for thoughts on 3 topics: – What went well? – What didn’t go well? – What can be done to improve? Alternative popular Retro format is: – What should we STOP doing? – What should we CONTINUE doing – What should we START doing? |
| 3️⃣ Group and Prioritise |  1. Team members write their notes, posting those on the Board. Common “themes” can be identified as part of this process. 2. The teams votes (by putting a dot on a Post-It note with a sharpie, if done in person) for the top priority items to address next. |
| 4️⃣ Analyse |  Actions are agreed, Owners are assigned. |
| 5️⃣ Action and Ownership |  |
| 6️⃣ Post Retro |  |
Tips and Tricks
Anti Patterns
Try to avoid these anti patterns in your Retrospective.
| Anti-Pattern | Description |
|---|---|
| #NoRetro | There is no Retrospective as the team believes there is nothing to improve, and the Scrum Master / Delivery Lead / PO accept the notion. |
| Dispensable buffer | The Scrum team cancels Retrospectives if more time is needed to accomplish the Sprint Goal. |
| Rushed Retrospective | The team is in a hurry and allocates much less than the necessary 60 to 120 minutes for the Retrospective. |
| “Let’s have the retro next Sprint” | The Squad postpones the Retrospective to the next Sprint |
| Excluding stakeholders all the time | The Scrum team categorically rejects the idea of having Retrospectives with their stakeholders |
| UN-SMART | The team chooses to tackle UN-SMART actions. S – Specific, M – Measurable, A – Achievable, R – Relevant, T – Time-boxed (INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks – XP123) |
| #NoAccountability | At the last Retrospective, the team members accepted action items. However, no one took responsibility for the delivery |
| What improvement? | At the last Retrospective, the team members accepted action items. However, no one took responsibility for the delivery. |
| Cheerleading | Everything is AWESOME! ALL THE TIME!!!!!!! There is no such thing as an agile Nirvana where everything is perfect. As people say: becoming agile is a journey, not a destination, and there is always something to improve |
An anti pattern is a commonly-used process, structure or pattern of action that, despite initially appearing to be an appropriate and effective response to a problem, has more bad consequences than good ones.
Related Articles
Sprint Retrospective | Scrum Guides
9 retrospective techniques that won’t bore your team to tears – Work Life by Atlassian
100+ Sprint Retrospective Ideas to Make it Engaging and Fun | EasyRetro
http://www.funretrospectives.com/
https://www.atlassian.com/blog/jira-software/5-fun-sprint-retrospective-ideas-templates
https://luis-goncalves.com/agile-retrospectives-ideas-exercises
