awb - 07 - agile retrospective

247 Agile White Book – AXA Emerging Markets EMEA-LATAM

Chapter 7 AGILE RETROSPECTIVE

V1.0


Contents WHAT I WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER? .................................................................................................................................................................... 250 SIMPLE WAY TO DO RETROSPECTIVES ................................................................................................................................................................... 251 WHAT TO EXPECT ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 253 COMPREHENSIVE WAY TO DO RETROSPECTIVES ................................................................................................................................................... 254

HOW TO DO IT ................................................................................................................................................................... 254

COLLECT INITIAL DATA ........................................................................................................................................................ 255

ANALYSE THE DATA ............................................................................................................................................................ 256 ACTIVITIES IN A RETROSPECTIVE .......................................................................................................................................................................... 257

SET THE STAGE .................................................................................................................................................................... 257

GATHER DATA ..................................................................................................................................................................... 258

GENERATE INSIGHTS ............................................................................................................................................................ 260

DECIDE WHAT TO DO ........................................................................................................................................................... 262

CLOSE THE RETROSPECTIVE.................................................................................................................................................... 263 INPUT INTO COMING SPRINT ............................................................................................................................................................................... 264 IDEAS FOR INSPIRATION ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 265 THE EXPECTED OUTCOME ................................................................................................................................................................................ 267 TAKE AWAY .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 268 CHECKLIST 7.1 .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 269


Agile Retrospective

A retrospective is a team activity to optimize co-

operation, process and communication. It helps to

create more fun and better short and long-term

results during a project. A simple retrospective

offers some basic and easy-to-use tools for the

meeting.


What I will learn in this chapter?

AGILE RETROSPECTIVE

I know the benefits of a Retrospective.

I know how to organise & run a Retrospective session.

I know how to use fishbone & other techniques.

I KNOW HOW TO

PLAN A

RETROSPECTIVE

I LEARN ABOUT

THE FIVE STEPS

NEEDED

I UNDERSTAND

WHAT

IMPROVEMENTS,

BEST ACTION AND

TEAM AGREEMENTS

ARE

I KNOW

WHAT

FEEDBACK

TO THE

TEAM &

COMPANY IS


The whole Team (PO, DT and SM) has to be

present in the meeting, on time and fully

focused on the activity.

SIMPLE WAY to do retrospectives There are so many things happening during an iteration (Sprint) that people have generally no

time left to reflect and improve the way they do them. That is why Agile includes a mandatory

meeting called a Retrospective that is held at the end of each Sprint. As a good practice, the

concept can also be extended to similar meetings as long as the Team requires it.

During the retrospective, the Team reflects on what happened during the Sprint focusing on the

way they worked rather than what has been accomplished (which was discussed during the sprint

review) and identifies actions for improvement going forward. The retrospective is team-

driven, and members decide together about the changes to make and how they will be

implemented. Nevertheless, as with any discussion, a retrospective requires a moderator. Either

the Scrum Master (or any other team-member who volunteered) can moderate the retrospective

session. It also helps identify strengths and learn from mistakes.

It is important for people to feel safe and in an atmosphere of honesty and trust in order for

every member to feel comfortable at sharing their thoughts. Scrum values are a good starting

point to check when planning a retrospective.


A SIMPLE WAY to do retrospectives

The structure of the retrospective helps people recall and analyse what happened, and in

contrast to less formal methods, provides a path to understanding and improvement.

You should make sure that:

People understand the benefits of Retrospectives.

Scrum values are in place.

The room is quiet and people feel they can express their thoughts freely.

You clearly understand the 5 steps for a Retrospective meeting.

And don’t forget that People should feel safe in order to carry out a

Retrospective meeting!


WHAT to expect Performance can be neither improved nor maintained without exercise and, in order to achieve

this, you should expect to:

Inspect on how the last Sprint/cycle went with regards to people, relationships,

processes and tools.

Identify and prioritise the major items that went well and potential improvements.

Check for one of three following outcomes for a retrospective to be valid:

Improvement actions

Set of specific activities for the coming Sprint to be followed/finished by a certain date in

order to get an expected result (Who, How, When).

Best Practices

List of techniques that have shown results superior to those

achieved with other means (mainly technical things related, i.e.

coding standards).

Team Agreement

Type of positive behaviours that are expected in the team.

http://agilefaq.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/working-agreement.jpg


COMPREHENSIVE WAY to do retrospectives

HOW TO DO IT

Regardless of what you specifically do during a Retrospective, there is a five-step “framework” to

be followed in order to achieve the best results. If you can understand the stages, and the value

that each one delivers, you will easily recognise the output of each stage, stay focused and help

the team to improve.

Extracted from the book Agile Retrospectives – Making Good Teams Great - Esther Derby and Diana Larsen

The right hand side depicts the stages to be implemented during the retrospective while the left

one shows how to incorporate them into the following Sprint.

In order to get great result, I follow these activities:

Set Stage. I get the team ready to engage in the retrospective, create safety to expose

thinking and concerns.

Gather Data. I create a shared picture of what happened during the last Sprint, see

beyond events, look for patterns, surface assumptions fill in with facts, examine values and

beliefs behind policies and practices.

Generate insights. I help discuss what was successful and identify any roadblocks,

separate dialogue from discussion and examine system structures).

Decide what to do. I facilitate the identification the highest priority items to work on and

get a common ground consensus.

Close the retrospective. I help reflect on the retrospective and thank the

team.

What is the pattern they want to move towards?



COLLECT INITIAL DATA

Scrum Masters moderate a retrospective and consequently, it is imperious for them to prepare it

well in advance.

This is what I gather a few hours before the meeting:

Latest Sprint/Product Backlog/Burndown or any other Scrum chart plus any additional

notes about the iteration.

Latest Improvement Actions, Best Practices and Team Agreements.

Any indicator(s) which might give real value to the retrospective (business indicators,

development metrics, lead time, etc.).

Write some Etiquette rules (i.e. “Shouting is not allowed”, “Treat people with respect”,

etc.).

Write the Prime Retrospective Directive as shown in the picture below.

Office Supplies (Post-its, Paper, Pens, flipchart).



Some successful teams use Retrospective Prime Directive to ensure that everybody feels secure and objective of the meeting is to improve what is possible rather than blaming anyone:

“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”

Extracted from www.retrospectives.com

ANALYSE THE DATA

Once all information is gathered, it needs to be analysed to find the best strategy: Review of the last retrospective´s outcome. Review of Sprint indicators (Sprint Backlog, Burn-down chart, etc.).

Business indicators from Product Owner if necessary. Sprint Backlog. Personal notes about events that happened during the finished Sprint have to be read

(impediments arose, exceptional events, etc.).


ACTIVITIES in a retrospective

SET THE STAGE

Create a good and safe environment to get everyone participating in the meeting is the main

aim. Getting people involved from the very beginning makes them far more likely to contribute

later on, and will produce a much more valuable experience for all involved.

I generally do this:

Place on the wall the Improvements Actions, Team Rules and Best Practices

and all the indicators gathered from previous retrospectives.

As an example of an activity, draw a flower on the flipchart.

Then ask the team to add all the names of people to thank for their

help/contribution to the team.

Sometimes, I use an Energiser activity to be run as a “warm up” for the team to promote group

interactions.


As an example of the gathering data section, the Scrum Master could

do this:

Briefly read the things/actions that were decided in the

previous retrospective and declare their current status

Draw a plus symbol on a flipchart

Ask the team about the items that were successful and write

them down.

Instruct the team to do silent writing on post-it with the

things to stop doing/ improve/do in a different way (5

minutes).

Draw a Delta (Δ) and ask each member to add their sticky

notes to that column.

Allow every member to explain their point of view. (3 minutes)

There are other techniques that may be used or variations of the

above.


GATHER DATA

It is time to get into the details and allow everyone to contribute.

Be aware of the mood of the team and try to pay special attention to:

People´s interactions

Body language

Finally, don’t forget to compare post-it with your personal notes.



The focus of this stage is to generate insights. Remember to remove the repeated post-it and have

in mind that in this case every remark is important. Get ideas from everyone so you can really

understand the mood of the team.

Extracted from companyculture.com

It is time now to vote and prepare information to be analysed:

Ask the team to group notes in a logical way and remove duplicates.

Ask each person to vote for the most important groups or elements using dot-

voting; 3 or 5 dots per person the number of dots should not exceed number of

items on Δ section.

Select the 3 most voted elements.

Remember that you want to accumulate as much data about the retrospective’s subject as you

can. The goal is to gather information that helps you check the team´s experiences with reality.

(Extracted from communitea.me)

ANALYSE the data


http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=HyGWCsTiCh5G1M&tbnid=8xwLa4NnEt5ozM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://companyculture.com/322-improve-your-meetings-the-plus-delta/&ei=S-hLU8sPheizBrTZgMgM&bvm=bv.64542518,d.Yms&psig=AFQjCNFlQ1JaWUw4tkMhG9SFCxzTBPewZA&ust=1397569966196298



GENERATE INSIGHTS

Once you’ve gathered the essential details, it’s time to figure out what this information

means - you establish patterns and figure out trends in this stage, i.e. what contributed to

success? Which action caused that breakdown?

Many times my opinion and perception differed from others within the team. Some tips to make

sure that all points of view are considered:

Split the Team into groups maximum of 3 people

Ask them to discuss the 3 main topics (5 minutes)

Draw a cause-effect diagram (see below) and feed it with information provided by

them

When you use a team approach to problem solving, there are often many opinions as to the

problem’s root cause. One technique developed by Kaoru Ishikawa that helps visually display many

potential causes for a specific problem/effect is the cause-effect diagram or fishbone. A

fishbone can help bring out a more thorough exploration of the issues behind the problem that will

lead to a more robust solution.


Be careful not to create a “shopping list” only

but to find patterns and underlying causes

from these lists.


Take one of the top 3 post-it and place it in a box at the “head” of the fishbone. If all the 3 top

elements belong to the same group, you can also use the Group´s name i.e. “Share Metrics”.

Identify different factors that may be a part of the problem (technical, people, physical

infrastructure, etc.). Now, for each of them, identify possible causes that may be related to the

factor. You can do that by asking WHY many times, i.e. “Why is it not easy?” “Why do I need to

install a tool?”

Discover more topics and place them in other branches, repeat the process using Why´s

strategy. Show all these possible causes as shorter lines coming off the "bones" of the diagram.

If the cause is large or complex, then it may be better to break it down into sub-causes.

The idea on this phase is to establish a good insight about the written items. Remember that only

if you recognise the problem you can resolve it. Make sure the team does not jump

straight into resolving the problem before understanding the cause. Getting some conclusions

based on different opinions is the outcome for this part.


Any action to be taken has to be written

down by the Team, never Scrum Master or

any other person.


DECIDE WHAT TO DO

You have come up with conclusions and now you need to relate them with solutions.

Remember that they can be classified as:

o Improvement Actions (use ‘What, Who, When’ to help the team)

o Best Practices

o Team Rules

If many solutions are available, dot voting can also be used here to select the most important

ones. In general, Team Rules are added without any filter.

The improvement actions may require the team choosing people who will follow the activities

(sentinels); make sure the Team note down their names including any other relevant

information (deadlines, how to proceed in the different scenarios, etc.).

If there is an area for the improvement, write the actions in the Kanban board. Any other

document should also be located in a visible place.



CLOSE THE RETROSPECTIVE

Have a brief chat on what went well in the retrospective and what might be improved, get

some feedback, have a few seconds to think about it and pay attention to the final people´s

mood and body language. Thank the whole Team for their time and effort.

Remember that if there are people who are impacted by the decisions made during the

retrospective, they should be informed right away after the meeting.


A retrospective is an opportunity for the

Team to reflect and get better. It is not a

meeting for anyone external to the Team to

do micro-management.

INPUT into coming Sprint

There are two feedback loops expected from a retrospective:

Actions or things to be improved.

People or any other activity in the company which is obstructing the Team to do better.

The first part relates more to the day-to-day work during a Sprint and the “local” process in

general and the second is an opportunity for the company to support the Agile values and

practices.

Open the checklist “Agile Retrospective” to see how to do this meeting.


IDEAS for inspiration Sometimes things need to be spiced up in order to get better result, here are some tips:

Use games during your retrospective

Ask a person outside the Team to moderate the meeting so the Scrum Master can be

part of it

Use a Timeline retrospective to look back exhaustively

Use a Starfish retrospective to look into the past, present and future

These activities may be found using a searching on the internet along with hundreds of other

ideas.

Use a safety check when in doubt of how safe people feel. You can do this by asking them to

anonymously fill one of the following numbers:

That should be done right after finishing the Sprint but before the Retrospective starts. The

results should be fed into the meeting to help the Team get some extra insights.

Safety Check

5 Talk about anything, want to explore other´s thoughts as well as my own.

4 Talk about most things, but I may keep quiet during some discussions.

3 Happy to sit and listen, will talk if something I am very passionate about comes up.

2 Not comfortable talking, even when I have a strong Opinion, will keep it to myself.

1 Not comfortable being here, I want to leave.


IDEAS for inspiration

ESVP safety check is quite similar to the technique values 1-5 but offers the participants to USE the

letters E, S, V or P:

Extracted from akashb.com

E (Explorer). I am here to explore both my own and others thoughts and feelings. Happy to

talk about everything

S (Shopper). Happy to observe and interested in what people have to say about all topics. If

something that they care about is discussed then I will get involved and talk.

V (Visitor). Not keen on talking, just happy to sit back and observe.

P (Prisoner). Not comfortable being here at all. Only here because I have to be, if I had a

choice I would be somewhere else.

That should be done right after finishing the Sprint but before the Retrospective starts.

The results should be fed into the meeting to help the Team get some extra insights.


THE EXPECTED outcome You should expect some of the following outcomes for a Retrospective meeting to be valid:

A list of Improvements Actions.

Changes in the Team Agreements.

Changes to the Best Practices.

People feeling ok and happy about the outcome.


TAKE AWAY

REMEMBER

Every 2 weeks a retrospective with the Product Owner should be held.

A retrospective is valid if some improvement actions, changes in the process or

changes in the way the team works are created.

The whole team should be present and the meeting is unavoidable/non-cancellable.

Depending on the size of the team, a retrospective does not usually last more than 1 hour.

Use BIG letters for whatever is written, never look for culprits & don´t forget to thank everyone.

DEEPEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Tips for a retrospective facilitation from Esther Derby

Game Storming Book

Starfish retrospective

Double loop learning

BENEFITS

Improves processes & interactions between people.

Identifies good practices and concrete actions.

Identifies aspects that are working and help spread them between all participants.

Empowers learning & motivation.

http://www.estherderby.com/weblog/2009/05/tips-for-retrospective-facilitators.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gamestorming-Playbook-Innovators-Rulebreakers-Changemakers/dp/0596804172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401115877&sr=8-1&keywords=gamestorming

http://www.agileacademy.com.au/agile/sites/default/files/Starfish%20Retrspectives%202011.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_loop_learning


Retrospective

Checklist 7.1

Version 1.0

DATE: __________

Audience

Context

Listed steps and action items help to ensure that the retrospective in extended format will run

smoothly.

To learn further about retrospective please also refer the chapters dedicated to Full and Simple

retrospectives and check-list for simple retrospective meeting.


T ask

Comments

1. Before the retrospective

The room has been booked for 2 hours.

Product Owner/Development Team/Scrum Master have been invited and details of the activities have been sent.

A confirmation from all participants has been received.

Safety Check has been carried out (optional).

Information has been gathered (i.e. Latest Sprint, Burndown, Business Indicators, etc).

Actions taken from previous retrospective and the current status were read.

Colour pens, Flipchart, post-its, and A4 sheets are available

(If it is not my team) I spoke with the Scrum Master about how the Team did in the last Sprint.

The room has been inspected and there are no obstacles which can obstruct communication (big tables, noise, etc.)

Team Agreements and any other relevant list/document/Prime Retrospective Directive/Safety check result have been posted on the wall

If the retrospective is with Business, business indicators have been also placed on the wall.

Etiquette Rules have been placed on the wall.

2. During the retrospective

I checked that people feel safe.

Time to “arrive” and get into the right mood


has been given to people and optionally an Energiser activity was carried out.

Everyone remembers/gathers data; A shared pool of information has been created and briefly shared.

A flower was drawn and all the people´s names to thank for their effort were written down in there. (Optional)

Actions decided in previous retrospectives were checked.

A plus (+) was written and everything that went well was added in there. (Or another type of retrospective)

Silent writing activity was carried out. (Optional)

Patterns were identified and written on a table (plus or delta areas).

A delta column (Δ) was added to the table. (Or another type of retrospective)

Each participant had 3 minutes to write and place their post-its to the Delta column (Δ) and the duplicated ones were removed. (Time may vary)

I paid attention to people´s interactions, body language and compared all post-it with my personal notes.

Prioritisation was done and the top voted elements/groups were chosen.

People are split into groups of 3.

A discussion about the chosen issues was established in order to get the root cause(s). The fishbone tool can be used.

Improvement Actions, Team Rules and Best Practices were identified by the Team under agreement.


Team decided what to do. Concrete action plans to address the issues, modifications to the Team Rules and changes in the Best Practices were created.

Outcome was written on a sheet of paper/flipchart

You asked for feedback and thanked the team

3. After the retrospective

Team took the Improvement Actions, changes in the Team Rules and reviewed/modified the Best Practices and placed them in a visible area or Kanban.

People impacted by the new “rules” were informed.

awb - 07 - agile retrospective

Leadership & Management