Download - Workshop Exercises to spice up your Agile Retrospective Agile Cambridge 2017 - Ben Linders
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Exercises to spice up your agile retrospective
Agile CambridgeSeptember 28, 2017
Ben Linders Consulting
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Ben Linders Consulting
What you will learn
• Why and how of agile retrospectives• Try out different retrospective exercises• Create a safe environment to run a retrospective• Practice skills for facilitating retrospectives
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Ben Linders Consulting
Warm-up Exercise• Roles:
– Time keeper– Scribe
• 1 min to brainstorm individualy– One word: how you feel retrospective are going in your org/team– One word: the main missing ingredient in your retrospectives
• 1 min for each paper– Write down both words on flip chart– Explain the words – discuss briefly
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Ben Linders Consulting
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / SpeakerAgile, Lean, Quality & Continuous improvement Freelance Editor for InfoQ.com
Ben Linders
Books: Getting Value out of Agile RetrospectivesWhat Drives Quality Continuous Improvement
Games: Agile Self-assessment Game
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Ben Linders Consulting
Purpose of Retrospectives
• Self-organizing teams are responsible for their own WoW
• No “first time right”, adjustalong the way
• Ok to fail, if you learn from it
• Continuous improvement
Sustainable Improvement through Agile Retrospectives
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Safety in RetrospectivesOpen Culture where team members
Speak Up with Respect for each other to Learn and Improve
Assure that people know whyretrospectives are done, and have a mindset to improve Soft Skills Matter
• Prime Directive• Safety Check and Warm-up exercises• Explorer, Shopper, Vacationer, and Prisoner
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Ben Linders Consulting
State of Practice RetrospectivesFirst annual Agile Retrospectives Report:
“deeper understanding of how retrospectives are used
in the real world - how good we are at retrospecting”
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Ben Linders Consulting
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Ben Linders Consulting
Toolbox of Retrospective Exercises
• Teams differ• Needs vary• More value
You can plan a retrospective meeting, and think about the exercise you want to use, but be open to change it on the spot whenever needed.
Toolbox of Retrospective Techniques
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Ben Linders Consulting
Exercise: Valuable Retrospectives
Possible Exercises:• Car Brand• 3S (Stop, Start, Spice up)• Perfection Game• One Word• Faces Jack Sparrow• Backpacking• Constellation• Sail boat futurespective
• Bring your own…
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Ben Linders Consulting
Retrospective ExercisesPractice retrospectives:• 5 min: divide roles: Facilitator, team, observer(s)
read exercise & prepare• 30 min: do the retrospective • 10 min: evaluate exercise • 20 min: share learnings
Evaluate• How did it go?• What did you learn?
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Ben Linders Consulting
Effective RetrospectivesKnow the whyGood facilitationEffective exercisesFrequent, small stepsVital few actions
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Ben Linders Consulting
Inspiration for RetrospectivesRetrospective Exercises:• amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI• benlinders.com/exercises/• benlinders.com/ask-your-agile-retrospective-question/
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Ben Linders Consulting
Retrospectives BookGetting Value out of Agile RetrospectivesBy Luis Gonçalves & Ben Linders
amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI
Special Agile Cambridge: Spice up Agile Retrospectives – with a Discount!
• 25% off with coupon “agilecam” at benlinders.com/shop/gettingvalueoutofagileretrospectives/
• 25% off on Leanpub at leanpub.com/gettingvalueoutofagileretrospectives/c/agilecam
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Wrap up
What did you learn today:Why and how of agile retrospectivesTry out different retrospective exercisesCreate a safe environment to run a retrospectivePractice skills for facilitating retrospectives
Questions?
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Ben Linders Consulting
Thank you!Thank you!
Ben LindersIndependent Consultant Agile, Lean,Quality & Continuous Improvement
[email protected]@BenLinders.com @BenLinders www.linkedin.com/in/benlinderswww.linkedin.com/in/benlinders www.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvieswww.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvies www.benlinders.comwww.benlinders.com
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Ben Linders Consulting
Background Information
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Designing your Retrospective
amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI benlinders.com/exercises/
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Ben Linders Consulting
Facilitating RetrospectivesFacilitators• Plan the retrospective• Select appropriate exercises• Chair the meeting• Ensure action is taken
Making retrospectives effective• Open & honest culture• Focus on the process• Remain independent Facilitation Good Practices
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Ben Linders Consulting
Vital Few Actions• Small Actions • Frequent Change• Focus on Value• Stop Starting,
Start Stopping• Kanban
Short Cycled Improvement
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Ben Linders Consulting
What Drives QualityDeep Dive into Software Quality with PracticalSolutions for Delivering High Quality Products
for software developers and testers, architects,Product Owners, agile coaches, Scrum masters,project managers, and operational and seniormanagers who consider quality to be important
Release date: September 30, 2017
Available on Amazon, leanpub, BenLinders
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Ben Linders Consulting
Continuous Improvement
Become aware of importance of continuous improvement,
Explore how it’s engrained in agile software development
Suggestions that you can use in your daily work to improve continuously
Increase your organization's agility!
Leanpub.com/continuousimprovement
“Continuous Improvement is the act of continuously doing whatever helps to become better and thus more valuable”
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Ben Linders Consulting
Retrospectives Book BundleSix successful retrospectives books• Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives• Fun Retrospectives• Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your Retrospectives• The Retrospective Handbook• Retrospectives for Organizational Change• The Retrospectives Kickstarter
These books will make your agile retrospectives rock!Teams will love to do them :-).
leanpub.com/b/agileretrospectivesDiscounted price: $30,48 (excl. VAT)
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Ben Linders Consulting
Getting More out of Agile & Lean Practices for teams and stakeholders to develop the right
products, deliver faster, increase quality, and create happy high performing teams.
Full Day Workshop:Deploying practices effectively Improve CollaborationTips & Trick for Agile & Lean Improve Continuously
Increase your organization's agility!
BenLinders.com/agilelean
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Ben Linders Consulting
Assessing your AgilityOver 50 tools:• Self-Assessment checklists• Readyness checks• Maturity assessments• Agile health checks• Measurements• And much more! Agile Self-Assessments
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Ben Linders Consulting
Retrospective Exercises• Asking questions• One-word retrospective• Root Cause Analysis• Timeline• Flow and Energy• Asking Why?• Strenghts (Solution Focused)• Perfection game• Action priorities• Retrospective of Retrospectives• Teams with multiple customers• Remote Teams• Futurespectives• Strengths/Core Qualities
Book with Agile Retrospective Exercises
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Ben Linders Consulting
Articles on Effective Agile• Self-assessing how Agile you are• Sustainable Improvement through Agile Retrospectives• Working in a Sustainable Pace• Becoming Agile and Lean • Succes Factors for Using Scrum and Getting Benefits• Process Improvement: The Agile Way• Golden Rules for Agile Process Improvement• How to deal with Resistance when Implementing Agile• Managing Projects with Agile Teams• Agile Project Management• Establishing and Maintaining Stable Teams• Getting Business Value out of Agile Retrospectives• Sharing Knowledge is Power• Are your Professionals Empowered?