Agile Lean Conference 2016 - Torres Agile retrospectives
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The document provides tips for running effective Agile retrospectives. It discusses the purpose of retrospectives, which is to help teams continuously improve by inspecting what went well and what could be improved. It outlines prerequisites like establishing need and process. Example retrospective exercises are described like asking questions, starfish, and sailboat. Tips for execution include empowering teams and focusing on root causes. Retrospectives are also important for distributed teams and provide benefits like faster problem resolution and improved collaboration.
Agile Lean Conference 2016 - Torres Agile retrospectives
- 1. Effective Agile Retrospectives Tips to run valuable retrospectives Myriam Hamed Torres Linkedin: uk.linkedin.com/in/myriamhamedtorres Twitter: @M0N4K0
- 2. Just a tiny bit about me... • Software Development Manager at Thomson Reuters • Member of the TR PM Center of Excellence • Member of London Agile Communities: – DSDM Consortium – PMI UK Agile Forum – Agile Coaching Exchange – Agile Evangelist & Practitioners • Accredited DSDM Agile Professional • Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- 3. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Prerequisites for retrospectives • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 4. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Prerequisites for retrospectives • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 5. WHAT DOES “RETROSPECTIVE” MEAN? Retrospective (rɛtrə(ʊ)ˈspɛktɪv) adjective: 1. looking back on or dealing with past events or situations. Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/retrospective
- 6. WHY DO WE DO RETROSPECTIVES? • Environment constantly changing • Fearless competition • Customers demand more, better and faster solutions Organisations need to evolve to stay in business and keep delivering value; investing in large and expensive improvement programmes. What makes retrospectives different from traditional improvement programmes? ”The Team” and “Frequency”
- 7. Retrospectives can be held at the end of any process (timebox, increment, project, programme…) WHEN TO RUN RETROSPECTIVES
- 8. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Prerequisites for retrospectives • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 9. Norman L. Kerth highlights 5 important prerequisites for a successful retrospective: 1. “the need for the ritual” 2. “naming the process” 3. “prime directive for a retrospective” 4. “the darker side of the retrospectives” 5. “retrospective facilitator” Prerequisites for retrospectives
- 10. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Prerequisites for retrospectives • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 11. RETROSPECTIVE EXERCISES Some exercises: ● Asking Questions ● Star Fish ● Sail Boat ● Happiness Index ● Constellation There many more… so select the retrospective exercise that better fits the team’s needs and objectives
- 12. ASKING QUESTIONS
- 13. Key four questions defined by Norman L. Kerth: • What did we do well, that if we don’t discuss we might forget? • What did we learn? • What should we do differently next time? • What still puzzles us? ASKING QUESTIONS
- 14. • Stop – These are activities that do not bring value to a team or customer. • Less – These are activities that require a high level of effort and produce little benefit. • Keep – Usually these are good activities or practices that team members want to keep. • More – Activities on which a team should focus and perform more often. • Start – Activities or ideas that a team wants to bring into the game. STAR FISH (AKA WHEEL) Start More Keep Less Stop
- 16. • The islands represent the team’s goals/vision. They work every day in order to reach these islands. • The rocks/icebergs represent the risks they might encounter along the way. • The anchor on the boat is everything that slows them down on their journey. • The clouds/sails and the wind represent everything that helps them to reach their goal. SAIL BOAT (AKA SPEEDBOAT) *Images sourced from Google search
- 17. SAIL BOAT Source: http://www.emmajefferies.com/blog Source: https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2013/december/retrospe ctive-the-fun-way Source: http://www.agile-ux.com/tag/innovation-games/
- 18. Graphic representation of team members’ emotions during iterations. HAPPINESS INDEX (AKA NIKO- NIKO CALENDAR) Source: Agile Trail
- 19. • Ideal for teams/people that do not feel very comfortable sharing opinions. • Can open any other retrospective. • Can cover different areas of improvement: technical, innovation, people, etc… • All you need is an open space and an object to be the centre of universe. • Read out statements/questions and let the team members move closer or farther from the universe depending on their views. CONSTELLATION
- 20. YOU CAN ALSO TRY... ● Car brand ● One-word retrospective ● Four L's Retrospective ● Force Field Analysis ● Bubble up ● 6 Thinking Hats ● Five whys ● … and many more
- 21. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Setting the scene • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 22. ● Empower your teams ● Change only one thing at a time ● Use root cause analysis to find the causes (not symptoms) of problems ● Make the progress visible ● Use different exercises in retrospectives depending on the issues at hand, the mindset of the team, etc... ● The key is the retrospective facilitator CONSIDERATIONS
- 23. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Setting the scene • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 24. The same considerations for retrospectives apply to distributed teams. Greater emphasis on: • Trust and empowerment of the team • Retrospective facilitator with the right experience • Tools - applications, webcams, etc... Some useful tools: http://en.linoit.com/ http://ideaboardz.com/ https://pinitto.me http://lithespeed.com/ DISTRIBUTED RETROSPECTIVES
- 27. • Purpose - Why do we do retrospectives • Setting the scene • Retrospective Exercises • Executing effective retrospectives • Agile retrospectives with distributed teams • Benefits and value of retrospectives Agenda
- 28. • Actions are raised and owned by the team. There is no transition or handover task on to someone else – speeds the resolution time. • Actions help improving team performance. Better performing teams help the organisation in delivering value to customers faster. • Anybody can be involved; Product Owners, Business Analysts, Customers, etc… Increasing collaboration across functions. BENEFITS OF RETROSPECTIVES
- 29. • Project Retrospectives : A Handbook for Team Reviews (Norman L. Kerth) • Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great (Esther Derby, Diana Larsen and Ken Schwaber) • Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives - A Toolbox of Retrospective Exercises (Luis Gonçalves and Ben Linders) • Retrospective Plans - http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=Retrospective_Plans • Agile Retrospective Resource Wiki - http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page LITERATURE & RESOURCES
- 30. Any questions?
- 31. Grazie mille!!