© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved Coaching Solutions Agile Software Development Retrospective Secrets Darrin Ladd V1.0

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 3 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Retrospectives = No Value! Same Stuff Every Time! Only a Few People Talk! Always so Negative! Can’t Think of Anything New Every Two Weeks!

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 5 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level So Why Do Retrospectives? ► Keep teams improving ► Discuss concerns and frustrations ► Resolve team and process issues ► Positive feedback to each other “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 8 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level How? Everyone Participates Root Causes and Behaviors Patterns, Inconsistencies, and Changes SMART Experiments Review Results and Respond Make It Visible Don’t Let It Get Stale Keys To Success

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 19 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Facilitation Variations Write down ideas separately Variations Groups of 3-5 work together on ideas VS. General, open topic Focused topicVS. Group into themes silently Group into themes with discussion VS. Discuss each item in detail Only clarifications, detailed discussion next phase VS.

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 23 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level SMART Experiments SMARTSMART imple/specific easurable chievable elevant ime boxed

© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 24 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level How Do We Execute? ► Create a story ► Add to definition of done ► Add tasks to iteration stories ► Identify how to collect the statistics as part of the current process

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 30 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Retrospective Prime Directive “Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand." - Norm Kerth

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 33 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Review Keys Everyone Participates Root Causes and Behaviors Patterns, Inconsistencies, and Changes SMART Experiments Review Results and Respond Make It Visible Don’t Let It Get Stale Keys To Success

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© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 35 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Smells ► It’s boring ► Same issues or “good” items over and over again ► Quiet ► No conflict or debate ► Same people always talking ► Some people who never talk ► Team seems to be “reporting” to someone in attendance (e.g. manager) ► No specific actionable, measurable changes come out of it ► Team is always late ► Always run out of time ► The issues being identified are outside of the team ► One team member or group hijacks the retro ► Facilitator telling as opposed to asking ► Team waiting for retro to discuss issues

© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 36 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Logistics - Location ► DEPENDS  Team Area Valuable because: – Information radiators and artifacts right there – Visual cues to help remember Problematic because: – Unable to step away from day-to-day thoughts – hard to change perspective – Normal distractions of work (phone calls, instant messages, people stopping by, etc…)  Conference Room Valuable because: – Removed from normal distractions – Easy to bring information radiators and artifacts – Logistics relatively easy Problematic because: – Constrains thought if room team uses regularly – hard to change perspective  Offsite Valuable because: – Change perspective so may get more creative thoughts Problematic because: – Logistical problems with traveling – Loss of comfort because of strangers

© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 37 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Logistics – Room Setup ► Surprisingly Important!  Fred Steele – we are all “environmentally incompetent” because we don’t realize how much our surroundings affect how we feel and act ► Don’t be crowded! The room should easily hold every one ► Have people sit close to each other though, don’t spread out all over the room ► Circle or semi-circle orientation of chairs ► No big, immovable tables ► Lots of materials!  People will stop thinking up new ideas when they run out of materials, so make sure everyone has more than enough stickies, index cards, flip charts, etc… ► Flip charts, whiteboards and other information should be easily seen from all locations ► Enough room for everyone around areas of collaboration  Don’t ask everyone to work around a single, small flip chart if there are 12 people

© 2009 BigVisible Solutions, Inc.. All Rights Reserved 38 ____ __ ____ _____ ____ ______ _____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ____ _____ Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level Logistics – How Long? ► DEPENDS  Length of time retrospecting over Rachel Davies suggests 30 minutes for each week  Size of team  Level of conflict or controversy  Try it and see what you need! You can always end the retrospective early if people identify meaningful improvements and finish their plans before the planned end time. There’s no point prolonging the retrospective once the team has achieved the goal. But too much time usually isn’t the problem. If your team produces only superficial insights and shallow plans, it may be that they need more time.