At the end of each sprint the team is conducting a retrospective to know what to:
- Continue doing
- Stop doing
- Try doing
This can be covered with the questions:
- What was supposed to happen?
- What actually happened?
- What worked really well during this project?
- What should we make sure we do again in the future?
- Where did we run into challenges?
Make sure you outline actionables and discuss with the team how to implement them to foster continuous learning.
Dos and don’ts
Definitely do
- Emphasize the need for continuous improvement (processes are not set in stone)
- Learn from history
- Take action
- Add it in your project plan
- Be honnest and constructive
- Keep track of past retrospectives
Do not
- Point fingers
- Use the occasion to vent
- Considering the retrospective a “post-mortem” or “after-action” report rather than an opportunity to plan for improvement
- Suppress feelings
- Include uninvited external members (team only unless invited)