Retrospectives Workout

By Francesco Attanasio

If you’re part of a company using Agile Software Development practices, teams are probably already holding retrospectives after the completion of each sprint.
Retrospectives, however, are not just for development teams.
Reflection can be a useful tool for continuous improvement for people at all levels of any type of organization.







In this book the following Retrospectives techniques are presented:
1. Non-Violent Communication Agile Retrospective
2. Hot Air Balloon Retrospective
3. The Real Baseline Agile Retrospective Format
4. Lean Coffee Continuous Retrospective Strategy
5. The 4L’s Retrospective technique
6. A3 Thinking Retrospective
7. The Problem Solving Tree Retrospective
8. The Anti-Problem Retrospective
9. Christmas Retrospective
10. Moving Motivators Retrospective

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781329970380

Book preview

Retrospectives Workout

Retrospectives Workout

10 Techniques for Effective Retrospectives

Copyright © 2016 – Francesco Attanasio

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-329-97038-0

DEDICATION

To My Wife and My Sons.

Contents

Preface

Retrospectives

Retrospectives Techniques

Non Violent Communication Agile Retrospective

Hot Air Balloon Retrospective

Lean Coffee Continuous Retrospective Strategy

The Real Baseline Agile Retrospective format

The 4L’s Retrospective

The 4L’s variation:

The Problem Solving Tree Retrospective

A3 Thinking Retrospective

The Anti-Problem Retrospective

Christmas Retrospective

Moving Motivators Retrospective

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

Preface

Today the term Retrospective has its roots in the field of Agile software development.

If you’re part of a company using Agile Software Development practices, teams are probably already holding retrospectives after the completion of each sprint.

Retrospectives, however, are not just for development teams.

Reflection can be a useful tool for continuous improvement for people at all levels of any type of organization.

In this book the following Retrospectives techniques are presented:

1.       Non-Violent Communication Agile Retrospective

2.       Hot Air Balloon Retrospective

3.       The Real Baseline Agile Retrospective Format

4.       Lean Coffee Continuous Retrospective Strategy

5.       The 4L’s Retrospective technique

6.       A3 Thinking Retrospective

7.       The Problem Solving Tree Retrospective

8.       The Anti-Problem Retrospective

9.       Christmas Retrospective

10.    Moving Motivators Retrospective

Retrospectives

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Retrospectives come from the Latin word retrospectare, which means: to look back.

The retrospectives are a constructive glance at the recent past to enable a better future.

In the broadest sense, Retrospectives are periods of reflection during which a team or individual reviews and reflects on a project, action, or occurrence and asks four key questions:

What just happened?

What went well and why?

What did not go well and why?

What can we do differently next time?

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Retrospectives are popular in the team-working world of the Lean & Agile community but the technique was inspired by the work of Virginia Satir[1], the mother of family therapy. She developed a technique called the Daily Temperature Reading, aimed at keeping relationships healthy and happy.

Retrospectives, and their close cousin After Action Reviews (AARs)[2], are practices that offer you an efficient way to continuously improve.

Reflecting on completed work is arguably the single most important thing that any team can do for continuous improvement. It is essential to understand the nature of your performance, before you can make the right adjustments to improve the next time.

Retrospectives are not project audits. They are not about placing blame and creating more work, but rather