deepl

Retrospectives

The 5-Phase Retrospective

Quite early after I discovered Scrum I got to know the book "Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great" by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen and with it the structure of the 5-phase retrospective described in it.

With a rough timetable of 1.5 hours, I have been using it ever since. Every time I learn something new, both methodically and in terms of attitude, which I can make more and more explicit. But here are these phases, always the same, in an abstract way:

1. 🌳 Creating a climate for discussion

All the people involved come into the room and, from whatever state they are in, the aim is for all the people to be able to engage in the retrospective and, if not, to leave the room again.

Something that has always come back and been incredibly beneficial in preventing a not-so-valuable retro is the voluntariness of participation. People are invited by me and not pre-invited. Especially as a guest facilitator[1], it's even more important to pay attention to that and let people be free and also enjoy it when people are intrinsically motivated to sit in there. and even if people force themselves, they are more interested in wanting to co-create the rest as well because of the created, voluntary participation.

2. 🗳️ Collect topics

In the spirit of the solution-focused approach[2], I have made a habit of thinking of the participants as "different" and "new" people each time. If an experiment of the week has already run, I do not point it out. I do not check a team's homework, but I am sure that exactly those topics are brought to the table by the team that are relevant to them. If it is not, I am equally sure it will be next time. Provided the topic is still relevant.

So that I myself am also perceived as part of the team and also to show appreciation by showing pertinent things from my own observation. In the same way, I can sometimes lower the barrier for others to move the unspeakable to the centre of attention.

To make this point work well, the Scrum event "Sprint"[3] is helpful, as it allows the common observation period to be remembered more clearly by everyone. People's perceptions always diverge, and if the period is the last six months, it becomes even more difficult for the group to jointly gain a firm grasp of the situation, which brings us to the next phase.

3. 💡 Gaining insights

At this point we have already created transparency about things together. Now we need to gain insights from this. For me, these are first personal insights that one should first be able to recognise with oneself as an individual. Hence the assumption that only afterwards one can talk about it with other people in order to be able to establish common insights. The methods used are therefore characterised by the alternation of individual and group discussions.

This phase becomes stronger the more clearly an individual insight gains weight. If it happens on its own, perfect. If it has to be brought about too much from the outside, it is a good idea to ask why. A single thing picked out of many with skilful moderation is therefore not the same as a common theme discovered directly by people.

4. 🔨 Making decisions

In retros, it is not clear to me in most cases from the previous phase to make decisions. Decisions are seldom thrown around, but proposals for action are formed in a joint process. When these are ready to be decided upon, I see this as the achievement of this phase. The more concrete the action, the more resolutely it is tackled. In turn, the sprint supports this, because the hoped-for result and the planning of the action are embedded in the daily work routine. The date of the next retro is also a clear indication of when it can be influenced again.

5. 🍺 Conclusion

The thirst for feedback brings the whole retro to an end. At the latest here you can ask how it was for the team. One last time, you can extend the antennae and try to feel whether the participants really report back what they would like to send, but don't dare. Perhaps also with the reference to the situation at the start, the circle closes and with it the retrospective. Have fun next time.

[1] Facilitator

[2] https://sinnvoll-fuehren.com

[3] Scrum Events -> Sprint