How to facilitate the best Sprint Retrospective meeting your team will love
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, agile coach Yinka addresses the common complaint of excessive meetings in agile teams, focusing on the importance of well-facilitated retrospectives. She provides practical tips for scrum masters to prepare, engage the team, gather data, and derive actionable improvements. Yinka emphasizes the need for variety in meeting formats to maintain team interest and concludes with the importance of feedback to refine the retrospective process, ensuring meetings are effective and valued by the team.
Takeaways
- 😀 Agile teams often feel there are too many meetings, but the real issue is that many meetings are not facilitated effectively.
- 📅 As a Scrum Master, your role is crucial in facilitating structured and repetitive meetings such as daily scrums, retrospectives, reviews, and planning sessions.
- 🌟 The key to a successful retrospective meeting is preparation, including choosing a format that engages the team and varies from one retrospective to another.
- 🔍 Facilitators should use different formats for each retrospective to keep the process fresh and engaging, avoiding predictability and boredom.
- 📝 During a retrospective, start by setting the stage with a check-in to ensure everyone is present and ready to participate.
- 💡 Gathering data effectively involves giving team members time to write down what went well and what didn't, followed by a group discussion to generate insights.
- 🔑 It's important to focus on areas of improvement that are actionable and assign accountability to team members for implementing changes.
- 🛠️ Retrospectives should end with clear action items that outline who is responsible for what improvement and when it will be addressed.
- 📊 Prioritizing improvement items is essential, especially when there are many to choose from, to ensure the team focuses on the most impactful changes.
- 🔄 Encourage the team to consider not only fixing what's not working well but also enhancing what's already working well to further strengthen team performance.
- 📊 Ending the retrospective with a feedback loop, such as a rating system, helps to continuously improve the meeting structure and effectiveness.
Q & A
What is a common complaint about agile meetings?
-A common complaint is that there are too many meetings in agile, but in reality, the issue is often that the meetings are not facilitated properly, leading to a lack of purpose and effectiveness.
What is the role of a Scrum Master in facilitating meetings?
-The Scrum Master's role is to ensure that meetings are effective, well-prepared, and engaging for team members, helping them to love and look forward to the meetings.
Why are some agile teams lacking momentum in meeting participation?
-Some agile teams lack momentum in meeting participation because the meetings may not be facilitated properly, leading to a lack of clear objectives and a sense of wasted time.
What is the purpose of the retrospective meeting in a Scrum framework?
-The purpose of the retrospective meeting is to reflect on the past Sprint, discuss what went well and what didn't, and identify improvements for future work.
Why is it important to prepare for a retrospective meeting?
-Preparation is important to ensure that the meeting has a clear structure and format, which helps in achieving its objectives and making it valuable for the team.
What can be done to make retrospective meetings more engaging?
-To make retrospective meetings more engaging, the Scrum Master can change the format of the meeting for each retrospective, keeping it fresh and interesting for the team.
What is a good source for finding different retrospective formats?
-FunRetrospectives.com is recommended as a source for finding different retrospective formats that can be used to rotate and keep meetings engaging.
What is the significance of setting the stage at the beginning of a retrospective meeting?
-Setting the stage ensures that all participants are checked in and present, creating an environment conducive to a productive and focused discussion.
How can a Scrum Master gather data during a retrospective meeting?
-A Scrum Master can gather data by using various formats such as 'What went well,' 'What didn't go well,' and 'What can we improve,' allowing team members to write down their thoughts and then discuss them.
Why is it crucial to assign action items at the end of a retrospective meeting?
-Assigning action items is crucial as it translates the discussion into concrete steps and responsibilities, ensuring that the team follows through on the identified improvements.
How should a Scrum Master close out a retrospective meeting?
-A Scrum Master should close out a retrospective meeting by gathering feedback from the team on the effectiveness of the meeting, rating it, and sharing something fun or light-hearted to end on a positive note.
Outlines
😀 Optimizing Agile Meetings
The paragraph discusses the common complaint about too many meetings in agile teams and clarifies that the issue often lies with meetings being unstructured and repetitive. The speaker emphasizes the importance of proper facilitation to ensure meetings are effective and not just frequent. As a Scrum Master, the role is to make meetings engaging and valuable, with a focus on the retrospective meeting, which is the subject of the episode. The speaker promises to teach how to conduct a successful retrospective that team members will look forward to.
📝 Preparing for Effective Retrospectives
This section of the script focuses on the importance of preparation for a retrospective meeting. It suggests that the lack of preparation often leads to unproductive meetings. The speaker advises changing the format of the retrospective for each Sprint to keep it engaging and to ensure that the team remains actively involved. The paragraph also recommends using resources like funretrospectives.com to find different formats and stresses the need for facilitators to be well-prepared to achieve the meeting's objectives.
🤝 Kicking Off the Retrospective with a Check-In
The paragraph outlines the process of starting a retrospective meeting with a check-in to ensure all participants are present mentally. It suggests various methods for setting the stage, such as checking in on people's emotions or asking reflective questions. The goal is to create a relaxed environment where team members feel comfortable discussing the Sprint's successes and areas for improvement. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of gathering data through different formats and starting the conversation by documenting what went well and what didn't.
🛠 From Discussion to Actionable Improvements
This section discusses the transition from identifying what went well and what didn't to deciding on actionable improvements. It encourages teams to consider both strengthening their successes and addressing weaknesses. The speaker advises assigning accountability for each improvement item and determining a timeline for when these improvements will be addressed. The importance of not ending the meeting without clear action items is highlighted, as this is what will make the retrospective meaningful and valuable to the team.
🌟 Closing the Retrospective on a High Note
The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of closing the retrospective effectively by gathering feedback from the team. It suggests using a rating scale to gauge the success of the meeting and discussing what could be improved for future sessions. The speaker also recommends ending the retrospective with a light-hearted activity, like sharing a joke or high fives, to leave the team feeling positive and accomplished. The goal is to continually refine the retrospective process and ensure that team members look forward to these meetings as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Agile
💡Meetings
💡Scrum Master
💡Retrospective
💡Facilitate
💡Participation
💡Format
💡Action Items
💡Check-in
💡Improvement
💡Accountability
💡Feedback
Highlights
Agile teams often feel there are too many meetings, but the real issue is often poor facilitation.
Scrum Masters play a crucial role in facilitating effective meetings that team members look forward to.
The importance of changing the format of retrospective meetings to keep them engaging and fresh.
Retrospectives should be structured to reflect on the sprint and plan improvements, not just as a therapy session.
Preparation for retrospective meetings is key to achieving their objectives and avoiding perceived waste of time.
Using different formats for retrospectives can increase team engagement and prevent predictability.
FunRetrospectives.com is recommended for finding various formats to keep retrospectives dynamic.
Setting the stage for a retrospective meeting ensures that everyone is present and ready to participate.
Gathering data effectively during retrospectives involves giving team members time to write down their thoughts.
Grouping similar thoughts during retrospectives helps in identifying common areas of success and improvement.
Celebrating successes during retrospectives boosts team morale and acknowledges good work.
Discussing what didn't go well in a structured manner helps in understanding and addressing issues.
Identifying areas for improvement should be followed by assigning responsibility and timelines for action.
Action items from retrospectives are vital for making the meeting meaningful and impactful.
Prioritizing improvement items helps in focusing on the most crucial changes for the next sprint.
Getting feedback at the end of a retrospective is essential for continuous improvement of the meeting format.
Ending a retrospective on a positive note with a joke or fun activity leaves the team feeling energized.
The transcript emphasizes the importance of Scrum Masters in facilitating effective and engaging retrospectives.
Transcripts
if there is one thing you're going to
hear over and over again from any agile
team it'll be this one thing there are
too many meetings in agile now this is
not entirely true in reality what
they're trying to say is there are too
many many less meetings that are going
on and so we're tired of having all of
the scrappy meetings in agile we have
structured meetings that are repetitive
so you have your scrum events like the
daily scrum the retrospective the review
and the planning that happens over and
over again now this is different from
being too many meetings in agile but one
major reason why many people tend to say
that there are too many meters in agile
is really because many of these meetings
are not facilitated properly so at the
end of the day people gather and the
whole purpose and objective of gathering
is not even achieved and so they're
interpreted as there are too many
meetings in agile and that's why you
find out that some agile teams they're
low momentum when it comes to people
attending and actually participating in
this meetings but as a scrum Master Your
Role is to facilitate and ensure that
you have an effective meetings that your
team members will get to love and that's
what today's episode is all about in
today's episode I am going to be
teaching you how to fastly take the best
retrospective meeting that your teams
will get to love and they will look
forward to every spring so if you're
interested in this topic make sure you
hang around till the very end but before
we Dive Right In let's get some
introduction for those that are stepping
in for the first time
foreign
[Music]
hi guys welcome back to this YouTube
channel my name is yinka and I am an
actual coach with over 10 years of
experience my goal of having this
channel is to create an opportunity for
you guys to learn the tools and the
techniques to become successful in the
scrum Master role so if you're not
aspiring scrum master or you are a new
scrum Master then this channel is
definitely for you so make sure you
subscribe make sure you like and share
with your friends now let's get back
into the episode we are talking about
the retrospective event and this is one
of the events that happens in any scrum
team this is the very last event that
you're going to facilitate as a scrum
Master before a new Sprint kicks off now
you have to end your Sprint with a bang
this is one meeting that you facilitate
from start to finish so it's very
important that if you want to have an
effective meeting if you want your team
members to love your meeting and crave
it and look forward to it over and over
again the first thing I'm going to
encourage you to do is to prepare for
this meetings one of the reasons why we
have many less meetings is because many
times the facilitators of those meetings
do not prepare you have to prepare for
every event you have to prepare for
every meeting if you want to realize the
objective of that meeting now
retrospective is one of those meetings
that many scrum teams don't find
valuable that feel like it's a waste of
time we got ourselves together just to
talk a bunch of things I've actually
heard a few people say is this meant to
be a therapy session
oh lord it's not a therapy session this
is meant to be one of the best meetings
that we're having because this is the
opportunity for us to reflect on our
screen to reflect on the things we've
done and then come up with how we can
improve but when this meeting is not
facilitated properly it comes across
like a waste of time to many agile teams
but we're gonna fix all of that today so
I want you to prepare for this meeting
before you have your retrospective
meeting take a step back and figure out
what you want to do what type of format
do you want to have there are multiple
formats that are out there and it's
important for you to always change your
format for every retro so that your team
can find the phone and they can get
really engaged because if you use the
same format every retro then it gets
boring because it's predictable people
know that every time they're gonna come
up show up and then talk about what went
well what didn't go well and what we can
do better and after a while it just gets
really mundane and they're not quite
interested and at the end of the day the
whole objective which is for us to
improve the way we work is actually
really lost because every time it'll be
oh what went well okay this went well
what didn't go well this didn't go well
what can we improve same old thing and
it suddenly starts to lose his value but
as a scrum Master if you prepare ahead
of time and change the format every
retrospective you'll find out that
because the questions are different
there's a increased level in engagement
and then because people don't know what
to look forward to then they are fully
present so please prepare the format
that you're going to have before you get
started for your retro now if you're
looking for you know tips on where to go
to to kind of find different
retrospective formats I'll recommend fun
retrospectives.com for you at for
retrospectors you find different formats
I think they have over 40 formats they
can always pick from and then rotate
Sprint after spring and obviously even
if you come back to another format maybe
three weeks down the line or three
Sprints down the line people might not
really notice right as long as it's not
the same thing that you're doing back to
back so you can always like get maybe
your top five or your top 10 and then
rotate those as you deem feed okay so
prepare for that meeting understand the
format that you want to have and then
when you eventually show up show up like
that's something I like to say show up
so that you can you know get the best
out of that meeting now when your
retrospective kicks off like when you
are in the retrospective meeting I would
encourage you to use this format so that
way you can keep your retrospective
meeting structure now once everybody
shows up the faster I'd like you to do
will be for you to set the stage and
basically when you're setting the stage
what you're doing is to ensure that
everyone is actually checked in into the
retrospective because a lot of times
when people show up for this meetings
and they're not really present you know
they're there you can see they're there
but their mind is not there they might
not even be paying attention or they're
not even really interested but once you
set the stage then you ensure that
everyone is actually present you
recognize everyone being active and you
just set this date for us actually get
started now there are different ways for
you to do this you can check in on
people's emotions right you can get
started by saying you know what is the
mood of everyone like you know and then
you can go around the room where
everyone kind of shares their mood you
know even on your board many times when
Zoo meetings this day so you can have a
board where you have different smiley
faces and you ask people to pick their
mood now some people can say you know
today it's a smiley day I'm happy today
today I'm not so interested today you
know I'm learning the best of moods
whatever it is that way you actually get
people to be relaxed you get people to
settle in while you know everyone is
actually present also another way for
you to set the stick can actually be for
you to ask questions you know you can
ask questions like if you are not here
today where would you rather be you know
that way he gives people to actually
think off work and some of them could be
like oh I'd rather be in Hawaii right
now or I'd rather be bad or I'd rather
be doing something different right and
that way people are able to smile people
are able to laugh and people are really
able to rely relax and that's what you
want you want people to be relaxed
because we're about to talk about you
know key things that we experience on
the last screen and you definitely want
people to be checked in you want people
to be present you want people to be
alert and you want people to actually be
you know interactive and committed to
this retrospective so it's always
important for you to always start your
meeting with a check-in and that way
you're really setting that environment
and setting the stage for this
conversation to kick off now once you
set the stage and everyone is checked in
then you want to get started and at this
point you want to start Gathering the
data and this is where you would have
prepared ahead of time to understand the
format that you want to use now in some
situations you're going to have some
scrum Masters that will start by saying
hey what went well the Springs what did
not go well this spring what can we do
to improve now that could be your way of
gathering data there are other ways that
you could also gather data there are
different formats there's the concept of
the four else where you have what did
you love about the Springs what did you
learn and what did you lack in the
Sprint you know there are different
formats that you can use the goal is for
you to always change that format every
Sprint and beforehand decide what format
you want to use for that retrospective
so once you set the stage you want to
start Gathering the data so once you
decide what format you're going to use
let's assume that this time we're going
to use what went well what did not go
well and what can we do to improve but
you want to kick off the conversation by
asking the team members to write things
that they feel went well this spring
give them about two to three minutes to
do that okay once they're done with that
you can have them move to what did not
go well give them another two to three
minutes to do that and then you can go
to the last part which is what can we do
to improve or you can actually even
pause and just start with those two
sections then gather the insights where
we're actually discussing the things
that went well the first point is just
for them to kind of document that on the
board okay so for example you're gonna
have every team member document things
that they feel went well you could also
decide that after they document things
that went well that you guys want to
actually discuss it before you move to
the next column however sometimes it's
always good for you to get to allow them
get all their thoughts on paper so that
then they have the time to discuss it
so I would recommend you know have them
get their thoughts on paper where we
talk about the things that went well and
the things that we think didn't go well
let them have it on paper and then we
get to generate the insights where we're
kind of talking through some of these
things and so when everyone has
documented their thoughts you want to
kind of quickly go through their charts
to see where you can group things that
are familiar because you know it's
different people that are writing things
so it's possible the different people
who have similar thoughts so you want to
quickly group the thoughts that are
similar and then once you've been able
to group everyone then we can begin the
discussion where people kind of start
talking more about what they felt went
really well and what things you know
what people can agree kind of went well
and this is an opportunity for us to
kind of like celebrate ourselves as a
team we really smash things the spring
we did things well maybe we completed
all the things we committed to or we did
XYZ whatever that might be you want them
to get their thoughts in there and you
want to celebrate those weaves it's
important because it's also going to
boost the morale of the team now once
we're done with that section they want
to move to the next section where we'll
try and talk about the things that do
not go quite well and obviously you want
to repeat the same process where people
cannot talk through what didn't go well
and why we think these things did not go
well so allow time for people to
actually have those you know thoughts
conversations where people actually talk
about it let that conversation happen
ensure that you're facilitating and
ensure that everyone is contributing to
the conversation now once they're able
to kind of discuss and they've kind of
group their thoughts together to
understand and agree on the things that
didn't go well then it's time for us to
move to the last section
depending if that's your format where
we're not we want to talk about the
things that we can improve now based on
the things that maybe did not go well or
the things that went well the team might
decide to say okay this is the area we
want to improve now one thing I like to
say here is that it's not every time
that we want to improve on something
that is not going well sometimes we want
to get better at maybe something we
started doing it's working well for us
and we want to double down on it it's
actually possible so as a scrum Master
don't restrict them to only kind of
focusing on the things they're not doing
well and how they want to get better at
it it's not every time I want to focus
on our weakness sometimes let's double
down on our strength so what are we
doing really well what can we double
down on what can we even do better right
so it's open to whatever Direction the
team wants to take it so it could either
be we want to get better at the things
we're doing well or we want to improve
on the things we're not doing so well
because these things are important to
the product that we are building okay so
they're going to spend another couple of
minutes to kind of figure out okay what
other areas do you want to improve now
one thing I like to state is as the team
talks about things they want to improve
even the things that went well and
things that did not go quite well I want
you to always make sure that they are
focused on the individuals the
interactions they had the processes and
the tools because sometimes you know it
might be the fact that we didn't
interact really well that made us not to
achieve something that made things not
go well it might be the communication of
the team sometimes it might be the tool
that we're using that made us do
something really well or did not make us
do something really well other times it
could be the process so ensure that as
the team is thinking through all of
these things they're looking at their
interaction as a team they're looking at
the tools that they're using you're also
taking a look at the processes that
they're using to do the work to ensure
that they have an overall picture of how
they work and areas to improve so now
once they spend you know a bit of time
trying to figure out like areas for us
to improve please do not end the meeting
this is one thing that I see where you
know they just document quite a number
of things that they're trying to improve
and there is no action item this is the
actual part where the meeting actually
goes right or goes left now as a scrum
Master once the team as documented what
they want to improve it's time for Ross
to now figure out who is going to take
accountability and when we think those
things will get improved okay now as a
team we've itemized those items as
things we want to improve now sometimes
the items might be a lot where we need
to prioritize now once we prioritize it
when you say okay these are the top four
items that are really crucial for us
that we think we need to focus on
immediately then you need to tell them
who is taking responsibility of what let
them assign what they're going to be
pulling in as an improvement item that
they want to fix the next Sprint
okay and now in the process they might
actually even figure out like oh this
item is important but we probably cannot
get it fixed in the next spring we
probably might need to maybe get that
fixed maybe the next couple of Sprints
or maybe we can actually even get
started but this is like a long-term
goal where we probably might have a plan
to get it finished maybe in the next
quarter okay that way if you're able to
have a concrete plan or what they're
picking and when they think that thing
will get done this is very crucial if
you want to have an effective meeting
that is Meaningful to your team members
and a meeting that your team members
will get to love it's in the action
items what are they taking out of that
meeting it is this point where they're
deciding what they're going to do and
how they're going to tackle it this is a
very crucial part in your retrospective
so I'm sure that once we pick up the
Improvement items we assign who is going
to be responsible for those items and we
figure out if it's something we're
pulling into the next spring that we're
hoping to get done in the next Sprint or
something I'll take couple of Sprints to
get done and that way they can further
break down that story
or that task into a smaller chunk if
they think it will take them couple of
Sprints to get done so that at the end
of the day the team member the field
energize they know that these other
items we're gonna pull they will put
them into the next Sprint we already
know who is going to be working on it
and we know who to look up to in terms
of like progress on how we are doing now
sometimes this Improvement items might
not even be necessarily like huge things
they need to work on it might be the
fact that there's a team member who is
going to be responsible for watching off
of the team and doing that thing let's
say for example they say that we need to
be more collaborative right
now you have a team member who is
accounting for ensuring that we're
actually collaborating in our meetings
because it's not all the meetings that
you are going to attend as a scrum
Master many times you're going to be
available for the astronomy event other
events that might be you know sync UPS
to them you might not be in those
meetings but when you have a team member
being accountable for those Improvement
items then there's a high possibility
that things will get done rather than if
it was you who was being accountable and
holding them to doing those things you
want them to own that work do you want
them to feel responsible for that work
and be responsible for the success of
that work now once everyone has assigned
work to themselves and they are all good
then you want to close out your
retrospective this is also very crucial
because this is the time for you to
actually get feedback from the team on
how the retrospective went so you can
use things like for example on a scale
of one to ten how will you rate today's
retrospective if anybody you know rated
above five then that's a pass smack or
maybe above seven you guys can agree
what works for you and then if they rate
that maybe above below five then you
know that there's a problem what do we
need to do to improve what can we do
better it's very important for you to
close out your retrospective you know
getting that feedback because that way
you're also able to fix the
retrospective now there might be cases
where you know maybe this meeting time
is actually too long and we feel like
we're spending an entire hour in
retrospective and people might feel like
it's a waste of time and you might get
feedback like okay why don't we try 45
minutes or try 30 minutes but when you
don't even take out the time to ask you
know the feedback and get feedback on
the retrospective then you lose a huge
opportunity on improving that meeting
and making it get better day after day
so please before you close out ensure
that you're getting feedback tell them
to rate the retrospective you know and
find out how they feel about the
retrospective how do you feel about
today's retrospective are you are you
excited you feel like we accomplished
our goal for today do you feel that
something we could have done better
forgive me my nose is still blocked you
know do we feel like there's something
we could have done any better get
response from them and that way you're
able to use that information to improve
the next retrospective and this way we
don't only get better in the work that
we do but we also get better in the way
we run and facilitate these meters and
then it's a win-win for everyone and
your team members love your meetings and
anytime you have a Miss on your calendar
they are more than excited to show up
because they know it's going to be fun
also before you close out that
retrospective please ensure that you
guys you know share a joke share
something fun have fun okay they say all
walk and no play makes Jack doll so
please you know close it out with a band
close out with a joke close out with you
know high fives dances on you know on
Zoom whatever it is is Gonna Make You
fun for the team close out with a bang
and just let everyone be excited and
feel like we've actually accomplish
something really great now this is how
you have a defective retrospective that
your team will come to love I hope
today's episode was all fun for you guys
I hope you guys learned a few things
that you could go Implement right away
for those of you who are currently in
scrum Master roles and for those of you
who are still in the process of looking
for a job learn all of those things
ahead of time because it helps you get
better he helps you answer your
interview questions better and once
you're on the job you know exactly what
to do so I hope you had fun today thank
you so much for listening to this very
time thank you so much for watching I
love you all as usual please don't
forget to subscribe don't forget to
leave a review don't forget to like
don't forget to share with your friends
and loved ones thank you so much and I
cannot wait to catch you in the next
episode bye for now
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