{"id":1057,"date":"2025-02-08T19:30:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T18:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2026-02-07T20:54:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T19:54:59","slug":"corinnas-guide-to-facilitating-retrospectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/corinnas-guide-to-facilitating-retrospectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Corinna’s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello there,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

welcome to this course about retrospectives, friend! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First things first: this course will be biased. I started out writing a neutral course and it did not feel right<\/em>. Because, I would write down one thing and then go do something else in practice. So I scratched that first version and we\u2019ll be doing it differently: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine you have just started as my colleague<\/strong>. It\u2019s your first position as a Scrum Master (or Agile Coach or …) and I\u2019m supposed to show you how to facilitate effective retrospectives. It\u2019ll be very personal, very \u201cthis is how I do it in this specific context<\/em>, your context might be different. Another way to do it is …\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were my colleague, we\u2019d set up a weekly meeting and each time I will teach you something from my 15 years of experience. In between you\u2019ve got time to try things out because no amount of reading will magically make you a good facilitator. You have to actually do it<\/strong> \u2013 put it into practice, see what works, what doesn\u2019t and adjust accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the topics we’ll cover:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. What is a retrospective?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Lean Coffee, my beloved<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Best Retrospective for Beginners<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. My Inner Loop, OR: Phases are not always linear<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The Ground Rules for Retrospectives<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Picking activities \u2013 How I plan a retrospective<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Other factors that influence how I plan a retrospective<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Co-located Retros \u2013 Preparing the room and materials<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Remote Retros \u2013 Adapting activities<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. During the retrospective \u2013 The actual facilitation<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Why do we do retrospectives?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. How to craft good Action Items<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Following up on follow through \u2013 A New Phase<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Why vary activities?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. What\u2019s up with the team right now? \u2013 Tuckman (and Glasl)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. What kind of questions do you ask?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Smoother Retrospectives with a Kick-Off<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  18. Other Resources<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  19. Farewell<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re serious about improving your skills, block half an hour in your calendar every week for the next 20 weeks<\/strong>. These 30 minutes gives you time to read, put everything into your context and pick something to try. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If a calendar entry won\u2019t work for you, what else can you do to increase the odds of you engaging with this course to learn how to better support your team with retrospectives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Start with the first unit and we\u2019ll explore what retrospectives are all about<\/a> \u2013 the foundation. Hope to see you there,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Corinna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PS: A BIG thank you to my test readers who made this course MUCH better: <\/p>\n\n\n\n