{"id":1201,"date":"2025-04-29T11:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T09:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:47:20","slug":"12-how-to-craft-good-action-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/12-how-to-craft-good-action-items\/","title":{"rendered":"12. How to craft good Action Items"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>[This post is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/corinnas-guide-to-facilitating-retrospectives\/\">Corinna&#8217;s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Short recap of last week\u2019s email: Retrospectives are only meaningful if they result in change, either by a better <strong>understanding<\/strong> of each other or <strong>experiments<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Experiments are either <strong>action items<\/strong> = concrete todos or <strong>rule changes<\/strong> = how the team handles their interactions, routines, rituals or events. Be warned, I\u2019m sloppy and use the term \u201caction item\u201d to mean both types \u2013 yes, also in this email \u2013 and my recommendations apply to both types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For me, a <strong>good action item<\/strong> is something that has a <strong>high chance of actually being implemented<\/strong> by the team. The team don\u2019t get brownie points for coming up with ten action items. They get points for those two actions that they actually carry out and observe the results of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, let\u2019s pretend that we are in a retrospective and the team is suggesting things to try out. What will increase the chances of follow-through for an action item? So glad, you\u2019re asking! Strap in for my longform take:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9 properties of action items that make follow-through more likely<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Small<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aim for small experiments. Go for the smallest change that could possibly make a difference. Small changes are easier to agree on. They have a higher chance of actually being implemented, because they are not such a big effort. If an experiment works: Great! If it doesn\u2019t you haven\u2019t invested much and can try something else. Rinse and repeat for continuous improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t underestimate the power of baby steps! Small changes quickly add up to big improvements. It\u2019s like compound interest. Additionally, people experience that change is possible and gain momentum. Change is like a muscle: It gets easier with practice. Eventually bigger changes also become possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Concrete<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s assume, the team has a high-level goal such as \u201cWe want fewer failed stories\u201d. There are many different ways to get closer to this goal. The team decides to go with limiting work in progress, e. g. \u201cWork on fewer stories in parallel.\u201d I would not be happy with this. How few is \u201cfewer\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How about: \u201cWe\u2019ll work on at most 2 stories simultaneously\u201d. Better. It\u2019s <strong>easy to check<\/strong> whether or not the team is sticking to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In Control of the Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now it\u2019s time to check if the goal and their strategy to reach the goal is within their control. In any given system there are<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>parts that the team <strong>Controls<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>parts that the team can <strong>Influence<\/strong> and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>parts that they can\u2019t change. But they can <strong>Adapt<\/strong> to deal with them better<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure that the goal and strategy reflect where the team stands regarding \u201cCIA\u201d. It\u2019s okay to pick a goal that they can only influence as long as their plan is about who and how to influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re clear on that, ask them for the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First Step<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few quotes have stuck with me as much as this one by James Clear (of \u201cAtomic Habits\u201d fame):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>\u201cMost people think they lack motivation when they really lack clarity.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know it\u2019s spot on for me personally: if it\u2019s too big or vague, I won\u2019t even start. But if the first step is this one very specific thing? Well, this bit I can do. And then the next. And the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People often lose momentum, when they don\u2019t know exactly how to start and it\u2019s even truer for teams: If it\u2019s unclear what the first step is, if it\u2019s unclear what was actually meant by this two-word-action-item&#8230; momentum will falter before it was even really gained in the first place.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a to-do, make the first step as concrete as possible, e.g. if it&#8217;s about setting up a meeting clarify: Who is invited? How long will it be? When&#8217;s a good time for it? What&#8217;s the goal of the meeting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a rule change, spell out a concrete change in behavior \u2013 including <strong>what will trigger the behavior<\/strong> such as \u201cDuring our daily standup, we\u2019ll make sure that we work at most on 2 stories at the same time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Owner aka Responsible Person<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who is going to take care of this AI? Either by doing it themselves, by finding other people to implement it, or by reminding people. E.g.: \u201cTimm will add the WIP-check to our standup-checklist\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there are no volunteers for an action item, then it might not important enough to the team (right now). Consider discarding it. Being explicit about not having the capacity or desire to do something is important information. Know thy (team)self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If nobody volunteers, \u201cWhat would have to change so that you would volunteer?\u201d is an interesting follow-up question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Review date<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For todos, this is straightforward: until when will it be done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rule changes often need a longer period of time to see them in action, before you can review them. So how long will the team try a new rule? When the trial period is up, the team reviews the rule to see if it solved their problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Success criteria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How will the team know that they did the action item? And how will they know if they solved the problem or at least improved the situation? What are their success criteria? \u201cGut feeling\u201d is an okay metric in my book as long as the team is explicit about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, all the points were for a single action item. The next one applies to the set of action items that come out of a retro:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One of Few<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I once heard someone boast that they got 17 actions out of their last retro. They thought that that was a good thing. To me, it\u2019s not. There\u2019s a proverb <em>\u201cThose who hunt two rabbits will catch neither\u201d<\/em>. If you have too many goals you will reach fewer of them than if you had a small number to begin with and are able to focus. Out of a 60-90 minute retrospective we will typically get 2-3 action items. Anything more than 5 would make me very skeptical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last but not least:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Triggers and reminders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes teams think that they will just magically remember to do the action, without any specific reminders or system in place. When invariably in the next retro they find out that <em>no, they didn\u2019t<\/em> (imagine my <em>surprised pikachu face<\/em> here) they sometimes still don\u2019t wanna set up a mechanism. I\u2019m baffled by this. Why do they think it will be different this time around?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>William Larsen said something along the lines of <em><strong>\u201cAn action item is good if nobody has to become a better human to implement it\u201d<\/strong><\/em>, meaning that nobody has to suddenly have perfect memory, become way more diligent or anything like that for the action to get done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why I insist on setting up triggers and reminders that will make it more likely for the behavior to happen. Find a way to <strong>keep the experiments on everyone\u2019s minds<\/strong>. Some ideas for <strong>visual reminders<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Big AIs can become stories in the Sprint backlog<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visualize 1-time-todos on the team board<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Have a running list of ongoing experiments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maintain a \u201cWorking Agreement\u201d to list all current team rules<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Post checklists in the places you\u2019re going to need them \u2013 e.g. the checklist for the daily standup goes on the task board<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Triggers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Calendar events<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Slack reminders<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add to checklists already in use<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Git commit hooks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Add action items to boards and (digital) documents that the team already use on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, to recap: <strong>Small, concrete, team has control over it, clear first step, responsible person, follow-up date, success criteria; there are only a few AIs, triggers &amp; reminders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s revisit some of the <strong>example actions and rules changes<\/strong> from last post:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Tidy up test-suite -&gt;<br>Jordan (PO) and Mel (Dev) will write a story for our next sprint<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get input from the Ops team -&gt;<br>Kim will invite the devops team to our refinement meeting &#8211; by the end of today<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Everybody will answer these 3 questions in the daily standup -&gt;<br>Everybody will answer these 3 questions in the daily standup \u2013 Taylor will post them to the board<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We will groom upcoming stories every Wed 3pm -><br>We will groom upcoming stories every Wed 3pm \u2013 Pete will send a calendar invite tomorrow<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We will prepare the product demo the day before the review -&gt;<br>We will prepare the product demo the day before the review \u2013 Priya will set up a reminder in Slack<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you see the difference between the before and after?<br><br>Take a minute:<br><strong>Look at your recent AIs, how concrete and actionable are they?<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong><strong><br><\/strong><strong>What is the average follow-through on action items in your teams? Are you happy with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full disclosure: I have no idea what the average follow-up on action items is. For my teams it\u2019s between 60-80%. Dropped action items often \u201cbelong\u201d to problems that sorted themselves out in other ways. So I\u2019m not aiming for 100% follow-through. I think 80% would be cool. But even at 60-80% the teams are happy and improving. So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good-bye and see you soon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corinna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><h3><strong>PS: If you'd rather read this <a href=\"https:\/\/leanpub.com\/guidetoretrospectives\" target=\"_blank\">Guide as an ebook, click here.<\/a> Or go all in and get it as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/leanpub.com\/b\/retromat-bundle-agile-retrospectives\" target=\"_blank\">Retromat eBook Bundle<\/a> at a discount. A purchase also supports Retromat as a whole \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/h3><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[This post is part of Corinna&#8217;s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives] Hello again! Short recap of last week\u2019s email: Retrospectives are only meaningful if they result in change, either by a better understanding of each other or experiments. Experiments are either action items = concrete todos or rule changes = how the team handles their interactions, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/12-how-to-craft-good-action-items\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;12. How to craft good Action Items&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1343,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}