{"id":476,"date":"2020-05-08T14:31:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T12:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/?p=476"},"modified":"2020-07-03T10:42:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T08:42:10","slug":"phases-are-not-always-linear-in-retrospectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/phases-are-not-always-linear-in-retrospectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Phases are not always linear in retrospectives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you facilitate retrospectives then you\u2019re probably familiar with the 5 phases from \u201cAgile Retrospectives\u201d<\/a> by Derby and Larsen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Set the stage<\/li>
  2. Gather data<\/li>
  3. Generate insight<\/li>
  4. Decide what to do<\/li>
  5. Close the retrospective<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Whenever I talk about them and in all the material I\u2019ve created, it always looks like the phases are strictly linear. But that is not how they work in the majority of my retrospectives \u2013 because I rarely have single-topic retros. I usually run a \u201cgathering potential topics\u201d-activity like \u201cSpeedboat<\/a>\u201d or \u201cI like, I wish<\/a>\u201d and then the team works through 2 or 3 of these topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It would be strange to first talk about 3 topics in depth and \nafterwards come up with action items for all of them. Instead we talk \nabout 1 topic in depth and create an action item for this topic. And \nonly then start with the next topic. Like in this highly elaborate \ndiagram 😉 :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    I thought it might be worth stating this explicitly as it\u2019s not necessarily obvious for beginners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What about you? When do you decide on action items?<\/p>\n\n\n

    PS: Did you know there's a Retromat eBook Bundle? Ready-made retrospective plans for beginners and all activities from Retromat for experienced facilitators. Check out the Retromat books<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you facilitate retrospectives then you\u2019re probably familiar with the 5 phases from \u201cAgile Retrospectives\u201d by Derby and Larsen: Set the stage Gather data Generate insight Decide what to do Close the retrospective Whenever I talk about them and in all the material I\u2019ve created, it always looks like the phases are strictly linear. But … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “Phases are not always linear in retrospectives”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476"}],"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=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":477,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}