Retromat: Kanban Lessons Learned Guide: 107-128-113-38-16

Unlikely Superheros (#107)

Imagine yourself as a superhero! What is your superpower?
Source: Pietari Kettunen

Each participant creates a superhero version of themselves based on how they see themselves in the team / project - Complete with appropriate superpowers, weaknesses and possibly an arch-nemesis.

Learning Wish List (#128)

Create a list of learning objectives for the team
Source: Tim Ottinger

Hand out pens and paper. Each participant writes down what they wish their coworkers would learn (as a team - no need to name individual people). When everyone is done, collect all items on a board and count how often each one appears. Pick the top three things as learning objectives, unless the team's discussion leads somewhere else.

Set Course (#113)

Imagine you're on a voyage - Cliffs and treasures await
Source: Katrin Dreyer

Imagine you're navigating a boat instead of a product or service. Ask the crew the following questions:

Where is a treasure to be found? (New things worth trying)
Where is a cliff to be safe from? (What makes the team worry)
Keep course for ... (What existing processes go well?)
Change course for... (What existing processes go badly)

Dot Voting - Keep, Drop, Add (#38)

Brainstorm what behaviors to keep, drop & add and pick the top initiatives
Source: Agile Retrospectives

Divide a flip chart into boxes headed with 'Keep', 'Drop' and 'Add'. Ask your participants to write concrete proposals for each category - 1 idea per index card. Let them write in silence for a few minutes. Let everyone read out their notes and post them to the appropriate category. Lead a short discussion on what the top 20% beneficial ideas are. Vote on it by distributing dots or X's with a marker, e.g. 1, 2, and 3 dots for each person to distribute. The top 2 or 3 become your action items.

Helped, Hindered, Hypothesis (#16)

Get concrete feedback on how you facilitated
Source: Agile Retrospectives

Prepare 3 flip chart papers titled 'Helped', 'Hindered', and 'Hypothesis' (suggestions for things to try out). Ask participants to help you grow and improve as a facilitator by writing you sticky notes and signing their initials so that you may ask questions later.

Created by Corinna Baldauf

Corinna wished for something like Retromat during her Scrummaster years. Eventually she just built it herself in the hope that it would be useful to others, too. Any questions, suggestions or encouragement? You can email her or follow her on Twitter. If you like Retromat you might also like Corinna's blog and her summaries on Wall-Skills.com.

Co-developed by Timon Fiddike

Timon gives Scrum trainings. He mentors advanced scrum masters and advanced product owners. Human, dad, nerd, contact improv & tango dancer. He has used Retromat since 2013 and started to build new features in 2016. You can email him or follow him on Twitter. Photo © Ina Abraham.