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Retromat.org – by Corinna Baldauf
Plan-ID:
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Set the stage

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.
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Generate insights

Braver (#145)

What does courage look like? What would the team do if they were bolder?
Source: Johanna Amlacher
Put up four posters with the following questions:
  • Which person in the team do you find courageous and how does courage show itself?
  • When have you felt insecure and wished you were braver?
  • What helps you to be brave?
  • What bold idea would you try as a team if you were 10 times bolder?
For each question do a round of:
  • 4 minutes of quiet time to answer the question on sticky notes
  • Ask people to read out and post their answers. (In a large group you can use 1-2-4-All to discuss answers in smaller groups first.)
  • Cluster similar answers
(We do it in several rounds to slowly warm up the participants to tackle the last question.)

After the last round, look at all the answers and facilitate a discussion. Ask participants what is standing out for them? What's unexpected? What patterns do they see? What do these patterns mean for them as a team?

Then ask the team to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10: How brave do they think they are? Followed by: What would be possible if they were one step higher on the scale?

Based on everything they’ve talked about, what would they like to try that’s somewhat bold yet safe enough?
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Generate insights

Original 4 (#55)

Ask Norman Kerth's 4 key questions
Source: Norman Kerth
Norman Kerth, inventor of retrospectives, identified the following 4 questions as key:
  • What did we do well, that if we didn’t discuss we might forget?
  • What did we learn?
  • What should we do differently next time?
  • What still puzzles us?
What are the team's answers?
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Set the stage

Weather Report (#2)

Participants mark their 'weather' (mood) on a flipchart
Source: Agile Retrospectives
Prepare a flipchart with a drawing of storm, rain, clouds and sunshine. Each participant marks their mood on the sheet.
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Close the retrospective

Appreciation Postcards (#112)

Team members write appreciative postcards for later delivery
Source: Philip Rogers
Hand out blank postcards. Each team member silently writes a postcard to another team member, thanking them for something they did. They can write as many postcards as they like, and they can address them either to individuals or to multiple people. Collect all postcards. Consider using envelopes with the name on for privacy. Deliver the cards throughout the next iteration to make someone's day.

Variation: Use normal paper and let participants fold the paper into little cranes for some origami fun. (Suggestion by Virginia Brassesco)
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Retromat contains 127 activities, allowing for 8349005 combinations (25x30x22x22x23+5) and we are constantly adding more.

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.