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

Why Retrospectives? (#46)

Ask 'Why do we do retrospectives?'
Source: Pete Roessler
Go back to the roots and start into the retrospective by asking 'Why do we do this?' Write down all answers for everyone to see. You might be surprised.
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Gather data

Sailboat / Speedboat (#19)

Analyze what forces push you forward and what pulls you back
Source: Luke Hohmann, found at Mike Griffiths
Draw a sailboat (or speedboat) onto a flip chart paper. Give it big sails (motor) as well as a heavy anchor. Team members silently write on sticky notes what propelled the team forward and what kept it in place. One idea per note. Post the stickies to sails (motor) and anchor respectively. Read out each one and discuss how you can increase wind (motor power) and cut anchors.

Variation: Some people add an iceberg in the back of the image. The iceberg represents obstacles they already see coming.
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Generate insights

Perfection Game (#20)

What would make the next iteration a perfect 10 out of 10?
Source: Ben Linders
Prepare a flip chart with 2 columns, a slim one for 'Rating' and a wide one for 'Actions'. Everyone rates the last iteration on a scale from 1 to 10. Then they have to suggest what action(s) would make the next iteration a perfect 10.
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Decide what to do

Systemic Consensus (#103)

Check for resistance instead of approval
Source: Georg Paulus, Siegfried Schrotta \& Erich Visotschnig via Corinna Baldauf
Do you have a hotly debated matter with several possible ways to go and the team can't agree on any of them? Instead of trying to find a majority for a way that will create winners and losers, try what happens if you turn the decision inside out:
Draw a table with the voters in the left-most column and proposals on top. Now everybody has to fill in their resistance towards each proposal. 0 means 'no resistance - this is what I want', up to 10, meaning 'shoot me now'. Give the least hated solution a try.
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Close the retrospective

Endless Blessings (#101)

Bless the upcoming iteration with all your good wishes
Source: Bernie DeKoven via Diana Larsen
Stand in a circle. Explain that you will collect good wishes for the next iteration, building on each other's blessings. If you do it for the first time, start the activity by giving the first blessing. Then go around the circle to add to your blessing. Skip over people who can't think of anything. When you are losing steam, ask for another blessing and start another round. Continue until no one can think of blessings anymore.

Example:
You start with 'May we finish all stories next iteration'. Your neighbor continues with 'And may they delight our customers'. Their neighbor wishes 'And may we be able to automatically test all new features'. And so on until ideas for additions to this blessing run out.
Then someone else can start a new round, e.g. with 'May we write beautiful code next iteration'.
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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.