Planning your next agile retrospective? Start with a random plan, change it to fit the team's situation, print it and share the URL. Or browse around for new ideas!
Assess how to continue with last retro's actions Source: Sven Winkler
Create a table with 5 columns. The first column lists last retro's action items. The other columns are headed 'More of', 'Keep doing', 'Less of' and 'Stop doing'. Participants place 1 sticky note per row into the column that states how they want to proceed with that action. Afterwards facilitate a short discussion for each action, e.g. asking:
Imagine your last iteration was a movie and write a review about it Source: Isabel Corniche
Introduce the activity by asking: Imagine your last iteration was a movie and you had to write a review:
What was the genre of the movie (e.g. horror, drama, ...)?
What was the (central) theme? Describe in 2-3 words.
Was there a big twist (e.g. a bad guy)?
What was the ending like (e.g. happy-end, cliffhanger) and did you expect it?
What was your personal highlight?
Would you recommend it to a colleague?
Give each team member a piece of paper and 5 minutes to silently ponder the questions. In the meantime (or before the session) divide a flip chart in 7 columns headed with 'Genre', 'Theme', 'Twist', 'Ending', 'Expected?', 'Highlight', 'Recommend?'. When everyone has finished writing, fill out the flip chart while each participant reads out their notes. Afterwards look at the finished table and lead a discussion about
What's standing out?
What patterns do you see? What do they mean for you as a team?
Prepare a flip chart with 3 columns titled 'What', 'Who', and 'Due'. Ask one participant after the other, what they want to do to advance the team. Write down the task, agree on a 'done by'-date and let them sign their name. If someone suggests an action for the whole team, the proposer needs to get buy-in (and signatures) from the others.
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.
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
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If you like Retromat you might also like Corinna's blog and her summaries on Wall-Skills.com.
