Retrospective Tips & Best Practices

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Alex Vernik
Alex Vernik
Engineering Ops Specialist
Posted on
May 21, 2020
Updated on
Oct 16, 2022
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Are you looking for some new ways to improve your next Sprint Retrospective and ensure your team’s success? There are 10 steps Agile teams recommend for smooth and efficient Retrospective meeting. Let’s take a look at these retrospective best practices to making your meetings as productive as possible. 

Preparation

setting the stage when first beginning a meeting is important. The team should feel comfortable and know the agenda for the meeting. By doing this, it prepares everyone and allows them time to gather their thoughts so they can participate. The meeting space should be well-prepared as well. The team should be mentally and physically ready by the beginning of the meeting.

Time

by setting a time box for each section of the meeting, it will keep everyone on track and progressing well. Your meeting time is important because everyone knows exactly how long is available to discuss one topic before moving to the next. 

This is the most efficient way to run a Retrospective meeting.

Accountability

By assigning someone a role for each section of the meeting, you are involving the team members which will help with engagement, participation, and retrospective success.

Tracking

By using a tool like Jira, your team can track their progress and learn from the data. This is a great way to ensure that your team continues moving in the right direction.

Rotation

By rotating the facilitator of the meeting, you will increase the team’s cooperation and give everyone a chance to feel involved and contribute with an important role in the Retrospective meetings.

Participate

In order to gain ideas and more knowledge, attending the Retrospective of other teams can be a good strategy. This can give you some insight as to what should be included in each meeting and how to properly run a meeting.

Vote

By voting on items in real time, everyone is participating and has a say in what should be discussed further. This is a good way to maintain organization in a meeting as well as engagement, interest, and contribution.

Feedback

Use feedback in meetings to improve the effectiveness of Agile Retrospectives. Feedback is always a very important way to ensure that everything is running smoothly and that everyone is content.

Chart

By charting the progress of past Retrospectives, your team is easily able to see how far you’ve come, as well as what works and what doesn’t. This is a great way to assess progress.

What’s Next

At the end of the meeting, go ahead and plan for the next one. By doing this, everyone on your team can be prepared and you will not waste time on figuring out what to do in every meeting. 

By following this guide, your Retrospective meetings are sure to be a success. They will be constructive and productive, and your team is sure to be happy with the results. Retros are very important for every scrum team, and the way they are conducted matters. Be sure to hold your Retrospective meetings using these tips for the best results.

About the author

Alex Vernik
Engineering Ops Specialist

Engineering leader, passionate about coding products and value creation. Vast experience with managing R&D teams at various scales. Embracing innovation and transformation for constant improvement.

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