1. REVIVING RETROSPECTIVES
Hina Popal
Senior Agile Practitioner

2. AGENDA
● What are retrospectives? But more importantly, can I stop going?
● Why are retrospectives hated? Seriously the biggest waste of time.
● How can we achieve something better? the mythical state of cats shooting
laser beams while riding unicorns
● What do we mean when we say blameless? #buzzword
● The only way to get better is to practice OMG, are we going to have to talk to
our neighbors in this session?!
What are we talking about?

3. WHAT IS A RETROSPECTIVE
ANYWAY?

4. RETROSPECTIVES
Agile Retrospective - a practice used by teams to reflect on their way of
planning, working, interacting, communicating and continuously becoming
better in what they do. They are meant to help teams keep improving all
aspects of how they work together, execute and plan.

5. RETROSPECTIVE GOALS
Improved productivity
Helps teams to assess their situation and reduce waste
Improved capability
Share knowledge and set goals for other team members to learn
Improved quality
Write better code means less rework and less bugs
Improved capacity
Determine optimal solution for choosing features that add value
Being more productive, improving capability, and improving quality increases capacity
Improved camaraderie
Provide a constructive environment for a good team dynamic

6. WHY ARE THEY HATED?

7. TWO REASONS WHY RETROS SUCK
THE LIFE OUT OF US
Teams don’t have them
So they never improve.
Applies to any methodology…
Teams have them
But they are done poorly.

8. Common Misconceptions

10. ACHIEVING SOMETHING BETTER

11. DELIVERING FEEDBACK
Creating a positive environment for your employees is crucial. It’s important to make
sure delivery of our messages comes across in the right way.
Event: Engineer just completed an important feature.
● Active destructive - provides a very negative environment
o “Are you sure it actually works?”
● Passive destructive - provides a negative environment
o “Jim also just completed his task.”
● Passive constructive - provides a neutral environment
o “Great!”
● Active constructive - provides a positive environment
o “You did an amazing job! Did you like working on the feature?“

12. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
BLAMELESS?

14. “Regardless of what we discover, we
understand and truly believe that everyone
did the best job they could, given what they
knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the
resources available, and the situation at
hand. “ –The Retrospective Prime Directive
http://www.retrospectives.com/pages/retroPrimeDirective.html

15. BLAME DISTRACTS US
FROM REAL PROBLEMS.

16. WHY DO WE BLAME?
● I wanted to feel better about the
situation
● I didn’t like the other person
● I didn’t want to deal with the
consequences
● It was easier than the alternative
We are human after all…

17. Attribution Theory
“When we say, “This man is easily pleased,” it implies that we
first assess the objective situation as not especially pleasing,
even though it is so satisfying to him.” Likewise…
“he takes it too hard,”
“he keeps up his chin,”
“he doesn’t know when he is well off,”
All require a judgment about the objective state of affairs.”
- Heider, 1958
A theory that supposes that one attempts to understand the behavior of others by
attributing feelings, beliefs, and intentions to them. -Wikipedia

18. NAIVE REALISM (PSYCHOLOGY)
From wikipedia:
● You see the world objectively and without bias.
● You expect that others will come to the same conclusions,
so long as they are exposed to the same information and
interpret it in a rational manner.
● You assume that others who do not share the same views
must be ignorant, irrational, or biased.
Main assumptions…

19. BLAMELESS IS A BUZZWORD.
AWARENESS IS THE ANSWER.

20. BEAT THE BLAME GAME
These are the tips that helped me.
● Acknowledge what you are feeling,
thinking
● Gather insights into what the other
person is feeling, thinking
● Do you need to adjust your
perception?
Duane Storey | https://www.flickr.com/photos/duanestorey/365004518

22. RETROSPECTIVE INGREDIENTS
Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great Copyright © 2006
- Esther Derby, Diana Larsen

23. RETRO STEP: Activity Name
Purpose: What this retro technique’s purpose is.
Description: What this retro technique is about.
Materials Needed: Anything the facilitator of the retro needs to prepare in
advance.
Activity:
1. The steps to complete the activity.

24. SET THE STAGE: Check-In
Purpose: Allow for everyone a chance to speak, and also creatively share how they are feeling
in the moment without it being too uncomfortable.
Description: The retrospective facilitator asks one question and has the team answer it in a
round robin fashion.
Length of Time: 5 minutes
Materials Needed: A question prepared ahead of time. Sticky notes and pens. Example: Using
one word, how do you feel today?
Activity:
1. Give everyone either sticky notes/pens.
2. Ask the prepared question and have everyone write their answers on the sticky note.
3. Go around the room and have each person reveal their answer.

25. NOW YOU TRY
Teams:
Write down 3 words to describe how you feel about the conference so far.
Scrum Master:
1. (2 mins) Have the team write down three words to describe their
emotions.
2. (3 mins) Go round-robin and review everyone’s answers.

26. The Office © 1999

27. Remote Check-In
Tool: https://funretro.io

28. GATHERING DATA: Timeline
Purpose: To help people to remember what happened over the course of a iteration or release. To provide
different perspectives of what happened from each person’s point of view.
Description: The team writes sticky notes of things that happened along the timeline that is significant to
them and then posts them in roughly timeline order.
Length of Time: 1 hour
Materials Needed: Sticky notes, pens, & blue painters tape (or a whiteboard w/ the timeline drawn on it).
Activity:
1. Set up the activity by explaining what the team will be doing. “We are going to populate this timeline to get a
better picture of what happened from each person’s point-of-view.”
2. Hand out sticky notes and pens. Ask people to write legibly.
3. Ask people to think back over the timeline and write down all of the memories of what happened (one per
sticky). This should take approximately 10 minutes.
4. When folks stop writing, encourage them to get up and put each of their stickys where they go on the
timeline. Give them approximately 5 minutes.
5. When all cards are posted, invite everyone to look at the results.

29. NOW YOU TRY
Teams:
Fill in the timeline from the time you woke up this morning until this session. Write down
which activities you performed at a “high level” i.e. made breakfast, arrived late to the
conference due to traffic, attended x talk, etc.
Scrum Master:
1. (3 mins) Ask people to think back over the timeline (arrival until this workshop) and
write down all of the memories of what happened (one per sticky).
2. (2 mins) Have the team post their cards on the flipchart.
3. (3 mins) Invite everyone to review the results.

30. Remote:Timeline
Monday Friday
Sprint
Planning
Firefight -
customer
issue
Wednesday
Refactored
x because
tests failed
Met with
customer
for X
Set up new
laptop
Tool: Google Slides

31. GENERATE INSIGHTS: Five Whys
Purpose: Discover underlying conditions that contribute to an issue
Description: Team members work in pairs to look at issues, specifically focusing on the why something
happened.
Length of Time: 15-20 minutes
Materials Needed: List of potential problems that you generated in the previous step.
Activity:
1. Review the issues and themes already identified by the team.
2. Divide into pairs and do the following for 10 minutes
a. The pair pick an issue they are interested in and agree who is the questioner and who is the respondent.
b. The questioner asks, “Why did an event or problem occur?” Once the respondent answers, the
questioner asks why that happened. The intention is to discover the root cause.
c. Continue until you have asked why 4-5 times.
d. Record the answer from the fourth or five why.
e. Once you are done, switch positions and start over from step a.
3. Once time is up, the pairs get back together to discuss the results with the team.

32. NOW YOU TRY
Teams:
Start with the question “Why are there still many anti-agile proponents?”
Scrum Master:
1. (1 mins) Split the team into pairs.
2. (3 mins) Have each group walk through the “Five Whys” (one person asks
first, and then they switch at the halfway mark).Make sure they are writing
down the answer to the fourth or fifth why.
3. (2 mins) Have the team post their written findings on your timeline near
each issue discussed.
4. (3 mins) Invite everyone to read the results.

33. Remote Five Whys
1. Pair off team members
2. Have them discuss via chat (IRC, Slack, Lync, etc)
3. As team to share their findings with the entire room

34. DECIDE WHAT TO DO: Short Subjects
Purpose: Help to discover differing perspectives on how the team is doing and provide variety in very
short retrospectives
Description: Team brainstorms lists of ideas for action in response to prompts
Length of Time: 30 minutes
Materials Needed: White board, markers or remote tool like google docs or etherpad
Activity:
1. Choose which short subject you will use.
Examples:
(Mad|Sad|Glad), (Keep|Drop|Add), (Proud|Sorry), (What worked Well|What didn’t|Do Differently
Next Time).
2. Give the team 3 minutes to reflect on the timeline and take notes.
3. Spend 5 minutes to brainstorm and record ideas under the chosen subjects.
4. Ask the team to identify the top 20% of the items they believe have potential for the greatest
benefit and prioritize with dots
5. Take top 1-2 and set up next steps to follow through on actions to benefit the team

35. NOW YOU TRY
Exercise Length:
15 minutes.
Teams:
Fill out what made you (Mad|Sad|Glad) about the conference so far
Scrum Master:
1. (1 min) Explain the short subject for today (Mad|Sad|Glad)
2. (2 min) Give the team a bit of time to think about what is posted.
3. (3 min) Brainstorm and record ideas under the chosen subjects.
4. (1 min) Ask the team to prioritize the ideas they think will have the most impact for team
improvement.
5. (5 min) Take top 1-3 with the most dots and discuss next steps to follow through on actions to
benefit the team

36. Remote Short Subjects
Tool: https://funretro.io

37. CLOSE THE PERSPECTIVE:
Helped, Hindered, Hypothesis
Purpose: Help retrospective leaders get feedback to improve skills and processes
Description: Retrospective leader gathers feedback from members to see what worked from the
retro and what didn’t so they can modify for future retrospectives
Length of time: 15-20 minutes
Materials Needed: Whiteboard, markers or remote tool like google docs or etherpad
Activity:
1. Write down 3 lists titled and title them Helped, Hindered, Hypothesis
2. Ask the team to help make future retrospectives better by writing down feedback on the sticky
notes and posting it under each header.
3. Review each sticky and ask questions if you need clarification.
4. Thank the team for their feedback and modify the retro for the future.

38. NOW YOU TRY
Exercise Length:
5 minutes.
Teams:
Please provide feedback on what was helpful, what hindered you from learning, and if you have a
hypothesis (suggestion) on how to improve the workshop
Scrum Master:
1. (2 min) Ask the team to take 2 minutes to help make future retrospectives better by writing
down feedback on the sticky notes and posting it under each header.
2. (3 min) Review each sticky and ask questions if you need clarification.
3. Thank the team for their feedback and modify the retro for the future.

39. Remote Short Subjects
Tool: https://funretro.io

40. FIVE TIPS TO MAKE RETROS BETTER
Shorten the time between each one.
Always start with an update on previous action items.
Always end on a high note.
Applies to any methodology…
Focus discussions on what you are able to change.
Have ground rules for the meeting visible.

41. Questions?
hpopal11@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hina-popal/
https://twitter.com/hi_popal