Are your Scrum retrospectives driving change the way they should?
Marcus UdokangProject Manager| Aivaz ConsultingCalgary, Alberta, Canada
As a Scrum Master, you find your retrospectives are not driving change within the team and organization, the way they should. You are not gaining the actionable movement which should take place during the retrospective. You are trying to be creative to not make the meeting boring or uneventful. You need to know what is working and what is not.
If you have come to what might appear as a stand still during your retrospectives, what have you done to overcome this issue? Saving Changes...
In my opinion the most important thing for the success of a team is the knowledge and experience of its team members in their lines of work. In other words the hard skills are the most important.
I am not sure in general but when I worked as a developer on Scrum teams in retrospectives we did not talk about deep technical issues and as such they were of very little value for the developers. The retrospectives did not help in writing better code or in better design decisions.
So I really don't understand what is the purpose of the retrospectives. As a developer you spend most of your time in your own world creating. How can a retrospective improve the way you create?
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2 replies by Kiron Bondale and Marcus Udokang
Jul 30, 2020 8:29 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Adrian -
Improvement ideas through retrospectives can be aimed at the individual or the team. Most of the time, I've found they relate to the latter as it is usually the system and not the people working in the system that needs improvement.
No developer is an island, and the interactions between that developer and other team members or with stakeholders outside the team are just one example of where there might be good opportunities to improve.
Kiron
Jul 30, 2020 3:44 PM
Marcus Udokang
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@Adrian, I've worked with developers in Scrum retrospectives who have expressed similar opinions.
In my opinion the most important thing for the success of a team is the knowledge and experience of its team members in their lines of work. In other words the hard skills are the most important.
I am not sure in general but when I worked as a developer on Scrum teams in retrospectives we did not talk about deep technical issues and as such they were of very little value for the developers. The retrospectives did not help in writing better code or in better design decisions.
So I really don't understand what is the purpose of the retrospectives. As a developer you spend most of your time in your own world creating. How can a retrospective improve the way you create?
Adrian -
Improvement ideas through retrospectives can be aimed at the individual or the team. Most of the time, I've found they relate to the latter as it is usually the system and not the people working in the system that needs improvement.
No developer is an island, and the interactions between that developer and other team members or with stakeholders outside the team are just one example of where there might be good opportunities to improve.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Marcus UdokangProject Manager| Aivaz ConsultingCalgary, Alberta, Canada
Jul 30, 2020 6:04 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
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In my opinion the most important thing for the success of a team is the knowledge and experience of its team members in their lines of work. In other words the hard skills are the most important.
I am not sure in general but when I worked as a developer on Scrum teams in retrospectives we did not talk about deep technical issues and as such they were of very little value for the developers. The retrospectives did not help in writing better code or in better design decisions.
So I really don't understand what is the purpose of the retrospectives. As a developer you spend most of your time in your own world creating. How can a retrospective improve the way you create?
@Adrian, I've worked with developers in Scrum retrospectives who have expressed similar opinions.
Marcus Saving Changes...
Marcus UdokangProject Manager| Aivaz ConsultingCalgary, Alberta, Canada
Appreciate the feedback, everyone. This is certainly valuable information.
There are two antipatterns that I see often. One is where the format and topic are not varied frequently. I don't just mean trying a new gamification idea here - I'm talking about changing what you are focused on. Rather than simply having a retrospective 'of the sprint', have a retrospective focused on the micro-abrasions that occurred in one three-hour period of the sprint. Once you've captured them, what can be learned from them? Or have a retrospective that purely centers on the meetings that were held, or on the way work is groomed in the backlog, or whether the team is getting good feedback and metrics that help them make decisions. Change the frame for the retrospective and you will see a change in engagement and output.
The second pattern is where actions are not the primary output. This happens a lot in winge-fest retrospectives where everyone moans for an hour, then gets back to the day job. This provides a short feeling of euphoria because individuals have got something off their chests, but it ultimately leads to a perception that retrospectives are a waste of time because nothing ever changes. Of course, it doesn't change - you aren't taking ACTION! Focus on a set of actions being the output. Where problems outside the team are highlighted eg 'the support team', 'the CAB', 'the management' - work out what actions can be taken by the team. Consider the following questions: Who can the team speak to, how do they influence the situation, how do they make the problem more visible, how can they help managers understand the problem?
Fixing these two antipatterns can breathe fresh life into your retrospectives and get people back on a path of continuous improvement. Best of luck! Saving Changes...
Marcus UdokangProject Manager| Aivaz ConsultingCalgary, Alberta, Canada
@John, these antipatterns and how to overcome them is fantastic. I very much like these pertinent questions to ask the team, which go beyond the short feeling of euphoria, and develop a more meaningful, engaging, and well focused output for scrum retrospectives. Saving Changes...
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