Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
The project retrospective meeting helps the team to analyze both successes and the failures, so the team and organization can improve how they work going forward. I think the main purpose of a project "postmortem" is to help the team to shed the tension, crisis and chaos from the project, so they can approach the next one with a good attitude and open mind. What is your opinion? Saving Changes...
In my experience most team members are ok with a retrospective as it's at the end of a project or iteration, and people are less stressed and open up more about ways to improve things.
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1 reply by Anish Abraham
Mar 09, 2018 10:40 AM
Anish Abraham
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Glad to know about your experience, Sante.
I have mixed response, so need to try something different. May be this works fine in a projectized organizational structure.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
I think reterospectic especially when you are applying agile and/or Scrum are Key. This is the main meeting where the team themselves can improve and adapt. I think team members look forward for the retrospective.
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1 reply by Anish Abraham
Mar 09, 2018 10:41 AM
Anish Abraham
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Thanks Rami, for your feedback on this. I agree, team members may feel better after they had a chance to discuss the outcome.
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Nico SchusterManagig Director / CEO| Tecpal Ltd. Hong KongFrankfurt, Hesse, Germany
I think it is vital to explain to everyone on the team why this is such an important step and how it will actually help each project member in a similar situation or in similar projects.
In my experience explaining why things are done and why one considers them important can really help increase awareness and motivation to participate.
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2 replies by Anish Abraham and Walter Pilimon
Mar 09, 2018 10:51 AM
Anish Abraham
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I agree Nico and thanks for your feedback on this.
I think as a project leader my role would be to let all team members vent and to keep everyone focused on the process.
Mar 15, 2018 8:34 AM
Walter Pilimon
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It is also important that people propose how to avoid/overcome/plan better for the future and really take these suggestions into consideration and practice. 5 retrospectives, dozens of hours, lots of proposed improvements, but no actual implementation = people unmotivated to go to the next retrospective.
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Anonymous
1. You should not wait to the end
2. Please do not call it postmortem
3. learning is an ongoing process and require a culture of understanding not a blame culture
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1 reply by Anish Abraham
Mar 09, 2018 10:52 AM
Anish Abraham
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Thanks, Mounir for your feedback on this. I really appreciate it.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
While is a matter of continues improvement my personal opinion is not to wait to an specific time and an specific meeting. It must be done continuously.
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2 replies by Anish Abraham and Nico Schuster
Mar 09, 2018 6:17 AM
Nico Schuster
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Agree.. it should be a continuous process. Nevertheless, in the end it's good to wrap it up and share the knowledge.
Mar 09, 2018 11:00 AM
Anish Abraham
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Thanks Sergio, and I agree that it should be a continuous process.
I think if we analyze the project routinely and act upon what we discover, it can improve efficiency.
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Be able to show the rationale for the activity, and how the take-away's turn into action and improvement.
Also, make it fun for everyone, not too dry, interactive, and engaging. And, maybe bring some chocolate :)
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3 replies by Anish Abraham, Nico Schuster, and Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Mar 09, 2018 6:16 AM
Nico Schuster
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I love the chocolate part :)
Mar 09, 2018 8:28 AM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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Dark chocolate.
Mar 09, 2018 10:35 AM
Anish Abraham
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Thanks Andrew, for your feedback on this.
We used to do cake or pizza with fun games like "bowling" but never tried chocolate. Will try next time :)
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Nico SchusterManagig Director / CEO| Tecpal Ltd. Hong KongFrankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Mar 09, 2018 6:12 AM
Replying to Drew Craig
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Be able to show the rationale for the activity, and how the take-away's turn into action and improvement.
Also, make it fun for everyone, not too dry, interactive, and engaging. And, maybe bring some chocolate :)
I love the chocolate part :)
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1 reply by Drew Craig
Mar 09, 2018 9:51 AM
Drew Craig
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Haha, absolutely. Wasn’t sure if anyone would catch it.
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Nico SchusterManagig Director / CEO| Tecpal Ltd. Hong KongFrankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Mar 09, 2018 4:34 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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While is a matter of continues improvement my personal opinion is not to wait to an specific time and an specific meeting. It must be done continuously.
Agree.. it should be a continuous process. Nevertheless, in the end it's good to wrap it up and share the knowledge. Saving Changes...
Create a safe environment for folks to express their views and use multiple techniques to elicit feedback. The latter is especially important when retros are done frequently to avoid staleness - think Lego, drawing materials, and so on...
Kiron
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1 reply by Anish Abraham
Mar 09, 2018 11:06 AM
Anish Abraham
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Thanks Kiron, for your comments on this.
I think providing an opportunity to voice them goes a long way towards diffusing emotions.
Be able to show the rationale for the activity, and how the take-away's turn into action and improvement.
Also, make it fun for everyone, not too dry, interactive, and engaging. And, maybe bring some chocolate :)
Dark chocolate.
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1 reply by Drew Craig
Mar 09, 2018 9:50 AM
Drew Craig
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Of course. That certainly is my preference as well. One of my previous leaders would always have some sort of chocolate, whether for meetings or in his office.
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