First off, when I say "complained" I mean that a few team members (me being the first - can't keep that mouth shut) started discussing some concerns with the way previous retrospectives were held. I felt that we spent a lot of time engaging in hand-waving exercises that distract and relax the participants and help generate data. I also thought the results of those exercises were not as good as they could be. Others voiced similar concerns - mainly that it was a lot of time invested for little return. As a group, we were generating action items from these retrospectives, but they seemed small return for 3 hours. Things like "we need to move our information radiators out of that meeting room and into the open". It was a good idea, a useful action item, but not worth a 2 or 3 hour investment to discover.
Another thing to note is that everyone who brought up issues with the current retrospective did not want to simply scrap it, at least when the possibility of change arose. After consulting the Agile Manager (he knows who he is) our fearless leader proposed a simpler format.
Let me just say now that it was the best retrospective I've attended.
The new format was simply this:
- Present the results of the last iteration
- Open the floor to ideas for improvement
There was an hour booked for this meeting, the first good thing. The presentation consisted of a simple chart that showed what items were finished and not finished over the last few iterations. Then the floor was opened up and the first item was brought up by someone who had just moved to a new team. He said "don't ever change" - meaning he felt our team worked together well, much better than his new team. Particularly how members will help out however they could, working in new areas and pitching in wherever effort was needed. Great feedback and something that helps us to know what we are doing right. Some of the items that caused problems, due to process or lack of information, were brought up and generated action items.
Eventually we got around to talk about retrospectives - how and why this format was better than previous ones. After discussion, I hit upon something. This meeting felt natural and flowed well - many items were discussed and it felt like things were identified that will lead to improvements. Everyone had their say and it happened quickly. The older retrospectives, with the hand-wavy exercises and their data gathering, felt awkward. Our team feels comfortable with itself and that sense of unease was an indication that we needed to change how things were done. We got more done in less time with this format, and I think that is also an indication that this was the right thing to do.
I have heard the comment from some other people that they spaced out their retrospectives more, that they weren't getting anything out of them. Perhaps they had the same sense of aimless unease in their retrospectives and chose to avoid them rather than change them. Maybe that is a lesson to be promulgated - it is better to tinker than to shirk. Or ah-voision is a sign that something should change. (ah-voision is a word - look it up. I don't say evasion, I say ah-voision!) Feel free to create a down-homey saying to help spread this insight. Rhyming probably will work better, jingles better still. Original music only please.
I've been learning many things about how our company is handling Agile methodologies over the last few weeks. The first was communication - do more of it. The next is adaptation - teams are self directing so if something doesn't seem right, change may be in order. Finally negotiation - more communication will not solve everything nor change dates, but may yield movement through negotiation. Surely this is not the end of Agile Insights (tm) but it is for this evening. I have gym to attend to on the morrow and the sweet surcease of wakefulness beckons...
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