Agile Retrospectives

Foreword

On my birthdays, I look back and reflect on my life. How have things gone? Where did I think I would be thirty years ago, ten years ago, one year ago? Where am I now? How could I do things better, and what things that I rue should I just resolve so I can get past them? Am I the type of person I hoped to be, and is the impact I have on others what I would hope for? If not, what might I do differently in the upcoming year(s)? Have I used the strength and intelligence that I have wisely?

This is my retrospective. I look back and assess. I consider. Taking everything into account, I try to set a better course for the upcoming year. I’m really glad that nobody is keeping score, even me, because I don’t know how well I’m doing overall. I guess it depends on philosophies that keep changing and on circumstances that bring more variability than I ever expected. Who could have predicted what my children would be like?

Maybe if I had clearer goals and more frequent birthdays, the retrospectives would work better. I’ll bet that if I had Esther and Diana at my more frequent birthdays, things would work out better. An outside facilitator with techniques like they spell out in this book would provide new insights and help formulate more concrete next steps.

I’ve been using iterative, incremental (a.k.a. Agile)) processes formally for eleven years; my drink of choice is called Scrum. The goals are very clear in Scrum. They are established for a project and then reset for every ...