Agile Retrospectives

6.5 Activity: Patterns and Shifts

Use this in conjunction with a visual data-gathering activity (e.g., Timeline or Mad, Sad, Glad) to generate insights in an iteration, release, or project retrospective.

Purpose

Look for links and connection between facts and feelings. Analyze the data about the iteration/release/project. Guide the group in recognizing and naming patterns that contribute to current issues.

Time Needed

Fifteen to sixty minutes, depending on the size of the group and the amount of data.

Description

After gathering data, facilitate a discussion to analyze the data, looking for patterns of events, behaviors, or feelings. Also look for times when there has been a shift; for example, everything was going smoothly, and then the energy dropped. Capture insights on flip charts or, if you’re using a timeline, right on the timeline.

Steps

1. Introduce the activity by saying “Now that we’ve created a picture of our iteration/release project, let’s see what patterns and information we can find in our data.”

2. Invite the group to examine the display, if they haven’t already.

3. Focus on section at a time, and ask the group what they notice about the data. Write notes about what they say on the display or on a separate flip chart. Go through section by section.

4. Now look at the entire display. Ask the group:

   • Where do you see connections and links between events?

   • Where do you see a pattern? What would you name that pattern?

   • Where do shifts occur? What ...