Agile Retrospectives

6.7 Activity: Report Out with Synthesis

Use this in conjunction with a small group analysis activity to generate insights in an iteration, release, or project retrospective.

Purpose

Share thinking and ideas from small groups with the whole group. Find common threads, and look for ideas that energize the whole group.

Time Needed

Twenty to sixty minutes, depending on the number of small groups and the amount of time allowed for reports.

Description

Each small group shares the result of their work with the whole group. The retrospective leader keeps a progress bar to help the reporter stay within time. After the final report, the group looks for common threads and themes and identifies those they want to work on.

Steps

1. Introduce the activity by saying “It’s time for the teams to report their findings to the whole group. In order to hear from everyone, we can allow each group n minutes. I’ll help you stay on track by keeping a progress bar. I’ll mark off each minute, and when you see n--1 bars, you’ll know it’s time to wrap up. We’ll have n minutes for questions after each report. I’ll keep a progress bar for that, too.”

2. Time carefully. Monitor time, and make a bar for each minute that passes. If someone is going over, at n minutes announce, “Time is up. Please take a minute to conclude.”

3. After the last group report, ask the group to review any flip chart, or think back over what they’ve heard. Ask for common threads. Write those ideas on a flip chart.

4. After the ...