Agile Retrospectives

7.2 Activity: SMART Goals

Use this activity to Decide What to Do in an iteration, release, or project retrospective.

Purpose

Translate ideas into priorities and action plans. Develop specific measurable actions.

Time needed

Twenty to sixty minutes depending on the size of the group.

Description

Focus the team’s attention on developing goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Goals that have these characteristics are more likely to reach fruition.

Steps

1. Introduce the activity by leading a short discussion on the importance SMART goals. Point out that goals that aren’t specific, measurable, relevant, and timely tend to fizzle.

2. Point to the SMART characteristics written on a white board or flip chart. Offer an example of a SMART goal: “Our goal is to pair program at least 5 hours a day starting next Monday. We’ll rotate pairs daily. We’ll create a chart with the pairing schedule, and review it at our next retrospective.” Contrast a non-SMART goal: “We should pair more.” Note: choose an example that isn’t related to the experiments or improvements the team is working on.

3. Form groups around the items that the team prioritized to work on. Ask each group to develop a SMART goal for the initiative, and identify 1--5 action steps to accomplish the goal. Monitor activity.

4. Ask each group to report their goal and plan. After each report, confirm with the rest of the group that the goals are, in fact, SMART. Invite the group to offer refinements. ...