Agile Retrospectives

7.4 Activity: Short Subjects

Use to Decide What to Do in an iteration retrospective.

Purpose

Help to discover differing perspectives on how the team is doing and provide variety in very short retrospectives.

Time Needed

Twenty to thirty minutes.

Description

The team brainstorms lists of ideas for action, in response to prompts on the 2--3 flip charts. Titles may include:

• What Worked Well/Do Differently Next Time, a.k.a. as WWWDD

• Keep/Drop/Add

• Stop Doing/Start Doing/Keep Doing (a.k.a. StoStaKee)

• Start/Stop/Stay

• Smiley/Frowny

• Mads/Sads/Glads

• Prouds/Sorries

• Plus/Delta (on the iteration)

Steps

1. Post the flip charts. Give team members 3-5 minutes to reflect privately on the iteration and write notes.

2. Lead a brainstorming and record ideas. Keep going until all the comments team members think are important have been posted on the charts. Remember to wait through one or two silences for the next burst of comments.

3. Ask the team to identify the top 20% of the items-those items they believe have the potential for the greatest benefit. Lead a short open discussion, then vote with dots. (See Priority Dots.)

4. If there are more than 2--3 high priority items, reduce the remaining number of issues for action to a manageable few.

5. Keep the brainstormed lists for historical review at subsequent iteration retrospectives to help identify areas of persistent issues.

Materials and Preparation

Prepare a flip charts with titles for discussion, changing the titles ...