The document outlines various strategies and techniques for conducting effective agile retrospectives and postmortems, emphasizing the importance of team dynamics, communication, and continuous improvement. It includes detailed methodologies for setting up retrospectives, facilitating discussions, and capturing insights, with references to various facilitation tools and practices. Additionally, it discusses the significance of reflective and interpretive questioning to enhance learning outcomes and decision-making processes in teams.

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www.pnsqc.org
PNSQC - Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference

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1. Use Cases & Knowledge Areas
2. From Postmortems to Agile Retrospectives
3. Unboxing Agile (with a New Team)
4. Advancing Past the Basics…
5. Beyond Retrospectives

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Team
Dynamics
Work
Process
Learning How to Learn
• Team building, restoring energy
• Process conflict, address
traumatic events
• Self-empowerment & advocacy
• Improve communication &
working together
• Make important technical & non-
technical decisions
• Set and review standards
• Define protocols and procedures
• Influence the work system
Facilitation
Organization
Development
Process
Improvement

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Across all domains studied,
experts employ mental models
to attain mastery…

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Postmortem
• End of project or after event
• Organization-level container
Agile Retrospective
✓ Cadence or heartbeat
✓ Team-level container
✓ Reference a clear set of
practices & principles
Team Container
1. Share a training experience
2. Work together in a new way
3. Inspect and adapt

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• Schedule a meeting
• Review sprint outcome
• Discuss impediments
• “Start, Stop, Continue”
• Choose ONE next action
• Questioning Techniques
• Debriefing Process
• Physical Toolkit
• Scribing Skills

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• What images or scenes do you recall?
• Which comments, or words struck you?
• What ideas caught your attention and why?
• What sounds do you recall?
Objective: Facts, Data, Senses
From Practical Facilitation by Christine Hogan
• How did this affect you?
• Were you surprised at any time?
• Were you concerned at any time? What worried you?
• What was the high point for you? What was the low point?
• Which emotions describe how you felt? (Choose from list.)
Reflective: Reactions, Emotions, Feelings
From Practical Facilitation by Christine Hogan

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• What was your key insight?
• What was the most meaningful aspect of this activity?
• What can you conclude from this experience?
• What have you learned from this experience?
• Does this relate to any theories, models, or concepts?
Interpretive: Analytical and Critical Thinking
From Practical Facilitation by Christine Hogan
• Has this experience changed your thinking in any way?
• What will you do differently as a result of this experience?
• Based on what you’ve learned, how many different ways
could you ______________?
• What would it take to help apply what you learned?
Decision: What should we do now?
From Practical Facilitation by Christine Hogan

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• Listen and capture words and phrases
• Have speakers summarize themselves
• Write in ALL CAPS OR SMALL CAPS
• Confirm readability
• Separate ideas with alternating colors
• Reserve red to underline or highlight
• Delegate scribing when it helps…
80%
20%
• Low-hanging fruit exhausted
• Systemic issues begin to predominate
• Improvement plateaus

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Set the Stage 5% 6 min.
Gather Data 30-50% 40 min.
Generate Insights 20-30% 25 min.
Decide What to Do 15-20% 20 min.
Close the Retrospective 10% 12 min.
Shuffle Time 10-15% 17 min.
TOTAL 100% 120 min.
WHAT?
SO WHAT?
NOW WHAT?

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Pre-
work
Set the
Stage
RetrospectiveClosing
Follow-up
Design
• Liberating structures
• Participatory decision-making
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Lean Tools and Techniques
• Etc.

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Liberating Structures
1-2-4-All
1. Individual Reflection
2. Pairs Converse
3. Pairs of Pairs Converse
4. Group Report-out
Team Container

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✓Build in measurement
✓Focus on the true constraint
✓Make meaningful change over time
✓Maintain focus in the face of distraction
✓Break big improvements into small ones
Improvement Wish List:

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Next Target
Condition
Current
Condition
Experimenting
Zone
By Mike Rother

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Threshold of
Knowledge
Obstacle

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Retrospectives
Improvement Kata
By Jesper Boeg (After Mike Rother)
1
Current
Condition
2
Target
Condition
34

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X!!!
!!
?
• Arguing over counter measures
• Process for its own sake
Which *one* obstacle are
we addressing now?

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• New Facilitator’s Toolkit:
- Practical Facilitation by Christine
Hogan
• Retrospective Design and Structure:
- Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby
and Diana Larsen
• Advancing Facilitator’s Repertoire:
- www.liberatingstructures.com
- Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory
Decision-making
- The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry
- The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook
• Strengthening the Container:
- Liftoff: Start and Sustain Agile Teams
by Diana Larsen & Ainsley Nies
• Beyond Retrospectives:
- Level-up Agile with Toyota Kata by
Jesper Boeg
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