This document provides guidance on preparing for and facilitating retrospectives. It outlines the basic structure of a retrospective as setting the stage, gathering data, generating insights, deciding on actions, and closing. It also gives tips for establishing safety, such as using the prime directive and safety checks. Several retrospective styles are described, including four questions, SAMOLO, I Like-I Wish-What If, and goal-driven approaches. Practical tips are provided around using sticky notes, voting, and closing the retrospective. Further references for learning more about retrospectives are also included.

1. A Guide for Preparing and Facilitating
Retrospectives
Jason Yip
jcyip@thoughtworks.com
@jchyip
http://jchyip.blogspot.com

2. Why retrospectives?

3. How do we learn together?

4. How do we learn while we still have
enough time to intervene?

5. Basic retrospective
structure

6. Simple retrospective framework
1. Set the Stage: What is the purpose of the retrospective
(e.g., improve delivery process)? What is the scope of
exploration (e.g., last week)?
2. Gather Data: Collect facts and key memories
3. Generate Insights: Interpret data, root cause analysis;
identify solutions or improvements
4. Decide What to Do: Prioritise which actions to take
5. Close the Retrospective: Summarise and review plan
of action
From Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen

7. Establish safety first

8. Prime directive
At the start of the retrospective, read out aloud and display the
following:
Regardless of what we discover, we understand and
truly believe that everyone did the best job they could,
given what they knew at the time, their skills and
abilities, the resources available, and the situation at
hand.
At the end of a project everyone knows so much more. Naturally
we will discover decisions and actions we wish we could do over.
This is wisdom to be celebrated, not judgement used to
embarrass.
http://www.retrospectives.com/pages/retroPrimeDirective.html

9. Safety check: 1 - 5
Each person anonymously (e.g., fold up answers, same colour sticky
notes and markers) writes down a number representing their sense
of personal safety:
1. I’ll smile, claim everything is great and agree with managers
2. I’m not going to say much, I’ll let others bring up issues
3. I’ll talk about some things, but others will be hard to say
4. I’ll talk about almost anything; a few things might be hard
5. No problem, I’ll talk about anything
If there are a significant number of people that are 3 or below,
redirect the retrospective to work out how to improve safety.
http://agileretroactivities.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/safety-check.html

10. Safety check: ESVP
Each person anonymously (e.g., fold up answers, same colour sticky notes and
markers) writes down a letter representing how they intend to participate:
- Explorer. You are eager to discover new ideas and insights. You want to learn
everything you can about the the iteration/release/project.
- Shopper. You will look over all the available information and will be happy to
go home with one useful new idea.
- Vacationer. You aren’t interested in the work of the retrospective, but are
happy to be away from the daily grind. You may pay attention some of the time,
but are mostly glad to be out of the office.
- Prisoner. You feel that you’ve been forced to attend and would rather be doing
something else.
If there are a significant number of Vacationers and/or Prisoners, redirect the
retrospective to work out how to address this which may mean cancelling.
http://www.markhneedham.com/blog/2012/10/27/retrospectives-an-alternative-safety-check/

11. A few retrospective
styles

12. Four questions
-What did we do well, that if we don’t discuss we might
forget?
-What did we learn?
-What should we do differently next time?
-What still puzzles us?
http://www.retrospectives.com/pages/RetrospectiveKeyQuestions.html

13. SAMOLO
-Same As
-More Of
-Less Of

14. I Like, I wish, What IF?
-I Like how we ….
-I Wish that we would have …
-What If we … ? OR I Wonder if we could … ?
http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/i-like-i-wish-what-if.pdf

15. Starfish
http://www.thekua.com/rant/2006/03/the-retrospective-starfish/

16. Retrospective timeline
http://www.thekua.com/rant/2006/03/a-retrospective-timeline/

17. Goal-driven
http://fabiopereira.me/blog/2008/11/23/goal-driven-retrospective/

18. Solution-focused goal-driven
1. Identify the Ideal State / True North / Future Perfect using the
Miracle Question. "Imagine that a miracle occurred and all our
problems have been solved. How could you tell? What would be
different?”
2. Identify where we are now using the Scaling Question. "If 10 is
the ideal and 0 is where nothing is working, where are we now?”
3. Identify what we are already doing that works. "What are we
already doing that works? That is, why are we [for example] 5 rather
than 0?”
4. Identify how to move toward the ideal. "Using the resources we
have, what can we do to move one step closer to 10?”
http://jchyip.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/solution-focused-goal-driven.html

19. Retrospective Dialogue sheets
http://www.softwarestrategy.co.uk/dlgsheets/available.html

20. Practical tips and tricks

21. Make sure you close

22. One concept per sticky note

23. Fine tip markers for legibility

24. Vote for what we need to talk about, not for
what we want to talk about
-Encourage people to vote based on on relevance to target
outcomes / goals, not based on what they happen to feel at
the moment.

25. Distributed tips and
tricks

26. Video on all ends

27. Post comments through instant message

28. Retrospective checklist

29. Retrospective checklist
1. What is the purpose of your retrospective?
2. What kind of outcome are you looking for?
3. Who will be invited to the retrospective?
4. Do you anticipate any problems in terms of personal
safety and willingness or ability to contribute?
5. What kind of retrospective process will you use?
a) How will you set the stage?
b) How will you gather data?
c) How will you generate insights?
d) How will you decide what to do?
e) How will you close the retrospective?

30. Further references

31. Further references
-Project Retrospectives, Norman Kerth
• See also http://retrospectives.com
-Agile Retrospectives, Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
-The Retrospective Handbook, Patrick Kua,
https://leanpub.com/the-retrospective-handbook
-Agile Retrospective Resource Wiki,
http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page