Distributed Retrospectives talk done for Agile Brazil, June 2011.

1. Distributed Retrospectives

2. Today’s Objectives… Learn about Distributed Retrospectives Learn about team structure and location in planning Learn strategies for setting up a distributed retrospective Learn about various activities and tools Plan a Distributed Retrospective

3. About the Speaker…

4. My craziest retrospective?

6. Questions? Who has facilitated a retrospective before? Who has been involved in a distributed retrospective?

7. Why Distributed? Economical Location of people Regions specialize in skill areas Easier for people to collaborate from a distance Diverse teams

8. Why do Retrospectives? Regardless of where people are, they are still part of the team. Regardless of where people are, the team still needs to communicate. Retrospectives make teams better. Resolve issues.

9. Dos Understand your audience Trust your team Use technology See each other Be creative Communicate

10. Common Problems One group dominates Location specific issues Ignore content Distribution amplifies problems

11. Cultural Factors When teams are split geographically, they are often also split culturally and this split can manifest itself in many ways.

12. For Example…

14. Cultural Disconnect…

15. Team A: Before Retrospective Sent materials ahead of time Sent activities ahead of time Team practiced what to say Explained situation

16. Team A: During Retrospective Picked a scribe Encouraged equal participation Use of video Used technology to gather thoughts and views Had two facilitators

17. Team A: After Retrospective Send out notes and set up time to clarify Set up video feed Moved documentation online Set up more retrospectives

19. Three Key Areas What is done before the retrospective: preparation. What is done during the retrospective. What is done after the retrospective.

20. Three Key Areas What is done before the retrospective: preparation. What is done during the retrospective. What is done after the retrospective.

21. Part 1: Preparation for a Distributed Retrospective

22. What is the Objective? What are you trying to achieve?

23. What is the Team Structure? How you run a distributed retrospective depends on where the team is located and how the team is structured. For example… Two large teams separated geographically One large team and a individual stragglers A fully distributed team (everyone works in different locations) Numerous smaller teams

24. Where is your team located? You also need to consider the location of the team. For example… Located in the same country Located in different countries People in different time zones People speaking multiple languages

25. Possible Strategies… One Group Retro The whole team is involved in the retrospective.

26. Possible Strategies… Separate Have two independent retrospectives and have a short “sharing” retrospective. Divide and conquer

27. Possible Strategies… Parallel A facilitator in each location runs the retrospective in parallel (with video on and microphone muted). At points the two teams synch to compare findings.

28. Possible Strategies…Time-Boxed Plan short activities. Time box the activities to keep the team focused.

29. Possible Strategies… Issue Triggered What if the team considered not having retrospectives at a dedicated time (e.g. at the end of each iteration)? Run an issue triggered retrospective.

30. The Activity

31. Activity: Before the Retrospective You are going to plan and prepare for a distributed retrospective. This is Part 1.

32. Part 1: Instructions Break into groups of 8 people. Choose which of the 5 scenarios you would like to do. Determine the objective of your chosen retrospective. Determine the strategy you would like to use (or create one!) Determine logistics you will need to plan for. You have 30 minutes.

33. Part 2: Activities and Mechanics

34. Supporting the Objective What are some of the objectives for the retrospectives in the room?

35. Traditional Activities

36. Art Gallery

37. Photo Sharing

38. Photoshop Ping Pong/Tennis

39. Three Color Vote

40. Appreciative Exercise

41. Online Games

42. Tools and Mechanics: Online Games For activities that require card gathering (e.g. helps/hinders, anchors/balloons, hopes/fears, and moving forward) you can use online tools.

43. Twiddla (twiddla.com)

44. Innovation Games (innovationgames.com)

45. Card Meeting (cardmeeting.com)

46. Edistorm (edistorm.com)

47. Cacoo (cacoo.com)

48. Tools and Mechanics: Video How are you going to communicate during the retrospective?

49. Video

50. Skype

51. Google Video

52. ooVoo

53. Vidyo

54. Capturing Ideas

55. Tools and Mechanics: Capturing Ideas For capturing information during the retrospective.

56. Webex (webex.com)

57. Google Docs (google.com)

58. Basecamp (basecamphq.com)

59. Mind Meister (mindmeister.com)

60. Bubbl.us (bubbl.us)

61. Activity: During the Retrospective You are going to plan activities and logistics that support the objective and team. This is Part 2.

62. Part 2: Instructions Determine activities that support your objective? Determine what materials you can send ahead of time. Determine how to communicate. Determine how to capture information during the retrospective. Who is the scribe? You have 30 minutes.

63. Part 3: Sharing

64. Activity: Sharing the Retrospective Share your retrospective and learnings with the people in the room. You have 2-minutes to prepare what to say and who will say it. Each team will present to the group.