13 activities for retrospectives to know

I like all activities in Retr-O-Mat. Of course, I do, otherwise I would not have invested the time to add them. Still, when I selected activities for the Print Edition I realized that some activities HAD to be in it and others were interchangeable.

Which are these key activities, you ask? Well, here they are:

For  Teams

Teams new to agile need to learn what to improve, what they can influence and how best to implement change:

•  Circle of influence
  The team will be most successful if they tackle problems they can influence instead of bitching about things they cannot change
• SMART Goals
  A concrete, measurable goal / action item has a much higher chance of being implemented than a nebulous one, that no one knows how to act on
• Low hanging fruit
  Start with small steps. Early successes can start a virtuous cycle
• Undercover Boss
  Changing perspective: The team’s perspective is not the only one there is. Other views are just as valid.

For Facilitators

If you’re new to facilitating retrospectives, here are methods and ideas I keep coming back to:

• Lean Coffee
  Lean Coffee is the new black: It goes with everything. It’s my goto-method to facilitate all kinds of unstructured discussions. I even made it the crowning 24th 1-pager in the Wall-Skills advent calendar.
• SaMoLo
  Gather suggestions in the categories “Same of”, “More of” and “Less of”. Can also cover a range of situations, e.g. to give feedback to new new colleagues
• Cause-Effect-Diagram
  Such a powerful method: I’ve seen it break nasty loops so that teams finally find one end of the problem chain to yank on. IMO more suited for real-life complex problems than 5 Whys.
• Merge
  Having many action items lowers the chances of any improvement getting implemented. Boiling it down to very few important ones is key and “Merge” does that nicely.
• Brainwriting
  Written activities are the remedy for teams with silent members
• Physical activities such as Take a Stand or Constellation
  Moving raises energy levels and influences how we feel about issues
• Appreciative Inquiry
  It doesn’t have to be about problems all the time. You can also concentrate on positive things and still find great improvements. (Diana Larsen has created a retrospective plan with appreciative activities only.)
• Speedboat
  Very simple yet it always draws out good contributions. I love the metaphor

As a facilitator starting with a new team, you might want to test the waters with:

• ESVP
  How do people feel about having retrospectives?

Personal favorites

Out of the above my personal favourites are Lean Coffee and Speedboat. I just love those!

Which activities do you prefer?