The Retrospective Habit
Retrospectives are one of the standard agile meetings, and I usually advise customers who are starting off on the journey towards Agile to start here. But before you kick off a fully-fledged retrospective of your whole division’s last quarter, it can help to just do one for yourself. Here’s how:
In a quiet moment (eg. your commute on the way home, or a toilet break), ask yourself the 4 After Action Review (AAR) questions:
1. What was supposed to happen ?
2. What actually happened ?
3. What was the difference between the two ? Why ?
4. What could I do differently next time ?
If you look back onto an average working day, this should take you no more than five minutes. To make sure my insight-of-the-moment doesn’t get lost in daily busyness, I like to keep a log (a small notebook) of my answers, especially to questions 3 and 4. And that’s all there is to it!
Here’s a sum-up from a non-SW-developement site:
PS: If your retrospective involves a team, try and get an experienced facilitator. If you’d like to know more and understand French, my good friend Jacques Couvreur and myself will be presenting a card game that can help you make your next team retrospective a fun & insightful moment – check out Agile-Alchemist.com for more info or attend our presentation at XP Day Paris on May 26!
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Tags: continuous learning, feedback, improvement, retrospective
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