The start, stop, continue of retrospectives

In a retrospective on retrospectives, let’s look at a start, stop, and continue for retrospectives! There is a vast array of structures for retrospectives, from Starfish to Seascapes, all with the intention of providing a structure for teams to review things that have happened and consider how to improve in the future. “Start, stop, continue” is a basic one but I find it works in most situations. https://metroretro.io/ is a great tool for retrospectives and offers a wider variety of templates for retrospectives and a host of other things.

Retrospective Board

Start

• Keeping an ongoing note of things you want to bring to a retrospective. This stops you from blanking when the time comes, it also allows you to park a thought to bring up in the retrospective forum. The former monk and teacher of focus Dandapani https://dandapani.org/ talks about having a suitable place in the future to address something as a great way to maintain focus at the time. The retrospective can offer this, thereby not detracting from the current sprint or activity.

• Trying things that come out of the retrospective, failing fast if needed. You can always try something and evaluate if it’s something you want to keep. This can be done quickly, as is reverting the change if it’s not bringing any improvement.

Stop

• Skipping retrospectives, especially if the reason is “we don’t have time”. If this is the opportunity to bring reflections and suggestions, removing that will inevitably lead to the process being undermined and disregarded.

Keep

• Revisiting actions and outputs from previous retrospectives and seeing which are working. Some of the most valuable observations are the ones that haven’t worked; they show an ability to try and learn and can stop loops of the same thinking.

• Making retrospectives a safe space where people feel comfortable sharing ideas or concerns. Take people’s opinions onboard, even if they are not the consensus.