Sprint Retrospectives

Facilitate effective retrospectives that drive continuous improvement through honest reflection and actionable commitments.

When to Use This Skill

• End of each sprint
• Team improvement
• Process optimization
• Relationship building
• Learning from mistakes
• Celebrating success
• Identifying patterns
• Cultural development

Core Concepts

1. Retrospective Formats

Start-Stop-Continue:

• Start: What should we begin doing?
• Stop: What should we stop doing?
• Continue: What's working well?

Mad-Sad-Glad:

• Mad: What frustrated us?
• Sad: What disappointed us?
• Glad: What made us happy?

4Ls:

• Liked: What went well?
• Learned: What did we discover?
• Lacked: What was missing?
• Longed for: What do we wish for?

Sailboat:

• Wind (helping): What's pushing us forward?
• Anchor (hindering): What's slowing us down?
• Island (goal): Where are we heading?
• Rocks (risks): What threats exist?

2. Retrospective Agenda (90 min)

1. Set the Stage (5 min)
   - Safety check
   - Prime directive
   - Agenda overview

2. Gather Data (15 min)
   - Timeline of sprint
   - Metrics review
   - Individual reflection

3. Generate Insights (30 min)
   - Group discussion
   - Identify patterns
   - Vote on themes

4. Decide What to Do (30 min)
   - Brainstorm actions
   - Select 1-3 improvements
   - Assign owners
   - Define done

5. Close the Retro (10 min)
   - Summarize actions
   - Retro feedback
   - Appreciation

3. Action Items

## Sprint 12 Retrospective Actions

**Action 1**: Improve code review turnaround
- Owner: Bob
- What: Review PRs within 4 hours
- Success: Average review time < 4hrs
- Due: Next sprint

**Action 2**: Reduce technical debt
- Owner: Team
- What: Allocate 20% capacity to refactoring
- Success: 10 story points per sprint
- Due: Ongoing

**Action 3**: Better documentation
- Owner: Alice
- What: Update README and API docs
- Success: New dev can onboard in 1 day
- Due: Sprint 13

Best Practices

1. Psychological safety - Prime directive, no blame
2. Vary the format - Keep it fresh
3. Focus on actionable - Concrete improvements
4. Limit action items - 1-3 maximum
5. Assign owners - Clear responsibility
6. Track progress - Review in next retro
7. Celebrate wins - Recognize achievements
8. Time-box activities - Keep moving

Resources

• Agile Retrospectives: Esther Derby & Diana Larsen
• Retromat.org: 100+ retrospective activities