Description

The purpose of a retrospective is for each team or functional group to reflect on actions, results, and behaviors from the current sprint, and identify potential improvements for the next. Retrospectives align to one of the core principals from the Agile Manifesto, which states “at regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”

Retrospectives should be conducted regularly at the conclusion of each iteration or sprint to capture feedback and encourage continuous improvement. There are many different types of retrospectives, but they are all similar in purpose: to learn and improve.

During a retrospective, a team or functional group identifies what went well, what did not go well, and then identifies what actions might be taken to improve performance during the next iteration or sprint. An effective retrospective requires that each participant feels comfortable providing feedback, and it is important that the scrum master/facilitator works to build trust collaborative relationships among team members.

Enterprise Retrospective

The intention of an Enterprise Retrospective is to improve the performance of an overall organization. This retrospective is not just one agile team, but multiple, often represented by each scrum master. This ceremony should be planned out to identify the schedule, approach, location, and process scope. This retrospective may have a reduced frequency as it is more resource intensive than a Team Retrospective, and may not be aligned with a specific sprint.

Heartbeat Retrospective

A Heartbeat Retrospective begins with ensuring the team is fully aware that the purpose is to learn from mistakes and not assign blame. Other characteristics of this type of retrospective includes a timeboxed approach with a maximum of 90 minutes, taking place outside the normal team room, and the team deciding who is welcome to attend this meeting.

Sprint Retrospective

While all agile teams should work to continuously improve, it is important to set aside time to proactively find ways to improve. The Sprint Retrospective is conducted at the end of each sprint, and the entire team, including the scrum master and product owner (if there is a high level of trust) should participate. Typically, a Sprint Retrospective is one hour, but may vary based on how long the spring duration was and whether there are contentious topics to discuss.

Training Retrospective

The purpose of a Training Retrospective is to periodically review how well training is working for a team, functional group, or organization. This retrospective should include all relevant stakeholders such as agile leaders, team members, trainers, mentors, and coaches.

Milestone Retrospective

For a project or initiative that has been underway for an extended duration, or has been completed, a Milestone Retrospective can be valuable. This retrospective takes more time because of the length of the project being reviewed, and could span for one to three days. Milestone retrospectives are generally facilitated by someone external to the team to review long-term or strategic impacts, work relationships, and governance.

Confirmation Retrospective

A Confirmation Retrospective is intended to review training results in order to improve an overall organization. This retrospective may allow teams to practice new skills or training methods to solidify training approaches and ensure that there is consistency across the organization.

Typical Roles

Desired Behaviors