Team Retrospective
What is it?
A Team Retrospective (or Retro) is a method for collaborative reflection and evaluation. They are facilitated meetings that have a specific focal point, which can range from a one-off workshop to an end-of-project retro.
Why and when should I use this?
They provide a simple structure for feedback that will help you get into the habit of personal and team reflection to constantly improve and iterate on how you work together. This approach lets everyone speak up about the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in what you are doing. It can be done with minimal resource at any phase of your project.
How much time should I spend on this?
15 minutes for retros with a small focus; 1 hour plus for retros with a wide focus. This is about discussing and reflecting as a collective, so be mindful that it will take extra time with larger groups.
Who should I involve in this?
Your project team you are working with on the given activity you are doing the retro for.
How to use it...
- Set the scene: What is the purpose of your retro? Clearly introduce what the focus will be on. In a whole-project retro, you will have several split the session into sections like 'Set up', 'Workshops', 'Reporting'. Sections may not apply to everyone if they were not closely involved.
- Use the Rose, Thorn, Bud method: Grab pink, blue and green post-its. Get your team to individually add their feedback to the template.
- Discuss and take actions: Take it in turns to speak about your feedback in more detail. As a group, highlight actions that can be drawn from this to change and improve what you do next time.
- Put into action: Test out your new actions in your next workshop or project, depending on your focus. Run Team Retros on a regular basis to constantly build on your learnings and work better together.