Currently we have our team's retrospective after every sprint, which is currently a one week length. Is it recommended that you have the retrospective between each sprint, or can I do them more frequently or infrequently as required?
Sometimes I feel like we don't have much to say during the retrospective, so I would like to push it to at the end of every other sprint.
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d. cooksey
In keeping with the spirit of Agile, flexibility should be preferred over an arbitrary standard. Try pushing the meeting back and see how it works out. Gradual change is the key.
jonathan cogley
[ Admin ]
Another thing you could try is to collect feedback somewhere visible on an adhoc basis. Encourage the team to write ideas/observations on index cards and post them near the taskboard during the sprint. When there are enough cards, call a meeting. :)
Stephen Conley
[ Editor ]
I think every iteration should feature a retrospective. If the sprint went perfectly and there are no lessons to be learnt then it will be a short session. Even if it is just to get together and say hey guys, we delivered every story that we scheduled this sprint, we have no lessons to learn here, then it's a worthwhile thing to do.
Increasing the length of time to a few weeks or just if something goes wrong could lead to a culture of seeing the retrospective as a hassle or a witch hunt rather than the normal way of closing out an iteration.
yveshanoulle
My question is: why do we not have much to say in the Retrospective. is it really the one week? Of is it because you always use the same kind of retrospective? Or because you always have the same person leading the retrospective Or because the team does not trust eachother to go to deep problems? Or because the team sees that problems are not solved, so why bother bringing more up?
if the root cause is really one week, fine then make it two or three. If not solve the other problems first (if it is hard, do it more ;-) )
U Neels
To me the lack of things of say is suspect. There should be things to talk about, if the sprint had any kind of genuine commitment from the team. Some things you could try to liven it up;
Sometimes I feel like we don't have much to say during the retrospective, so I would like to push it to at the end of every other sprint.
Devil's advocate - could it be you're being too controlling, which is leaving team members feeling like they don't own it?
philippe
Sometimes I feel like we don't have much to say during the retrospective.
Is this feeling shared by the Team ? And how is the Team at work ? If the flow is (humm) flowing, because everyone is used to the way they work, and the production is satisfying, then the retrospectives interval can be increased. Be sure to collect pains and ideas to fill the next retrospective.
One can also call for on-demand retrospective, or trigger a retrospective when there is a handful item to discuss about.
Otherwise, the retrospective format might not work well for the Team. How are they conducted ; is it just an open discussion or something more formal ?
Perhaps the Team is reluctant to reveal its difficulties. Removing management or bringing a facilitator in could help. Allowing anonymous feedback could help, although this could have negative side effects.
Diana Larsen
Not to be pushy, but have you checked out Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great! ? It includes lots of ideas for planning and leading retrospectives that get benefits for the team, including choosing a different focus for each retrospective.
In the book, Esther and I discuss how to make decisions about duration, focus and location for retrospectives--all make a difference. How many people are on your team? If you have a 3-person team of only developers that pair program and talk to each other frequently during the week, you may not need retrospectives so frequently. OTOH, if you have a ≥7-person cross-functional team you almost certainly will benefit from a retrospective every Sprint.
With one week Sprints (good for you, btw), plan your retrospective for ≥60≤90 minutes. You could choose to have a rotating retrospective focus. e.g., sprint 1 - retro on engineering practices, sprint 2 - retro on interaction & working relationship with PO/customer, sprint 3 - retro on work process practices, sprint 4 - retro on teamwork & working relationships, then start the cycle again at sprint 5, etc. Unless something extraordinary comes up that week, in which case, that becomes your retrospective focus. Not every retrospective needs to focus on unpleasant challenges, difficulties or setbacks. Use some retrospectives to explore the puzzles or mysteries, and some to celebrate the challenge of building on/expanding/extending accomplishments.
Remember to have an improvement action or experiment deliverable for every retrospective.
For more resources, I have posted new retrospective activities on my blog to add to the ones in the book.