Retrospecting is key for agile mindsets.
But, what is it about?
Stop and think what you are doing, why you are doing it so and how you can improve. And do it frequently, so that actions to be committed have a smaller scope and progress can be checked easily.
In Solid GEAR, we run this kind of retrospectives at two levels:
- Team retrospective: at the end of each development sprint (usually, each two weeks), team members have a look at the results of the latest iteration and try to understand how the constraints of their specific project affects their daily work. Action points out of these retrospectives usually target technical excellence and improving the communication with a specific customer.
- Company retrospective: once per month, the whole company meets to review the working climate at Solid GEAR. This is the opportunity for everyone’s voice to be heard. Assistance of the board is mandatory! Action points out of these meetings usually hit ergonomics of the workplace and team building activities. They also serve as an update checkpoint, so that everybody knows what other teams are rocking at =)
Most of our current working agreements have come out of these retrospective sessions, and they help us adapt to varying scenarios along time. We keep trying to improve the way we run them. A good example of different approaches can be found in Agile Retrospectives: Making good teams great.
Our next challenge is to optimize company retros, as Solid GEAR is growing fast and they are starting to be crowded.
How would you handle thirty people in a room, discussing similar topics at the same time?
We still want to hear everyone’s opinion!
