What Is a Retrospective?

A retrospective is a collaborative meeting held by a team at the conclusion of a project. It aims to reflect on the project's overall performance, evaluate its achievements and shortcomings, and identify opportunities for improvement. By collectively reviewing the project, the team gains insights and understanding that can be used to enhance future projects.

Scrum teams within Agile environments commonly practice retrospectives, often called Agile retrospectives or Agile sprint retrospectives. These events play a crucial role as valuable project management tools, benefiting not only software and product development but also various other industries. 

How to run a successful retrospective meeting

The concept of a retrospective meeting is simple, but to run these meetings successfully, you need to remember some key ideas:

1. Create a safe space.

In a retrospective, it's important to provide team members with a safe and non-judgmental environment where they can openly discuss any aspects of the project they believe require improvement without it being perceived as criticism. By encouraging team members to express their thoughts and opinions honestly, the retrospective fosters a sense of teamwork and collaboration among the team members.

2. Hold regular, planned retrospectives.

It is beneficial to schedule retrospectives at regular intervals and specific times that team members can mark on their calendars. By doing so, team members have dedicated time to prepare their reflections on the project in advance. This allows them to gather their thoughts, gather relevant data or insights, and come prepared for meaningful discussions during the retrospective sessions.

3. Set an agenda.

Establish and adhere to a well-defined agenda. This helps maintain predictability, keeps the meeting on track, and ensures the optimal utilisation of time. The duration of retrospectives may vary, typically 45 minutes to three hours, depending on the length and complexity of the project. 

4. Establish a structure.

You can structure these meetings in various ways, but the start/stop/continue method is a commonly used approach. This structure focuses on identifying project approaches the team would like to start implementing, actions they should stop taking, and practices they should continue. By utilising this approach, the retrospective meeting aims to achieve a defined goal, collect relevant data, develop valuable insights, and make informed decisions about the next steps. 

Whichever structure you choose, meaningful retrospectives address some essential questions. These questions tend to follow along the same lines:

• What did we do well?

• What did we learn?

• What should we do differently next time?

• What did we not understand?

5. Set an action plan.

The answers to these questions and the insights gained provide the foundation for developing an action plan to guide the team's approach to future projects. Based on the retrospective findings, identify and assign specific action items to individual team members. Assigning action items facilitates a smooth transition from the meeting to the implementation phase, fostering effective collaboration and progress towards improvement. 

Related terms

• Sprint plan

• Agile

• Milestone

• Continuous improvement

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Retrospective meetings are a collaborative way for teams to reflect on a project's completion, identify areas for improvement, and plan for future success. By creating a safe space, setting an agenda, and establishing a structure, teams can use retrospectives to learn from past experiences and continuously improve their approach.

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