Sprint Retrospectives can be valuable tools for a Scrum Team. No matter how big or small a team is or how long a project, there is always room for improvement. Having sprint retrospectives allows teams to look back on each iteration and figure out ways to improve things as the project continues.
What is a Sprint Retrospective?
According to the Scrum Guide, the Sprint Retrospective provides an opportunity for the Scrum Team to reflect on itself and create a plan for improvement to be enacted during the next sprint. This ceremony is a good way to provide an honest, open, and mature environment for everyone to air their concerns and opinions in a constructive atmosphere. By doing this, a team can continuously evolve and improve production.
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Sprint Retrospectives should not be optional to the developmental team. Sprint Retrospectives are important tools to allow team members to discuss issues and come up with solutions. Each team member should participate in the meeting and offer up suggestions or issues.
Even in teams that are not collocated, conference calls and other tools can be utilized to ensure development team members can participate.
Product Owner. The product owner should be included in the retrospective since it is important for them to work with the Scrum Team. However, they shouldn't necessarily get involved with the team and offer up their own solutions. They shouldn't be disruptive and should be there to help support improvement of the team. Having the product owner there as an observer can help alleviate the need for the development team to explain their improvement actions (often against other backlog items) to the product owner and can improve collaboration between the two roles.
Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is an important part of the Retrospective. They play a key role in the success of the retrospective since they are often the facilitator. It is the facilitator's responsibility to help guide the discussion of the team so it is focused and
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Inspecting what the team did well with regards to processes, people, and tools can give the team an opportunity to reflect on what works. This can help them discuss what didn't work and what needs to improve.
2. What could be improved?
The key here is to look at what can be improved in the process and not look for someone to blame. An atmosphere of trust is important for this part so that individuals aren't singled out and blamed. Instead, the Team should take responsibility for the outcomes together, not individually.
Looking at the process helps keep individuals from being singled out and going on the defensive. By keeping things solution based, people are able to bring up issues that are on their mind without becoming accusatory. This allows the team to take in the feedback and look for a solution to the problem, instead of going straight on the defensive.
3. What are the action items that will be addressed during the next sprint?
Sometimes there are numerous issues brought up that could have been improved during the previous sprint. When this happens, the team should discuss what items will be addressed in the next sprint. You don't have to address every single improvement all at