The Sprint Retrospective For Product Owners – Part 2

Tips for a Successful Retrospective

As with most tasks in Agile development, there is a right way and wrong way to conduct a Sprint Retrospective.  The right way involves planning before the meeting, fostering an environment of openness and inclusion during the meeting, and providing a complete wrap-up for the team post meeting.

Prior to the meeting, each team member should review the tasks and the notes from previous meetings and identify any areas he/she feel are areas that should be brought up for discussion.  The Scrum Master should also create an agenda which will layout the course or flow of the meeting.

At the start of the meeting, the Scrum Master should review the agenda, the goals of the meeting and establish the rules of engagement. During the meeting, it is the role of the Scrum Master to guide the meeting and not to try and influence it with opinions; this meeting is for the team to provide honest feedback.  The Scrum Master should also take notes on a whiteboard or on a projected laptop so the entire team can see and reference throughout the meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Scrum Master should review the takeaways and action items and discuss the schedule for starting the next sprint.  This final step ensures the entire team stays on the same page before everyone walks away from the event.

Within 24-hours, the Scrum Master should compile the notes and post or distribute for the entire team, including the Product Owner, to review.

Moving into the Next Sprint

The learnings from the Sprint Retrospective will be incorporated into the next sprint, so it is imperative that the notes be finalized and distributed prior to the start of the new sprint.  At the kick-off meeting for the sprint, the Scrum Master should review the items for improvement that were identified and explain how they will be addressed in this sprint.

While the Sprint Retrospective marks the conclusion of the sprint, it is one of the most critical elements as it defines the behavior for the coming sprint.  Without it, the team would never improve and would miss out on the opportunity of becoming a stronger unit.

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