Retrospective: The Five Phases

Five Phases of Retrospective The Agile retrospective signals the end of an iteration in Agile software development. The retrospective is a team meeting to reflect on what occurred in the iteration and identifies actions for improvement moving forward. Often the team will answer question such as what worked well?, what did not work well?, and what actions can be taken to improve the process moving forward?. Before each team member can answers the questions, it is important to understand the retrospective structure. This structure is broken down into five phases which includes the start, data gathering, insights, decisions, and closing phase.

A retrospective meeting should be well run and structured as it is not an informal gathering. This is why it is important to have a dedicated facilitator. The facilitator is not a part of the agile team but someone who specializes in retrospectives. The facilitator will run and structure the retrospective into the five phases. The start phase is to create structure and safety for the team. The environment must provide the team with a comfortable feel. This ensure that the team is able to reflect by being able to share. The second phase is about data gathering. The facilitator will draw charts like the Starfish diagram or the PANCAKE agenda to establish the agenda. The key take away from this phase is team information extracting. The chart is filled using action items post-it notes created from the team. This information is then used by the facilitator to ask questions such as the five Y's. The approach is to identify issues so that the facilitator can come up with SMART goals for them.

The third phase is insights. Each individual team member will have their own memory of what happened. It is important that the team has a shared understanding of what happened as this can often be challenging. The facilitator will take each memory and create the shared understanding. The key is to push the team to understand their challenges as a whole. Only when the team has understood the challenges can they move forward to the next phase. The fourth phase is about decisions that are made. This phase is about breaking down challenges into actions items that allows the team to spell out how to fix the process. Each member is to volunteer in accepting at least one action item.

The last phase is closing off the retrospective. The facilitator will question the team's take away from the retrospective. The questions includes whether the retrospective did or did not meet everyone's expectations. If expectations were not met, the facilitator will write down this and make the necessary changes for the next meeting. Overall, the facilitator must make sure that the retrospective was productive and everyone comes out feeling positive. The end result of a retrospective will have a huge impact on how the next one begins.

Work Cited

"Agile at Work: Getting Better with Agile Retrospectives" Lynda.com - from LinkedIn, https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Agile-Work-Getting-Better-Agile-Retrospectives/175961-2.html Accessed 1 Dec. 2017.

Image provided by

http://fabiopereira.me/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/walldc93a7f3-2d9d-4525-8301-d40ad993e66f.jpg