Retrospective Facilitation: A Simple Hack to Go from Good to Great

TL; DR: Retrospective Facilitation — Going from Good to 🦄 Great

The magic technique to turn a boring Retrospective into an outstanding Retrospective is the rotation of the facilitator role equally among all team members. Check out the following ten benefits of this Retrospective facilitation practice, from boosting learning and skill development to ensuring continuity to encouraging ownership.

Retrospective Facilitation: A Simple Hack to Go from Good to Great — Age-of-Product.com
Continue reading Retrospective Facilitation: A Simple Hack to Go from Good to Great

Retrospective First Principles

TL; DR: Retrospective First Principles

What is your take on the Retrospective: A routine exercise at the end of a Sprint, supported by standard operating procedures? Or a critical part of a Scrum team’s journey of continuous improvement? As you may assume, I advocate for the latter. In my experience, Scrum teams start utilizing Retrospectives to their full potential when they embrace a short set of Retrospective first principles, outlining the essence of the Why, the What, and the How.

Retrospective First Principles — Age-of-Product.com

For classic nerds: “Molon labe (Ancient Greek: μολὼν λαβέ, romanized: molṑn labé), meaning ‘come and take [them][…]’

Continue reading Retrospective First Principles

Prisoners of Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #24

TL; DR: Prisoners of Retrospectives

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. What if, for example, not all of your Scrum team’s members feel enthusiastic about the Sprint Retrospective, the critical event when the Scrum team inspects itself? How can you help them become dedicated supporters instead? Join me and delve into how to avoid teammates feeling like prisoners of Retrospectives in less than two minutes.

Prisoners of Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #24 —Age-of-Product.com
Continue reading Prisoners of Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #24

Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19

TL; DR: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives?

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. A classic discussion is whether it is appropriate that (line) managers attend the Retrospectives of the Scrum team. Probably, making their attendance a regular habit—or even a requirement—is not a good idea. However, what about managers that occasionally attend a Retrospective? Moreover, what if the (line) manager is also a team member?

Join me and delve into the how and when of managers attending Retrospectives in less than two minutes.

Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19 — Age-of-Product.com
Continue reading Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19

UnSMART Improvements at Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #18

TL; DR: Unsmart Improvements

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. One area that typically flies under the radar is improvements. While the Scrum Guide encourages addressing the most impactful ones as soon as possible, it is up to the Scrum team to figure out how to improve. One manifestation of this core team task we often encounter is picking unsmart improvements, though.

Join me and delve into the consequences of picking unsmart improvements as a Scrum Team in less than 90 seconds.

Unsmart Improvements — Making Your Scrum Work #18 — Age-of-Product.com
Continue reading UnSMART Improvements at Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #18

Skipping Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #17

TL; DR: Skipping Retrospectives?

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. One area where Scrum’s nature of being intentionally incomplete causes issues regularly is whether Scrum teams shall stick to the event schedule even if the team’s life is uneventful? For example, is skipping Retrospectives okay?

Join me and delve into the consequences of skipping Retrospectives in less than 90 seconds.

Skipping Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #17 – Age-of-Product.com
Continue reading Skipping Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #17