Sprint Retrospective Tools For Our Digital Agency

Digital is a tough space. Every year I hear stories of burn-out. We’re asked to learn dozens of new languages, frameworks, platforms, whizzy-wigs, acronyms, and more. No wonder folks get fried and look to pharmaceuticals to stay sharp (or mellow).

I get a lot of value out of a really well-run Retro. We get another perspective on a problem that might not be a problem, we talk about root causes no one else is aware of, we look up from the work and look at each other. If nothing else, it’s an emotional drainpipe to vent out anything on the mind. When a team opens up to each other, it’s magic.

There’ve been times when our Retro ended up being a postmortem. Other times we sit at the top of the mountain and talk about the journey. They’re all valuable and almost always conclude with one of the key takeaways being the same: do more Retros.

From sending out a calendar invite to selecting the video-conferencing tool to setting the tone to motivating the sometimes-herd-of-cats-like product team through a meeting, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. With distributed teams, it’s even harder. I started to think, “If I could remove some of the variables, I could increase the probability of a successful outcome.”

The idea is that this tool will not only guide you through the Retrospective process, but in doing so, improve and enhance the team-relationship experience. You’ll make meaningful connections with your team members and, by extension, their work will actually create more effective teams.

Imagine one day an alien lands (in your bathroom because you left the window open) and teaches you a new behavior to clean your eyes. Doing so gives you perfect vision, but you need to do it twice a day, every day, for it to work. Whether or not you would do it, how likely is it you could commit to eyeball brushing for a reward? And how long?

Behavioral scientists found it takes nearly three months to learn a new habit or break an addiction. This dispels the old popular myth of 21 days. And why does it take so long? Because behavioral changes are tough. The human brain enjoys consistencies and habits. This is why I’ve been teaching my three-year-old to brush his teeth in the morning and night… even if he keeps wanting to use my toothbrush.

Retrospectives are the key product ceremony to bring your team together and realize change. However, as I said, it’s often a ceremony easily jettisoned when in crunch mode. And even worse, some teams never see the need to do them in the first place. So many digital-product development teams are stuck in habits they don’t even realize. They need internal reflection to “change the habit,” and that’s exactly what Retros offer when done right.

Retrospectives tend to be most valuable when people lower their guard and have honest conversations with their teams—better estimations, clearer understanding of features. People aren’t afraid to ask “stupid questions.” We find better engineering solutions when we get out of our head.

I get a lot of value out of a really well-run Retro. The team blows off any steam they’ve built up, they get another perspective on a problem—and sometimes amazing things happen. You might realize the “problem” is actually an opportunity, or finally address a hidden obstacle which had been camouflaged from everyone. When a team opens up to each other, it’s magic.

Here’s the link to Retro App to help you and your teams run better Retros. We’re always looking for insights from real users. There’s always a free account to help your team meaningfully connect.