Agile Retrospectives

2.4 Structuring a Retrospective

In Chapter 1, ​Helping Your Team Inspect and Adapt​, we laid out a structure: Set the Stage, Gather Data, Generate Insights, Decide What to Do and Close the Retrospective. This structure brings in perspectives from all team members, follows a natural order for processing information, and moves the group toward committed action.

You’ve decided how much time you need to achieve the retrospective goal; now what do you do with that time?

Here’s how it might work for a two-hour retrospective:

	Set the stage	5%	6 minutes
	Gather data	30--50%	40 minutes
	Generate insights	20--30%	25 minutes
	Decide what to do	15--20%	20 minutes
	Close the retrospective	10%	12 minutes
	Shuffle time	10--15%	17 minutes
	Total	100%	120 minutes

You’ll need time to cover all the phases. Plus, people need time to move from one activity to another, so build in “shuffle time.”

Tip 2:   Time for a Break

Take breaks when there is a logical stopping point, when energy drops, or when people express a need. For retrospectives longer than two hours, build time for breaks into the schedule. Count on a ten-minute (minimum) break every ninety minutes or so.

If you’re doing an iteration retrospective, you may be using your team room. The advantages of using your team room are that the artifacts are all there and it feels like business as usual. This is good, except when it isn’t.

Change rooms when you need ...