Agile Retrospectives

5.4 Activity: Mad Sad Glad

Use this to gather data about feelings in an iteration, release, or project retrospective.

Purpose

Get the feeling facts out on the table.

Time needed

Twenty to thirty minutes, depending on the size of the group.

Description

Individuals use colored cards or sticky notes to describe times during the project where they were mad, sad, or glad.

Steps

Introduce the activity by saying “Let’s look at how we were feeling during this iteration/release/project and discover whether we can track down some of the sources of both satisfying and dissatisfying times.”

1. Draw attention to three posters labeled “Mad”, “Sad”, “Glad” and sample color-coded cards. Put out colored cards/sticky notes where everyone can reach them. Provide markers.

2. Describe the process, and give the time limit.

   “Take __ minutes to write down the times/events on this iteration​/​release​/​project where you were mad, sad, or glad. Write one event or incident per card. Write legibly.”

3. Give notice when time is up, and invite people to post their cards on the appropriate poster. It’s OK to add more cards as people remember more events.

4. Cluster the cards on each poster. Go to the first poster, pick one card, and read it. Then hold it next to another card and ask, “Are these cards about the same thing?” The group will tell you which other card it is like. Continue this until all the cards are clustered on each poster.

5. Ask the group to name each cluster. Use another card ...