Agile Retrospectives

7.3 Activity: Circle of Questions

Use this activity to Decide What to Do in an iteration, release or end of project retrospective.

Purpose

Help team choose an experiment or action steps for the next iteration, particularly when team members need to listen to one another.

Time needed

Thirty+ minutes, depending on team size.

Description

Team members engage in a question asking and answering process to reach consensus on next steps.

Steps

1. Invite team members to sit in a circle. Introduce the activity. “Sometimes the best way to find answers is to ask questions. We’ll ask questions to find what we want to do as a result of what we’ve learned in this retrospective. We’ll go around the circle until we are satisfied with our answers or until at least [timebox] minutes have passed.”

2. Turn to the person on your left and ask a question. You might start with “From your perspective, what is the highest priority for us to try in the next iteration?” The team member answers, from his or her perspective, to the best of his or her knowledge and ability. Then that team member becomes the questioner, turning to the person on his or her left to ask a question that extends the previous discussion or starts a new one.

   The new respondent answers and, then in turn, asks a question and so on around the circle until the group is satisfied that their questions about the topic have been heard and considered, and a consensus for action has emerged.

Materials and preparation

Set chairs in a circle ...