Agile Retrospectives

9.1 Preparing for Release and Project Retrospectives

Most iteration retrospectives focus solely on the team. At the end of a release or project, include the team and other members of the project community—people who contributed to the effort but weren’t part of the core team. You may include managers and additional customers.

Extending the Invitation Beyond Your Team    Your agile team may know and love retrospectives, but the broader project community may not. They may be skeptical, overscheduled, or unaware of what to expect. You have three tasks: decide who to invite, extend the invitation, and educate new participants.

Releasing a product touches many more people than delivering an increment of working software. Pause to take a broader and deeper look at how you’re working with the rest of the organization. Choose participants to fit the goal of the retrospective. Look for people who played a significant role and are willing to share their perspectives.

For one release retrospective, the leader invited Pat and Ron, representatives from Human Resources and Facilities. During the retrospective, Pat and Ron learned how their standard policies had impeded the project. Ron gained an understanding of the urgency behind requests to move machines in the team room. Pat realized that asking for a 26-page performance review for every team member in the middle of a release took the coach out of action for a month. The team heard Ron’s point of view and agreed to provide longer lead ...