Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

Chapter Two. Anatomy of a Retrospective: A Case Study

If you have never participated in a successful retrospective, then it may be hard to imagine what one is like by simply reading a book. To help you visualize the process, I have put together a brief case study in the following pages to give you a sense of what can and should occur in a well-run retrospective. The chapter contains an overview of many of the topics and discussions that will be developed further in later chapters, tied here into a single story. The story is based on an actual retrospective, but I’ve spiced it up with bits and pieces from other retrospectives to make it a more comprehensive composite.

The chapter introduces a battery of exercises and tools that I use in retrospectives, ...