Agile Banana

Ever read a great article about Scrum and thought, wouldn't it be great if my team did this. But then when you've suggested the idea, it was received with indifference, or worse, resistance? We've all been there. It's hard not feel confused or deflated about why others don't feel the same enthusiasm as you do about some of the great ideas you come across. Well, if you want to get a better result, this retrospective idea is for you. This retro follows the typical retrospective format as set out in  Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen . In the following example, the team were asked to read an article about Backlog Refinement in preparation for the Retrospective. However, the article and topic in question can be changed to suit the needs of your team. I've used Miro in this example below which is a great collaboration tool for remote teams. Setup 1. Circulate a link to the article you'd like your team to read. Set asid...

The following retrospective follows a simple format for helping teams reflect on any of the events or meetings that routinely take place during a sprint. The following example is used to help my team reflect on Backlog Refinement. This retro follows the typical retrospective format as set out in  Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen . Setup Draw some type of scale - could be as simple as a line drawn on a whiteboard. Team members will mark on the board how they feel about backlog refinement. Draw a box with two columns - one will be used to capture what the team think is currently good about backlog refinement, and the second will capture what the team think could be better Draw a box with two rows - one will be used to capture the top three improvements that the team want to see, the other will capture the steps that the team need to take to make those improvements a reality Get a wad of post it notes Set the stage Ask each member of the ...

Mood by Masterpiece This is a starter exercise for an agile retrospective that will take 5 - 15 minutes depending on the size of your agile team. It's a great, low-risk, abstract thinking exercise for getting team members talking at the start of a retrospective. It brings out different perspectives on how the team felt about the recent sprint, and builds a greater sense of empathy and understanding. In the following example I used  Miro  which is a great collaboration tool for remote teams. Setup: Select any six pieces of artwork Lay them out on a grid Give all team members a post-it note with their name on it Running the exercise: Ask everyone to drag their post-it note to the piece of art that best encapsulates how they feel about the sprint that has just finished. Once everyone has placed their post-its, ask each member of the team to say just a sentence or two - doesn't have to be anything profound - about why they've chosen the piece of art that they have. Outcome Asi...