Classic Retro With Sprint Rating
About
This is a classic 60-90 minute Retrospective with a little twist: a Sprint Rating! The Sprint Rating is a great thermometer for the facilitator to immediately see which sections to spend more time on. Amazing Sprint? Let's talk more about that and what made us work together so well! Not so great? Let's spend less time talking about highlights and more time on the sections of what didn't go so well and how we can improve it. I have tested this many many times with large teams of up to 15 people and it's absolutely doable within 60minutes with the use of the Miro Voting feature and a little time management!
How to use the board:
Prep
The facilitator should spend 10-15 minutes before the meeting to set up the board with all of the information that is required in the left gray box. Move and edit things as you see fit!
Running the Retro
An easy breakdown for facilitating can look like the following. Remember you can adjust the timings based on the Sprint Rating!
Sprint Rating - 2-3 mins timer for everyone to review the information on the left and then to drag their dot vote to the visual box indicating how they thought the Sprint went from Bad to Amazing. It's important to not start discussing here! Acknowledge the votes and move on to the next sections. It is just a visual aid and conversation starter for the next sections.
Highlights from the Sprint - 5 mins timer for everyone to fill out stickies then begin a 10 mins discussion with asking for some verbal shoutouts. I like to put these first so they don't get forgotten and I like to leave no space for stickies so it encourages us to say it, rather than write it! After shoutouts, encourage anyone to point out their number #1 highlight.
What Didn't Go So Well - 5 mins timer for everyone to fill out stickies followed by a quick vote to prioritize discussion topics and then 10mins discussion.
Ideas for Improvement and Action Items - Another 5mins for everyone to fill out ideas on stickies then 15-20 minutes to nail down what action items to take forward.
Tips for Success:
Always use a board timer! Visual timers keep people self-aware of how much they are speaking.
In the What Didn't Go Well section, only ask for clarifications and explanations. When people start talking about ideas for improvement, gently remind them to hold that idea until we move onto the next section. This gives everyone space to equally contribute their ideas without influence in the following section.
Adjust the timings based on the Sprint Rating! If a Sprint went very poorly, you could spend only 3mins writing stickies and 7 mins discussing then add that 5 mins to the next section. Adjusting on the fly is a great skill and I encourage you to try it with this board!
Use the Sprint Rating as a conversation starter. One person rated poorly compared to others? In the What Didn't Go Well section, ask if that low rating voter would like to share first. Play around with it, it's a great tool to have!
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