{"id":8242,"date":"2019-10-13T13:50:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T16:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/?p=8242"},"modified":"2020-05-19T18:39:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T17:39:46","slug":"preparing-for-an-online-retrospective-an-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/preparing-for-an-online-retrospective-an-example\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for an online retrospective – an example"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please find below a sample agenda for a retrospective<\/strong>, as well as my thinking process while creating it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As per a previous post — On planning a retrospective<\/a> –, I have sent a few questions to the person who invited me to facilitate the retrospective.<\/p>\n

Below are the questions and answers, which guided me towards deciding this specific retrospective agenda. Below each answer, I share some of my thoughts, which influences my selection on the activities and the retro agenda.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Questions, \u00a0answers & my thoughts<\/h2>\n

Question (Q)<\/strong>: Is everyone on the same place or we need an online retrospective board?
\nAnswer (A)<\/strong>: 7 people in the office and team lead WFH remotely. Client will not be present today so it will be more relaxed retro focusing on the team and processes improvements.
\nMy Thoughts (me)<\/strong>: ok,\u00a0I\u00a0need an online board. I will ask everyone to bring their\u00a0laptops and\u00a0share the agenda links 5\u00a0minutes before the retro.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: How many people will participate on the retrospective?
\nA:<\/strong> 8
\nMe:<\/strong>\u00a0small team, easier to facilitate,\u00a0I can spend more time on\u00a0the main course.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> When was your last retrospective?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a02 weeks ago
\nMe:<\/strong> perfect, team is used to retrospectives\u2026 it\u2019s definitely a retrospective, no need to think about team building<\/a> or futurospective activities<\/a>. No need to spend time remembering old stuff.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What is the context for this retrospective? (Is it a Sprint retrospective? Something really bad or great just happened and you want to focus on it? Is this s new team and we should think about team building activities?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Team is together for 8 months already however new person has joined yesterday. We do retrospective every two weeks. Client will not be present today. Nothing major has happened, it is our usual retro to rather look for improvements than finding a solution to problems.
\nMe:<\/strong> new person, let me think about a good energizer<\/a>\u2026 perhaps something where people share a little about themselves\u2026 this will help the new person to integrate and know more about the teammates. Client not present\u2026 I have to be careful not to look for improvements on the client side\u2026 I\u2019ll focus on the team work.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Anything major is about to happen and we should prepare for it?
\nA:<\/strong> We need to get client to make important decisions in upcoming two weeks as we are blocked on few epics in our roadmap.
\nMe:<\/strong> product features\u2026 this should be one of this retrospective themes\u2026 this might cover the epic concern\u2026 roadmap\u2026 not sure if I make a retro with some timeline on it\u2026 don\u2019t think it’s necessary\u2026 it feels to me this roadmap thing is \u00a0not a big issue as the team works together for 8 months and has retrospective every other week. Anyway, if it\u2019s an issue, the team will bring it up.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Which areas or themes do you want to focus on? (e.g. people and interactions \/ process \/ product features; within team boundaries \/ outside the team boundaries; weekdays working hours \/ weekdays non-working hours \/ weekend)
\nA:<\/strong> process, product features
\nMe:<\/strong> nice, this validates my thinking\u2026 themes: process, product features and people\u00a0interactions<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Which sentence best describe what you want? (A) I want to people to decide upon and sign up for action items, or (B) I want people\u00a0tho feel heart, to share their feelings and to be recognised fro the good things.
\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Definitely B
\nMe:<\/strong> nice!\u00a0My kind of retro: focus on people\u00a0and feelings.\u00a0The action itens will come naturally\u2026\u00a0I need to think about a good\u00a0check out to bring a nice closing.<\/p>\n

Building the specific agenda<\/h2>\n

I start by writing the 7 step retrospective template<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Context<\/li>\n
  2. Energizer<\/li>\n
  3. Prime directive<\/li>\n
  4. Checkin<\/li>\n
  5. Main course<\/li>\n
  6. Filtering<\/li>\n
  7. Checkout<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Then I go filling each step. In fact, as this is a remote retrospective, I\u2019ll share the agenda with the online retrospectives boards links with everyone.<\/p>\n

    Please find below my thoughts while I was preparing each of the seven retrospective steps.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    —— BEGIN THE TRANSCRIPTION OF MY THOUGHTS ———-<\/p>\n

    1. Context<\/h3>\n

    Me: Copy\/past from the answers<\/p>\n

    2. Energizer<\/h3>\n

    Let me look at the FunRetrospectives \/ Energizer category<\/a> \u00a0for some ideas\u2026<\/p>\n

    The Guess my favorite song activity<\/a> \u00a0looks good ; specially for the new team member,<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ll create an online board\u2026 and I\u2019ll send this note 10 minus before the retrospective; on the email subject \u201cwhat is your favorite song – retrospective\u201d<\/p>\n

    This will catch their attention and might be a good energizer. Besides, it will test everyones connectivity.<\/p>\n

    3. Prime directive<\/h3>\n

    Let me copy\/paste the prime directive<\/a> from the FunRetrospectives site.<\/p>\n

    During the retro, I\u2019ll ask someone to read it.<\/p>\n

    4. Checkin<\/h3>\n

    I\u2019ll use the happiness radar<\/a> with these 3 themes: process, product features and people interactions<\/p>\n

    5. Main course<\/h3>\n

    I’ll use the small starfish<\/a>:\u00a0 for the 3 themes, following up from the checkin activity.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ll say something like this: \u201cso now please share more about the things that made you feel this way. Please add your notes to the small starfish areas: more of, keep doing, less of<\/p>\n

    6. Filtering<\/h3>\n

    Dot voting<\/a>. Each participant has 5 votes
    \nThen have a conversation about the most vote itens.
    \nIf needed, write down any action itens on the card itself.<\/p>\n

    7. Checkout<\/h3>\n

    I\u2019ll ask people to go back to the most favorite song board\u2026 I\u2019ll say something like: “each one has two votes to select the best song. We will play the one with most votes as we leave the room. Thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    —— END THE TRANSCRIPTION OF MY THOUGHTS ———-<\/p>\n

    Sharing the retrospective agenda<\/h2>\n

    Please find below the email I\u2019ve sent the team five minutes before the retrospective (links were removed):<\/p>\n

    ——–BEGIN OF EMAIL ——————————-<\/p>\n

    Hi team,
    \nI\u2019ll be facilitating your retro today, and I need two really important things from you: 1. Bring your laptop to the meeting, and 2. Think about your favorite song.
    \nSee you online shortly: LINK TO TE ONLINE MEETING CHANEL
    \nCheers,<\/p>\n

    Caroli<\/p>\n

    Please find below the retrospective agenda with the links we will need. Do not start filling it up, as we\u2019ll do it together in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

    1. Retrospective Context<\/strong>: This is a Sprint retrospective The team is together for 8 months already however new person has joined yesterday. Client is not present. Let\u2019s chat about improvements.<\/p>\n

    2. Energizer<\/strong>
    \nWhat is your favorite song?
    \nPlease find a youtube link for it, and place it on the following board
    \nLINK TO THE GUESS MY FAV ORITE SONG BOPARD<\/p>\n

    3. Prime directive<\/strong>:
    \nRegardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand. \u2014 Norm Kerth<\/p>\n

    4. Checkin<\/strong>
    \nLINK TO THE HAPPINESS RADAR ONLINE BOARD
    \nThemes: People & Interactions \/ Process \/ Product & features<\/p>\n

    5. Main course<\/strong>
    \nLINK TO THE SMALL STARFISH ON LINE BOARD.
    \nThemes: People & Interactions \/ Process \/ Product & features<\/p>\n

    6. Filterin<\/strong>g
    \nDot voting. Each participant has 3 votes
    \nThen we\u2019ll have a conversation about the most vote itens.
    \nIf needed, write down any action itens on the card itself.<\/p>\n

    7. Checkout<\/strong><\/p>\n

    LINK TO THE GUESS MY FAV ORITE SONG BOPARD
    \nGo back to the most favorite song board\u2026 each one has 3 votes to select the best song. We will play the one with most votes as we leave the room. Thank you!<\/p>\n

    ———END OF EMAIL —————————–<\/p>\n

    The good news, since Funretrospectives.com released the new app, the online agenda creation got event simpler. Check it out here. <\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    IMPORTANT NOTE: The FunRetrospectives Online app is evolving based on the users feedback, so some of the steps shared on this post might get simpler over time.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Please find below a sample agenda for a retrospective, as well as my thinking process while creating it. As per a previous post — On planning a retrospective –, I have sent a few questions to the person who invited me to facilitate the retrospective. Below are the questions and answers, which guided me towards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2088],"tags":[],"inception_activities":[],"colaboradores":[],"class_list":["post-8242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-remote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8242"},{"taxonomy":"inception_activities","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inception_activities?post=8242"},{"taxonomy":"colaboradores","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caroli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/colaboradores?post=8242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}