Project Retrospective Methodology

Topic: What, So What, Now What 🎯 Type: Retrospective format 🤔 Duration: 60 minutes ⏰ Retrospectives are key to Scrum's continuous improvement. To identify the right improvements, teams should analyze data from the last Sprint—avoiding unnecessary tweaks while catching what truly needs fixing. Yet, I’m often surprised that this isn’t common practice. Many teams start retrospectives to ‘have a good conversation,’ relying on gut feeling, memory, and creativity, instead of facts. Gut feeling and intuition can work, but it’s risky. The Liberating Structure "What, So What, Now What" helps make retrospectives more data-informed. It breaks experiences down into three steps: 1️⃣ “What have we noticed and observed?” 2️⃣ “So, what does this mean?” 3️⃣ “Now, where do we go from here?”. ## Round 1 Invite your team to consider what they noticed individually and/or what facts or observations stood out in the previous Sprint. ❌ “We didn’t finish three backlog items” ❌ “Item X got stuck for almost the entire Sprint because we needed to wait for another team.” ❌ “We managed to release only twice, although we agreed to do it daily.” ✅ “Our most important stakeholders validated an important item during the Sprint” ✅ “Our Sprint Review was visited by all our stakeholders!” ## Round 2 Invite your team to reflect on the observations individually. Why are those observations important? What patterns do you see? What conclusions can we draw? 🤔 “We seem to have too many dependencies on other teams.” 🤔 “Somehow, we aren’t able to release daily.” 🤔 “Our collaboration with stakeholders is going smoothly.” ## Round 3 Invite people to reflect on the previous round individually. Based on the conclusions, what are the next steps that make sense? Based on what we know now, what should we invest in as a team? 📌 “Let’s map all our dependencies to find bottlenecks and identify at least one improvement to remove it.” 📌 “ Let’s visit a team that has automated something we haven’t yet, and let’s take 1 idea from them that we will implement next Sprint as well.” 📌 “Let’s share our good experiences with our stakeholders, with team XYZ, because they seem to struggle with their stakeholders.” Collect the key ideas in a shared workspace, turn them into concrete improvements, and realize them in the next Sprint. Optionally, use “What, So What, Now What” again during the next Sprint Retrospective. Repetition is also a form of learning. What is your experience with the Liberating Structure "What, So What, Now What"? Why don't you try it during the next Sprint Retrospective or team gathering?

I'm often asked which ceremony I think is most important when running Agile. While all of the ceremonies play a key role in success of delivering outcomes, I feel that the retrospective is what makes the Agile team a team! NFL teams dedicate hours to reviewing game film after each game. This practice helps coaches and players break down their performance to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Some key elements of NFL film analysis include: 1. Reviewing successful plays and strategies to reinforce positive behaviors. 2. Pinpointing errors in execution and decision-making. 3. Strategizing ways to counteract opponents and improve for the next game. Watching film allows players to visualize their actions and receive direct feedback from coaches, much like Agile retrospectives foster open discussions and learning. In Agile software development, the retrospective ceremony is a cornerstone of continuous improvement. It's a time for teams to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and how they can improve. The main goals of a retrospective include: 1. Recognizing what went well and building on those strengths. 2. Acknowledging obstacles and areas that need improvement. 3. Collaborating on action items to enhance productivity. Teams often follow frameworks like Start-Stop-Continue or the Five Whys technique to dig deeper and create actionable takeaways. The similarities between Agile retrospectives and NFL film study demonstrate a universal truth: consistent reflection and adaptation are key to success, whether you're coding software or running plays. Here are a few ways these practices align: - Both require honest feedback, communication, and alignment on goals. - Just as developers own their contributions, players must take responsibility for their performance. - Success hinges on iterative progress—making small, consistent improvements over time. By following the below, we can have more effective Agile teams. 1. Be Honest and Open: Like NFL players facing their game tape, Agile teams should embrace transparency and feedback. 2. Focus on Actionable Change: Improvement is valuable only if followed by concrete steps. 3. Celebrate the Wins: Recognizing achievements helps maintain morale and reinforces good practices. Whether you're part of an Agile team delivering software or an NFL team chasing a championship, the retrospective process is crucial for growth and success. By embracing lessons learned and continuously striving for improvement, both Agile practitioners and athletes can achieve peak performance.

Are Your Retros a Waste of Time? I recently attended a retrospective where the team was seriously disengaged. Like, silent. Afterwards, I asked the developers why, and they said "We're disengaged because this meeting isn’t valuable." I said, "I think you've got that backwards. The retro isn't valuable because you’re disengaged!" Retros are a core Scrum event. Teams have a chance to reflect, adapt, and grow. When done well, they encourage accountability and improvement. But when they fail, they just a chore. Let's revisit the purpose of retros and see where teams go wrong. Purpose The purpose of a retro is to reflect on the ending sprint, identify what worked and what didn’t, and decide on improvements. It’s not about rehashing, but learning. A successful retro strikes a balance between celebrating successes and addressing challenges. The team should leave energized, motivated, and ready to adapt. Where Retros Go Wrong Retros fail when teams drift from their purpose, team members don’t feel safe sharing honest feedback, discussions are superficial, and real issues are ignored. Some teams focus too much on the negative, turning retros into morale-killing complaint sessions. Others waste the meeting congratulating themselves instead of acknowledging problems. Neither approach leads to improvement. Then there are vague or unrealistic action items. Goals like “improve communication” sound good but no one knows what that really means, so... no change. Disengagement is another challenge. Teams mistake it as proof the retro isn’t valuable, but it’s the other way around. Disengagement causes ineffective discussions, creating a vicious cycle. Lack of follow-through undermines the whole exercise. Without accountability, retros lose credibility and the team just repeats the same mistakes. Refocus to Reclaim Retros First, create a safe environment for open dialogue. Leaders and facilitators should model vulnerability and keep discussions focused on issues, not people. Celebrate successes, but dive into challenges with an honest intent to improve. This balance keeps retros positive and productive. Make action items specific, measurable, and realistic. Aim for clarity, like “schedule a five-minute daily sync to address blockers.” I’m not going to recommend retro formats, because you can Google a googol of them, and the format matters far less than the conversation. There are tools, though, that may help - like Parabol, Retrium, and EasyRetro. Jira users might try TeamRetro or Agile Retrospectives. These tools provide templates, prompts, and visual boards that can really help. Experiment to find what works best. Oh... and close the loop on action items. Start each retro by reviewing progress on past improvements, and you'll reinforce accountability. Stop Wasting Time If retros feel like a waste of time, you may have strayed from their purpose. Retros aren't inherently valuable; they only become valuable when teams engage, reflect, and act.

TIP 5: Look Back in Order to Move Forward In our advancement world, we’re so busy moving on to the next thing that we don’t always pause to reflect on what we’ve done, celebrate what went well, and consider what we’ll do differently in the future. To help build learning into your event and project process, build in time for a retrospective review. A retrospective review (also called an after action review) is a learning method to reflect on performance, using guided questions for group discussion. When I lead executive leadership teams through a retrospective review, we spend time evaluating and learning—so we can continue to improve the organization. It doesn’t have to take a long time for the discussion and it can help inform the organization’s future plans. I get that your time as leaders as limited. Here’s the thing: People determine the success of a project with or without a retrospective review. They’re just having the conversation in the hallway or with a few people, rather than the full group. Use a retrospective review as a space for learning and building community. Here’s how to put it into practice: Build a 30-minute retrospective review into a project timeline, or schedule time for the review after a challenging situation at work. Treat the meeting like a professional development session where everyone can contribute. Ask questions such as: 💡 What went better than expected? 💡 What didn’t go as hoped or planned? 💡 What do we want to replicate (or not) for next time? Then, maintain the meeting notes in a repository where they can be referred back to again—so history only repeats itself in the best ways. After all, an organization is only as good as how they apply what they’ve learned going forward. ___ This is the final tip in a series I’m sharing all this week on how to build learning into your workday and grow your team’s skills—without adding more work to your plate. Reach out to learn more about how I can help your advancement team build a learning mindset and strengthen your company’s organizational culture—to build the foundation for your fundraising success.

🛠️ Reflection without action is wasted effort. A good retrospective ends with a clear set of actions to address the team’s challenges and amplify what’s working. Our volunteer training team used this approach to build the entire 2025 training calendar in less time than it takes to eat lunch. Here’s how to move from reflective talk to tangible actions: 1️⃣ Prioritize: Don’t try to fix everything at once. Choose 1-2 actionable items to focus on for the next sprint. 2️⃣ Volunteer or Assign Owners: Give someone responsibility for driving each improvement forward. We each took on one month of responsibility. 3️⃣ Document Decisions: Record your retro’s key takeaways in a shared space so everyone stays accountable. We are using MS Teams and taking advantage of the channel posts and files. 🚀 By ending with a plan, you’ll see steady gains in team performance over time. We started with a problem and over time got to a set of countermeasures to build our people and keep a sustainable pace of opportunities. The smallest tweak today could transform your processes tomorrow! What’s one action your team implemented from a retrospective that made a huge difference? Share your wins! #scrum #leanconstruction #respectforpeople #teamgrowth