Sprint Retrospective is one of the 5 events defined in the Scrum Framework as per Scrum Guide 2020. The Scrum Team inspects itself in terms of processes, communication, collaboration, quality, tools. . The timebox for this event is 3 hours for a month long Sprint and the outcome is high priority improvement actions.
Scrum has 5 events
- Sprint
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
Sprint Retrospective happens toward the end of the Sprint, after the Sprint Review.
Who Attends
This event is for the entire Scrum Team (Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developers).
Scrum Master and Product Owner attends this event as a Scrum Team member.
Purpose
Inspect how did the Sprint go in terms behaviours, processes, collaborations, tools, quality. Together they identify how the Scrum Team could be more effective and prioritise improvement actions. These actions are applied in the future Sprints.
TimeBox
3 hours for a one month long Sprint.
For shorter Sprints, the timebox could be shorter.
Few Tips To Make Sprint Retrospective Effective
- Be prepared, enter the event with some data. For example: Cycle Plotter chart that shows how much time it took for the Product Backlog Items from start till Done. Discuss exceptions, identify root causes.
- This event can easily turn into a ranting session. e.g Management doesn’t listen to us; there is too much bureaucracy to implement new ideas, organisational processes are slow and impeding in delivering value. Even in that we need a positive attitude and identify improvement actions, no matter how small they are.
- This event requires psychological safety. Make sure that the Scrum Team receives that. Don’t allow anyone who is not part of the Scrum Team.
- Bring variety in facilitating the event. This can bring energy and more engagement. A great source is https://www.tastycupcakes.org/
- Create a backlog of improvement actions. Don’t let good ideas go away.
