They then describe 5 steps of retrospectives:
1. Set the stage: get everybody’s head in the game.
2. Gather data: what happened and how we responded.
3. Generate insights: make meaning of the data.
4. Decide what to do: same, differently, or try new things.
5. Close the retrospective.
Next they cover each stage in details:
1. Set the stage: Specify a goal on what we are going to look at and an agreement on how we will work together.
- a. Have a goal like let’s look at what’s working and what’s not working. This is good to start out with, but after a while it becomes boring. So then set a new goal like let’s look at how well we are applying coding standards, refactoring, xp practices, etc…
- b. Set a working agreement: Inquiry rather than advocacy, Dialogue rather than debate, Conversation rather than argument, Understanding rather than defending
2. Gather Data: Think together as a group and look back over the iteration. Create a timeline and put up events that are important. Try to have a common understanding of the what went on and get a fuller picture of what happened. Also add an emotional graph tracking energy (high, medium, low) along with the events (avoid using the word ‘feeling’).