Blog | Books | About

Is this your first retrospective? Start here!
Become a Certified Scrum Master® trained by Retromat Co-Developer Timon Fiddike and Andreas Schliep – Get a 50 % price reduction for their CSM® Deluxe Training on 20-22.11.2019 in Berlin (German language). This is a unique opportunity, here's why.

Use Berlin-50% code on signup
Replaced by JS

Three Words (#82)

Everybody sums up the last iteration in 3 words
Source: Yurii Liholat
Ask everyone to describe the last iteration with just 3 words. Give them a minute to come up with something, then go around the team. This helps people recall the last iteration so that they have some ground to start from.

Appreciative Inquiry (#65)

Lift everyone's spirit with positive questions
Source: Doug Bradbury, adapted for SW development by Corinna Baldauf
This is a round-based activity. In each round you ask the team a question, they write down their answers (gives everyone time to think) and then read them out to the others.
Questions proposed for Software Development teams:
  1. When was the last time you were really engaged / animated / productive? What did you do? What had happened? How did it feel?
  2. From an application-/code-perspective: What is the awesomest stuff you've built together? What makes it great?
  3. Of the things you built for this company, which has the most value? Why?
  4. When did you work best with the Product Owner? What was good about it?
  5. When was your collaboration best?
  6. What was your most valuable contribution to the developer community (of this company)? How did you do it?
  7. Leave your modesty at the door: What is the most valuable skill / character trait you contribute to the team? Examples?
  8. What is your team's most important trait? What sets you apart?

('Remember the Future' (#37) works well as the next step.)

Brainstorming / Filtering (#10)

Generate lots of ideas and filter them against your criteria
Source: Agile Retrospectives
  • Let people write down their ideas for 5-10 minutes
  • Apply each filter and mark ideas that pass all 4.
The selected ideas enter Phase 4.

Circle of Questions (#11)

Source: Agile Retrospectives

Feedback Door - Numbers (ROTI) (#14)

Source: ALE 2011, Corinna Baldauf



Created by Corinna Baldauf


Co-developed by Timon Fiddike
