3 Column Retrospective
3 Column Retrospective
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
What Is A Retrospective
The retrospective is an opportunity for the product team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next iteration.
The retrospective occurs after the sprint review and prior to the next iteration planning.
During the retrospective, the team discusses:
What went well in the iteration
What could be improved
What will we commit to improving in the next iteration
During each retrospective, the product team plans ways to increase product quality by improving work processes.
What Are Benefits Of Retrospective Meetings
An Agile Retrospective is a ritual that enables teams to create a continuous improvement culture, where they reflect on past experiences and define future actions.
Following are some of the benefits of doing retrospective meetings at the end of each sprint
The retrospective is a collaborative process among all members, including the team, the product owner, and the scrum master.
All the team members discuss the process and give suggestions for its improvement.
All team members identify what went well and what could be improved.
The scrum master prioritizes actions and lessons learned based on team direction.
The scrum master prioritizes actions and lessons learned based on team direction.
The retrospective supports team formation and bonding, particularly as any areas of conflict can be identified and dealt with.
The retrospective helps build the team's sense of ownership and its self-management.
What is Mad Sad Glad?
Conduct a retrospective on understanding the emotions and feelings of the team.
After a Sprint, it can be helpful for the team to pause and take stock of how they feel. This is crucial for maintaining morale and getting the most out of each Sprint. But sometimes, it can be hard to gauge your team’s feelings with open-ended questions like “How are you feeling?” That’s why many teams choose to employ the Mad Sad Glad retrospective.
Mad Sad Glad is a popular technique for examining your team member's emotions and encouraging them to think about how they feel. You can use the retrospective to highlight the positive feelings your team might have after a Sprint, but also to underline concerns or questions they might have going forward.
How to use the Mad Sad Glad template
The facilitator should give the respondents 30-60 minutes to think about how they feel about the previous sprint. Then, allow the respondents some time to take stock of their feelings and write down the highlights on the whiteboard. Were there parts of the Sprint that left them angry? Upset? Or satisfied? When the team is finished writing, bring everyone together to discuss. The facilitator can ask follow-up questions and take notes throughout the process.
4 tips for running a Mad Sad Glad retrospective
Give people space and time to reflect Make sure the team has about 30 to 60 minutes of uninterrupted time to take stock of how they feel. Encourage people to take copious notes. Make sure the room is quiet and out of the way.
Make sure phones are turned off Ask all attendees to turn off their phones so they can focus on the retrospective. If people are distracted by their phones, then they will find it harder to reflect.
Be inclusive Assure everyone that there are no right or wrong answers. Remember, the goal of Mad Sad Glad is to take stock of how everyone is feeling, not to brainstorm a process or strategy.
Keep the focus on emotions Encourage your team to focus on emotion, not action. People who might feel uncomfortable sharing their feelings sometimes instead try to pivot to strategy. Gently encourage them to avoid that.
3 reasons to use a Mad Sad Glad retrospective?
The Mad Sad Glad Retrospective is specifically focused on the team's emotional journey, and this is a unique approach with different benefits from a normal agile retrospective.
Build trust By giving team members a space to discuss their feelings and emotions about the work they’ve done, you encourage honesty and forthrightness. Creating more honest, open, and positive teams ultimately helps team members trust each other.
Improve morale Almost everyone will struggle with certain things or get frustrated, and oftentimes workplaces don’t provide an avenue to talk about these frustrations. Giving employees an opportunity to talk through their difficulties will help them feel more welcomed, and ultimately boost morale.
Increase engagement If team members are frustrated and don’t feel heard, they tend to check out. With a Mad Sad Glad retrospective, those team members can speak up and work towards solving their problems and building a more inclusive workspace where people can stay engaged.
When should you run a Mad Sad Glad retrospective?
This type of retrospective can be especially valuable when there is a negative team dynamic, or if there is tension but team members haven't spoken about it yet. Participants can find it useful to use a structured framework to talk about their emotions – particularly in a fast-paced, results-focused agile environment.
Success/Expected Outcomes
Success is when the core team has a shared understanding of:
The most important things that happened during the week, Sprint, project planning iteration, or whichever time-span is the subject of the retrospective
The challenges they are currently facing
The actionable steps they will take to try and improve
There are many free retrospective tools available.
Team Retrospective Miro Template from Atlassian
Trello Template - Glad, Sad, Mad