Remote Retrospectives – Exploring Team Improvement Virtually

Remote Retrospectives – Exploring Team Improvement Virtually

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What is a Retrospective?
If you want your team to improve and grow, hold a team retrospective. Simply put, a retrospective is an event where at the end of a sprint or iteration, the whole team comes together to collaborate on how to work better together in the future. This is an event where teams focus on what went well, what not so well and what the team could do better. The team looks at both quantitive data as well as qualitative data.

Often when coaches/ scrum masters hold retrospectives, over time, well… these events get pretty dry and repetitive.

Retrospectives in a Virtual World
With the virtual world however, retrospectives can be exciting and really get teams collaborating together in a safe space.

With virtual whiteboard tools like Miro, Mural and Jamboard, coaches can make their retrospectives fun and collaborative while inspiring awareness, growth and honesty.

My favorite go to person for these types of retrospectives is Chris Stone of the Virtual Agile Coach. He has created many Miro/Mural templates for getting teams collaborating. One of my favorites is the Amazon Review Retrospective. You basically have your team develop an Amazon review of the past sprint or iteration. This helps team members – even the soft spoken ones – speak up and share ideas, thoughts and insights.

I really am enjoying the virtual world and Chris’ creativity – especially when I can get teams wanting to explore, learn and grow in a way that is fun and inviting.

Never stop exploring this world called “Agile”!