How can you lead a successful retrospective?

1 Choose a format

There are many different formats and techniques for retrospectives, such as the starfish, the sailboat, the 4Ls, or the mad, sad, glad. You can choose a format that suits your team's preferences, goals, and context. For example, if you want to focus on action items, you can use the starfish format, which asks the team to share what they want to start, stop, continue, do more of, or do less of. If you want to stimulate creativity and fun, you can use the sailboat format, which asks the team to imagine their project as a sailboat and identify the wind, the anchor, the rocks, and the island. You can also mix and match different formats or create your own.

5 Decide on actions

After generating insights, you should help your team decide on actions to improve their work. You should ask your team to prioritize the most important or urgent issues to address, and to brainstorm possible solutions or experiments. You should use collaborative techniques, such as dot voting, ranking, or grouping, to reach a consensus. You should also make sure that the actions are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. You should assign owners and deadlines for each action, and document them clearly.

6 Close the session

The last step is to close the session on a positive note. You should thank your team for their participation and contribution, and celebrate their achievements and successes. You should also ask your team for feedback on the retrospective itself, such as what they liked, what they didn't like, and what they would like to change. You should use this feedback to improve your next retrospective. You should also follow up with your team on the actions they agreed on, and monitor their progress and impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?