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What Went Well Retrospective
· 3 min read ·
The What Went Well Retrospective is a simple and effective way of organizing your end of sprint retrospective . It’s easy to understand and follow and means exactly what it says. It breaks down the events and actions of the sprint into two parts. Forcing the team to think hard and put everything into a “went well” and “not well” column leaves no room for ambiguity.
What Went Well
All the things that help the team in reaching its goal for the sprint are part of this. It is also an opportunity to give kudos to people in your team who did something you appreciate. Let’s look at some examples:
What Didn’t Go Well
What’s slowing us down and creating hurdles in our work? Things that the team needs to hear about and help solve. Some examples are:
Action Items
The “What went well” exercise is only useful if it ends with concrete action items. The team needs to brainstorm and figure out how to solve the issues identified in the “What didn’t go Well” section. All action items should have:
You might end up in a scenario where the due date keeps shifting forward and action items keep piling up with each meeting. This is a big red flag. It means that your retrospective isn’t working and you need to shake things up. In this case you will find the following blog useful:
How to Run A Successful Agile Retrospective
More ideas here
A fun way to start sprint retrospectives is by using icebreakers. These questions help the group get used to the idea of interacting with each other. It also fizzles out any tension in the room and makes the atmosphere of the meeting cordial. Some examples of agile sprint retrospective meeting are:
