How to Close Out an Agile Retrospective

**By Moye Balogun**

In Agile, action items are changes a
team plans to enact for future sprints. Action items are a crucial part of
closing an Agile retrospective and are often considered the best way to address
a team’s challenges and obstacles (Rose). Talking about obstacles in generic
terms is very easy. The true challenge is breaking down the solution to the
problem into actions that each member of the team can take on (Rose). It is
important that every team member is assigned to an action item. This can be
done by having one person listed as the “action owner” of each action item
(Rose). The facilitator should do this by asking for volunteers. Since Agile
stresses self-organization in teams, neither the facilitator, the scrum master,
or the project manager should be assigning action owners (Rose).

Though each member can have more
than one action item, it is important that everyone has at least one (Rose).
Action items with no one assigned to them should not be taken as a sign the
team lazily does not want to do more work, but rather, be an indicator that the
group does not understand that action (Rose). This is where the facilitator
would step in to get the team to further discuss how the action can be
implemented.

Another key part of finishing a
retrospective is positivity. Many Agile retrospective experts adhere to the
notion that ending a retrospective on a positive note will result in more
productivity for the team. One way positivity can be fostered is through team
exercises. Philip Rogers, one of the Scrum Masters at NPR, likes to break down
his team into groups of two and asks each group to make a “funny poster” based
on the action items they are assigned to (Moon). The groups will each create a
title, select an image, and write an “often humorous description,” resulting in
an activity that promotes teamwork and helps team members get a better
understanding of the action item (Moon). Though it is seemingly not a very
complex action item, one of Philp Rogers’ teams thought working in pairs was a
task the group needed to get better at. The poster they made for this action
item was:

In
this activity, humor is encouraged because it makes the action item more
memorable and the atmosphere concluding the retrospective a light-hearted one. The
activity is fully completed when all of the group’s posters are printed out and
displayed where the entire team can see them as a reminder (Rogers).

(1)

Another activity that creates a
positive environment is what Agile retrospective expert, Luís Gonçalves, likes
to call Agile Retrospective Appreciations. In this exercise, the team will be
organized into a semi-circle with the other half of the circle made up of one
chair – known as the “Central Chair” (Gonçalves). One by one, team members will
volunteer to sit in the Central Chair and have their teammates tell them what
they appreciated about the contributions they made to the sprint (Gonçalves). The
actual statement of appreciation can be formatted by saying two things the
person did that helped the group and one thing the team member would like to
see the person do more of (Gonçalves). It is important that this activity is
done in “an environment of respect, authenticity, and profound listening” (Gonçalves).

**Works Cited**

Gonçalves,
Luís. “AGILE RETROSPECTIVE APPRECIATIONS EXERCISE TO CLOSE YOUR
RETROSPECTIVE.” *Luís Gonçalves*, 8 Apr. 2017,
luis-goncalves.com/agile-retrospective-appreciations/.

Moon, Lauren. “5 Steps To Better Agile Retrospectives.” *Across The Board,* 26 Aug. 2015,
blog.trello.com/the-5-steps-to-better-team-retrospectives.

Rogers, Philip.
“Retrospective Techniques for Coaches, Scrum Masters, and Other
Facilitators.” *Trello*, 1 Apr. 2015,
trello.com/c/fgfFlcaO/32-motivational-poster.

Rose,
Doug. “Follow up on Actions Items.” *Lynda.com - from LinkedIn*, 4
Feb. 2016, www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Follow-up-actions-items/175961/468256-4.html.

**Image Courtesy**

https://trello.com/c/fgfFlcaO/32-motivational-poster