Retrospective: The Five Phases

Five Phases of Retrospective

                The Agile retrospective signals the
end of an iteration in Agile software development. The retrospective is a team
meeting to reflect on what occurred in the iteration and identifies actions for
improvement moving forward. Often the team will answer question such as what
worked well?, what did not work well?, and what actions can be taken to improve
the process moving forward?. Before each team member can answers the questions,
it is important to understand the retrospective structure. This structure is
broken down into five phases which includes the start, data gathering,
insights, decisions, and closing phase.

A retrospective meeting should be well run and structured
as it is not an informal gathering. This is why it is important to have a
dedicated facilitator. The facilitator is not a part of the agile team but
someone who specializes in retrospectives. The facilitator will run and
structure the retrospective into the five phases. The start phase is to create
structure and safety for the team. The environment must provide the team with a
comfortable feel. This ensure that the team is able to reflect by being able to
share. The second phase is about data gathering. The facilitator will draw
charts like the Starfish diagram or the PANCAKE agenda to establish the agenda.
The key take away from this phase is team information extracting. The chart is
filled using action items post-it notes created from the team. This information
is then used by the facilitator to ask questions such as the five Y's. The
approach is to identify issues so that the facilitator can come up with SMART
goals for them.

The third phase is insights. Each individual team member
will have their own memory of what happened. It is important that the team has
a shared understanding of what happened as this can often be challenging. The
facilitator will take each memory and create the shared understanding. The key
is to push the team to understand their challenges as a whole. Only when the
team has understood the challenges can they move forward to the next phase. The
fourth phase is about decisions that are made. This phase is about breaking
down challenges into actions items that allows the team to spell out how to fix
the process. Each member is to volunteer in accepting at least one action item.

The last phase is closing off the retrospective. The
facilitator will question the team's take away from the retrospective. The
questions includes whether the retrospective did or did not meet everyone's
expectations. If expectations were not met, the facilitator will write down
this and make the necessary changes for the next meeting. Overall, the
facilitator must make sure that the retrospective was productive and everyone
comes out feeling positive. The end result of a retrospective will have a huge
impact on how the next one begins.

**Work Cited**

"Agile at Work:
Getting Better with Agile Retrospectives" Lynda.com - from LinkedIn, https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Agile-Work-Getting-Better-Agile-Retrospectives/175961-2.html
Accessed 1 Dec. 2017.

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