I came up with this retro to focus on what went well and highlight what we learned after one of the most frustrating sprints that I have ever been apart of. During the sprint, we had issues integrating code from a third-party, a critical bug was discovered, and the business priorities were changed all within two weeks. This retro format allowed us to reframe the terrible awful sprint into a learning experience. An added bonus was that we were able to celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday in the process (7/31)!
Instructions
Explain what all the categories represent. Felix Felicis (good luck potion) are good things to be celebrated. The Trizard Cup (given to winner of the Triwizard Tournament that tested magical ability, intelligence, and courage of young wizards) represents heroic feats or other good things that should be acknowledged by other teammates. O.W.L’s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels- a standardized subject-specific test for students) are a chance to explain what was learned in this sprint. Petrificus Totalus (a spell that makes it so the person cannot move) is what slowed the team down during the sprint. Give everyone 10-15 minutes to write up their responses. Take turns talking through and adding their responses.
How It Went
This was done as a virtual retro, which always adds a layer of complexity. We were able to have twice as many happy thoughts as we went through because there were both the good things category and the shout out category. Because we discussed the impediments as things that slowed us down instead of talking about what went wrong, we were able to have a better conversation about where we lost time and how we could try to prevent that going forward.
What It Did
This format allowed us to focus on happy things after a very painful sprint. There were a lot of learning opportunities and this format allowed us to not only capture what we learned but also discuss how we can continue learning in the future. I also intentionally had only happy things and no spot for negative comments. Because we used a format that forced us to focus on the good or what we could do better, it forced us to think about the sprint in a happier way which made it easier to move forward without the negative feelings.
How It Could Have Gone Better
The styling made it a little difficult and tripped some people up. If we had done this in person, it would have been much easier to just have our post its and put them on the board instead of struggling with adding additional columns etc for this. Possibly having an ‘other’ category would have been a good idea in case people had other things they felt they needed to say, but ultimately it might have ended up being a dumping ground for just negative comments and would not have added anything to the retro.
