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How to Use Retrospectives to Make Team More Agile

Project retrospectives can help team members know what went right and what went wrong relating to a project. Retrospectives can help project managers identify and fix problems. The insights gained from the retrospective meeting can help in making the project team more agile and efficient.

During a retrospective meeting, project managers encourage the team to speak up regarding what went well and what went wrong. The purpose of the post-mortem meeting is to help the team become more efficient by learning from mistakes and improving the way they work in future. In this post, you will learn how to make the best use of retrospective meetings for improved project outcome in future.

1. Apply the 3 L Model

You should apply the 3 L Model to make retrospective meetings more effective. This meeting model consists of the following.

• What the team liked?
• What the team lacked?
• What the team learned?

The session should start on a positive note by focusing on what went well. Next, the team members should focus on things that could be improved. Finally, the team should focus on the key learning point.

2. Use Sticky Notes

Consider passing around sticky notes to make employees write what they think went well and what didn’t during the project execution stage. Ask them to write one idea per sticky note. The sticky notes should then be collected and posted on the whiteboard by grouping similar ideas together. This will facilitate in understanding the team sentiment during the retrospective meeting.

3. Devote Sufficient Time to Each Question

During the meeting, the team should devote sufficient time for each of the Ls (liked, lack, and learn) regarding the project. For a 60-minute meeting, the team should spend around 20 minutes to discuss each question.

4. Let the Team Do the Talking

As a project manager, you should let the team do most of the talking. The task of the project manager during the retrospective meeting is to facilitate the team in discussing important points relating to the project. This is because team members who actually perform the work are in the best position to tell about likes, lacks, and the learnings associated with a project.

5. End on a Positive Note

At the end of the retrospective meeting, the focus should be on identifying areas of improvement. The team should be asked what should be improved. Remind the team that the aim of the meeting is not to focus on weaknesses or mistakes, but on improved outcomes.

Come up with concrete steps that can help in improving project outcomes. This could include using online team management software, less wastages, increased collaboration, and teamwork. The meeting should end by summarizing main points that were discussed in the retrospective meeting and also what actions need to be taken for improved efficiency of the team.