Planning for Effective Agile Retrospectives

Home  >  Articles  > 
Planning for Effective Agile Retrospectives

Tamara Sulaiman, PMP, CST

October 5, 2009






Agile retrospectives--the process of inspecting what has happened during a particular timeframe and creating action plans for improvement--is a critical success factor in any iterative and incremental set of practices. The 12th principle supporting the Agile Manifesto states: “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” In Scrum, an agile project management framework, retrospectives are considered one of the basic practices that must be followed. Retrospectives are at the core of the “process-centric” feedback loop built into the Scrum framework.
In order to get that incremental improvement, your retrospectives must be valuable and effective. A valuable retrospective is much more than sitting around a table discussing the pluses and deltas of what happened in a sprint. In order to ensure that the time in a retrospective is well spent, I understand that I must invest my own time in planning for that meeting--and that the time spent planning is often a key factor in the success of the outcome.



Please login/register to read the entire article.





sponsored announcements and special offers
Build and deploy interactive reports and dashboards — without any hidden costs. Our in-the-cloud free trial lets you see for yourself — no download required. SAP Crystal Reports Server 60-day Free Trial


Get a business advantage. With a Services Dashboard, you're in the driver's seat. Solid benchmarks allow you to prioritize initiatives, monitor improvements and understand the business impact of best practices on your services organization. Read now.

Improve your company's efficiency and effectiveness, no matter its size. Download the SAP whitepaper Business Intelligence: The Definitive Guide for Mid-Size Organizations.

Online Lean Six Sigma Certificates
Earn certificates 100% Online from Purdue University, and gain knowledge in lean and six sigma. Lead improvements in your organization with skills learned. Courses start soon and space is limited. Click here for more info.

Online Project Mgmt Certificates
Earn project mgmt certificates 100% Online, and gain knowledge in foundations to PMP Prep. Skills apply directly to any industry. Save $1000 and get a FREE PMP Prep course w/ your certificate through 7/31/10. Click Here



"I would never die for my beliefs, cause I might be wrong."
- Bertrand Russell