Sprint Retrospectives – Some tips and tricks for Scrum Masters

It’s the end of the sprint so you join online, open the work you actually find important, turn off your camera and mic and wait. Welcome to the sprint retrospective!

As a business analyst and scrum master this is what I see happen in a sprint retrospective more often than not. It is a ceremony that can seem less important than other ceremonies (to developers in particular). Sometimes the team is in a flow, and they think we can’t possibly do any better. So how can you make sure you have a positive, insightful sprint retrospective?

The foundation

The first thing to consider is the team dynamic. Is there a foundation of trust (and respect) on which to build during the retrospective? If this is something the team struggles with, start here. Identify the lack of trust (don’t beat around the bush – set the tone for honest and clear communication) and work with the team to understand and address the root causes. Focus on helping the team see each other as people throughout the process. Especially with teams that largely work virtually, it is sometimes difficult to remember it is another person on the other end of your chats, e-mails and video calls.

Breaking the ice

At the beginning of a retro start with getting the energy up. Make sure the team members turn on cameras and bring some variation to how you start the call. One session, begin with people using emojis to check in on how they are doing. Another one, have people share a picture of what they are looking forward to during the weekend, holidays, or their favorite activity. Take a moment to let the team really share – ask why someone is excited or tired. Let a team member talk about their hobby. It relaxes everyone, fosters team bonding, and brings some levity to the beginning of the retrospective.

The heart of the meeting

Preparation and using the right tools is key. Prior to the meeting consider how you can make the session as interactive as possible. Use Miro, Lucid spark, Microsoft whiteboard or other online retrospective tools so team members can easily contribute during the session. To prepare the tool, reflect on the sprint. Think about themes and topics to discuss and or ask the team in advance what topics they think are important to address. The team can also be involved in the preparation by already adding their thoughts on the agreed topics to the tool in advance of the meeting. The meeting itself is then really focused on just discussing the reflections and agreeing on actions instead of also needing to account for reflection time.

The follow-through

During the sprint refer to actions agreed on during the retrospective gently to support continuous improvement. To make sure the team really sees the value of reflection that the agreed actions are implemented and so as scrum master hold the team accountable to what was agreed. It is frustrating for the team when the same topics and actions for improvement are brought up sprint after sprint in the retrospective.