Saturday, March 22, 2014

Missing Retrospective

There were so many times I get the resistance from the team when it comes to retrospective meetings. Usual arguments are: "Why the hell you want to spend one hour in every sprint for this meeting?", "It is a total waste of time", "I do not want to hear all those arguments", "We are matured Agile team, we do not need retrospective anymore", "It is a fish market", etc., 

Among these arguments "We do not need retrospective anymore" is my favorite! It's like saying, "I lost 15 pounds by hitting gym everyday in the past one month. I accomplished my goal. I do not need to go to gym anymore". If you do not continue your exercise, you are going to gain the weight back (and some) very soon. Consistency is the key. Retrospective meeting is the perfect option for all team members to voice their opinions and make meaningful contributions to the team and the project.

If some members are not able to attend retrospective, I do not cancel the meeting altogether. I would always reschedule or conduct the meeting with available team members. I use GoToMeeting or Join.me to connect with remote team members. At the worst case, I send out emails with questions, collect answers and schedule a brainstorming session in the following week. 

Gathering feedback and refining the process based on feedback is the core of Agile process. I would not miss it for any reason.

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