What is it?

A simple workshop for your next retrospective meeting.

Why is it useful?

• It helps you identify areas for improvement and learn from successes and failures.
• It gives team members a voice, empowering them and fostering a sense of ownership and engagement.
• It encourages open communication, leading to better collaboration and stronger relationships within the team.
• It helps address problems promptly, minimizing their impact on future work.
• It recognizes and celebrates successes, boosting team morale and motivation.

Objective

To help you facilitate a culture of learning, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Process

Step 1: Preparation

• All you need is a flip chart, Post-it notes and pens for this one.
• Add to that a willing team looking to run a retrospective meeting and you’re good to go.

Step 2: Think

• Start by asking your group to consider the current situation.
• Ask them to think about things we should Start doing as a team, Stop doing and continue doing with Improvements.
• Give them 5 minutes max. Thinking only → No talking. We don’t want them to form any consensus at this stage.

Step 3: Write for “Start”

• Invite them to write down their thoughts on the Start question.
• What are the things we need to START doing as a team?
• One thought per Post-it note. Put them up in the Start column.

Step 4: Write for “Stop”

• Repeat Step 2 for the Stop question.
• What do we need to STOP doing as a team?

Step 5: Write for “Improve”

• Repeat for the Improve question.
• What are the things we need to IMPROVE doing as a team?

Step 6: Theming & Consensus Building

• Challenge your group to work together to collect the thoughts into themes.
• Encourage them to move the Post-its around, putting similar ones together. They can draw rings around the themes and name them.

Secret Sauce

• It’s really important it’s the group who does all the writing on Post-its and grouping and not you / the facilitator. The second you play an active role, you start taking ownership of their ideas, and that’s not what you want to happen.
• The key to the Improve step is not only to identify WHAT needs improving but also to include ideas on HOW to improve each one.
• Make sure there’s no talking during the Thinking step. You don’t want them to influence each other at this stage so you get a broad range of ideas bubbling to the top.