Improvements or complains – choose one

Sprint retrospective meeting is a time when all team members can share what they are happy about, what bothers them, what is worth being taken a deeper look at and what can be or already is problematic. It is a really good idea to practice doing those meetings even if you are not doing Scrum and have no Sprints at all.
You just have to agree for some period of time after which meeting will be provided.

Sprint retrospectives give you a possibility to blurt out everything what’s on your mind. Dedicated time makes it comfortable. You are not looking at your computer. You are not in a rush because of “another meeting is in five minutes”. It’s scheduled, it’s planned and this is time for your Team.

Yeah, not completely. And to be honest, when you are starting to think about those meetings in this way in the same moment you are starting to do malfunction retrospectives. Why is that?

just gimme a time

Unfortunately many teams understand retrospective exactly in that way. As a time for them. They can take a cup of coffee or even two. They can sit down, relax and talk. And no one will interrupt them, because “they’re at the meeting”. The important one. So they are sitting and talking. Usually they will start with the good things. This part will go fast. And then, they are moving to more interesting things – problems, issues, worries. They are talking, sharing the thoughts. Time passes. An hour is not a lot when people can do what makes them feel better. And letting yourself talk about things that bothers you, especially when there’s someone who listen, is something that people like.

Ok, so we are feeling better. Better, but only for a moment. Are we motivated? I think no, because verbalized problems are not the same as solved problems.

And this is something what is missing too often. Sprint retrospectives are about improvements and such conversation without action points is nothing more than complaining. Is it really what you dedicated your time for? Is it worth it?

first cannot be last

Naming a problem is a first step on the way to solving it. But as I wrote in the previous paragraph, if this step were to be your last, you’re doing nothing except complaining. This attitude won’t lead you to the solution, won’t help you any way. Of course, it has impact, but only negative one.

Ok, I wrote that you would feel better when everything has been said. This is true. But it takes only a moment. If you repeat the same things all over again, it will finally have an influence on your and your Team’s motivation. And believe me, this is not the kind of influence that you want to have.

Firstly, how long can you talk about the same thing and do nothing about it? How will you feel with it?
What for all those retrospectives will stand anyway? You are not feeling refreshed after some time and you are going nowhere. Your retrospective meetings, your time for the team becomes “yet another meeting”!
Are we talking about a waste of time here?
Nothing changes. You are still talking about a problem, but nothing happens. So maybe the company that you working for is doing nothing for you? Maybe you should do exactly the same for them?

This is not an attitude that you want to have. This is not thinking that you want to share with your Team.
That’s why you cannot just talk! You cannot just wait! Taking an action and being proactive requires more effort, but nothing ever happens itself.

let’s do something about it

Conversations are important, but only these that lead to specific proposals for actions that should be taken later on.
Writing down a list of action points is not enough. You really have to do them, one by one. This must be an alive to do list, not the piece of document that you can show to prove that you were doing something on retrospective.
A good idea would be to assign yourselves to the action points. Being responsible is something that often pushes us to complete things.

Don’t start with the biggest thing on your list. I know that the hardest one usually brings the greatest payoff and often looks like a most important one, but starting with something easy will help you getting use to completing action points.
It will increase your motivation and will bring success fast.

And even if all things on the list are small remember to take only one thing at a time. There’s no rush. It is better to do one thing, to improve one area rather than become overwhelmed by the number of items.
And you are obligated to do other things as well anyway.


So, what you are waiting for?
Now’s the right time for action!

Good luck!