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| <mainDescription><p>
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| Retrospectives, as applied in software development, have historical roots in Project Retrospectives described as:
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| </p>
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| <blockquote>
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| "A ritual held <b>at the end</b> of a project to learn from the experience and plan changes for the next effort." [<a
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| class="elementLinkWithUserText"
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| href="./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KER01"
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| guid="_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg">KER01</a>]
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| </blockquote>
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| <p>
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| While Retrospectives conducted at the end of a project remain valuable, the spirit of Retrospectives should be imbued
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| across the project continuum, conducted at key project milestones:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| At the end of project iterations
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| After releases
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Immediately upon occurrences of key project incidents (significant unexpected events).
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| When the practice of Retrospectives is intimately intertwined with the processes of the project, the health of the team
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| is constantly monitored, the "heartbeat" of project progress is readily measured, and the team hones an awareness of
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| opportunities for improvement and increased productivity. A symbiotic relationship emerges between an evolutionary
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| development process and a Retrospective that supports the various methods of inspection and adaptation.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The iteration, incident, and project Retrospectives are designed, in part, to calibrate the team's progress with the
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| goals of the project. Several methods can be used to incite the Retrospective team to begin their collective
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| investigative work, such as posing the following three driving questions to the team:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| "What worked well for us during the past iteration (or project, and so on)?"
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| "What did not work well for us during the past iteration (or project, and so on)?"
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| "What should we do differently, or what improvements should we undertake during our next iteration (or project, and
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| so on)".
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| The questions are expected to generate actions that will assist the team in prioritizing suggested improvements for the
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| project, to be implemented during the subsequent cycle. In addition to the aforementioned investigative questions, a
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| Retrospective should include steps that provide structure for the team's focus and resulting work.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| An effectively facilitated Retrospective will create an environment that is conducive to various practices of
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| inspection and adaptation. The methods of inspection and adaptation are project control mechanisms that assume, and
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| respond to, the existence of complexity, unpredictability, and constant change. Practiced in the context of a
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| Retrospective, the methods of inspection and adaptation produce a feedback loop from which flexibility, responsiveness,
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| and reliability are realized.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The mere execution of Retrospectives is insufficient without an organizational commitment to a collaborative culture.
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| The success of Retrospectives is directly proportional to, and necessarily contingent on, an environment that engenders
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| highly motivated and performing teams (not the individual), nurtures open and frequent communication, and provides a
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| thriving sense of dedication to the team community. Retrospectives embody the spirit of team collaboration and
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| self-reflection by offering an environment in which teams are encouraged to provide feedback and identify lessons
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| learned. The compositional aspects of the team are crucial in supporting the highly collaborative nature of
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| Retrospectives, enabling the team to produce insight(s) into improving the processes of the project.
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| </p></mainDescription> |
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