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| <mainDescription><h1>
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| Participants and facilitator
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| </h1>
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| <p>
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| The participants that gather in the context of a Retrospective constitute more than a "working group". The participants
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| should be thought of as "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose,
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| performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." [<a
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| class="elementLinkWithUserText"
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| href="./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KAT93"
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| guid="_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg">KAT93</a>]
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The participants should consist of individuals representing cross-functional groups, having been involved in the
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| project period or project incident for which the Retrospective will be conducted. The size of the team is important,
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| for the rigorously participative environment of the Retrospective may be difficult to achieve with an overwhelmingly
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| large group (25+ individuals), and a set period of time in which to conduct the Retrospective. Conversely, a small set
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| of participants that is under-represented by the appropriate functional groups will limit the benefits and productivity
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| of team collaboration and self-organization. Although a Retrospective achieves productive results by actualizing team
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| responsibility and self-organization, and opposing traditional imposed authority, the work conducted in a Retrospective
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| (involving the members of cross-functional groups) demands the presence of a designated facilitator.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The individual that is designated to assume the role of facilitator, or Retrospective leader, should possess
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| fundamental skills of a facilitative management approach:
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| </p>
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| <blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| <p class="quote">
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| "A facilitator is an individual who enables groups and organizations to work more effectively; to collaborate and
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| achieve synergy. She or he is a "content-neutral" party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point
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| of view during the meeting, can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group's work. A
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| facilitator can also be a learning or dialogue guide to assist a group in thinking deeply about its assumptions,
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| beliefs and values and about its systemic processes and context." [<a class="elementLinkWithUserText"
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| href="./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KAN07"
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| guid="_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg">KAN07</a>]
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| </p>
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| </blockquote>
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| <p>
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| The facilitator can be expected to allow the participants to exercise a sense of ownership in the operating mode of
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| thought, act to remove impediments to the team's effort to reach targeted goals, foster an environment of trust and
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| thriving collaboration, and support the team in a manner that allows the team to achieve its best thinking. Ultimately,
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| the facilitator focuses on managing the format of the Retrospective, while the participants hone their skills in
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| managing the Retrospective content and maintaining a high-performance, participatory group dynamic.
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| </p>
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| <h1>
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| Establish norms and agreements
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| </h1>
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| <p>
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| Begin the Project Retrospective by establishing the duration, goals, and expectations of the session. The following are
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| typical durations for various Retrospectives:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <b>Iteration:</b> 2 to 4 hours
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Incident:</b> 15 to 45 minutes
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Project:</b> 1 to several days
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| Select the facilitator of the Retrospective.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| If the team is gathering to conduct the first Retrospective, the group will need to create the cultural norms that will
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| be used in the future Retrospectives. If the team is regrouping to conduct a Retrospective, the existing cultural norms
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| will be used. Norm Kerth's Prime Directive is an excellent and widely referenced guiding principle for each
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| Retrospective:
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| </p>
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| <blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| <p class="quote">
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| <strong>Prime Directive</strong>: "Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone
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| did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available,
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| and the situation at hand." [<a 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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| </p>
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| </blockquote>
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| <p>
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| Remind the team that the Prime Directive and cultural norms of the Retrospective are in place to establish an
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| environment in which the members can safely expose sensitive topics and manage meaningful, if provocative, dialogue.
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| The cultural norms guide the team by a "social contract" that clearly outlines the <i>team values and working
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| agreements</i> that have been established by the team. The social contract needs to include organizational value
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| statements that govern acceptable behavior and interactions, supplemented by inviolable principles that govern the
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| conduct and ethics of the team. The team must establish these rules of group engagement before the Retrospective
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| continues to the core of the group's intended gathering. Examples of working agreements include:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Tardiness is not acceptable
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Mobile phones must be powered off during the session
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| All participants must be in attendance throughout the duration of the Retrospective or ask permission from the
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| group for early departure
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| All opinions are welcome
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| The team must strive for healthy, high-quality interaction
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| The team's working agreements (and&nbsp;the Prime Directive statement) should be displayed prominently in the
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| Retrospective session, so that they are clearly visible to all members of the team and, if required, easily accessible
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| so that the team can edit the content. After it is defined, future Retrospectives can begin with a review of these
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| working agreements.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| After the team has established a safe environment in which to conduct the Retrospective, the facilitator of the
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| Retrospective should elicit participation from the group, thereby granting tacit permission to members who are hesitant
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| to participate immediately.
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| </p>
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| <h1>
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| Collect and analyze data
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| </h1>
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| <p>
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| The team begins this step of the Retrospective with a review of the meaningful characteristics of the iteration,
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| release, incident, or project period. The focus of the team's work in this step includes:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Critical developments,
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Notable discoveries
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Work completed
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Project metrics (velocity, number of defects, and so forth)
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Review of project artifacts (requirements artifacts, project plans, and such)
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| Encourage the team to capture all information (project data, opinions, and so on) by using various tools (white boards,
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| charts, timelines) that provide a visual representation, so that the team can identify relationships and emerging
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| patterns.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The team uses guiding questions to collect and analyze meaningful project data. You can use these examples of key
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| questions to elicit relevant information:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Were the defined goals and objectives met? Did the release meet its functionality and quality goals? Did the
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| release meet performance and capacity goals?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Were risks reduced or eliminated? Can we identify new risks?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Were all planned work items addressed? What was the team's velocity relative to the plan?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Did the end users provide favorable feedback on what we built in this iteration?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Are changes to the project plan required?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| What portion of the current release will be used to establish the baseline? What portion will need to be reworked?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Have there been external changes, such as changes in the marketplace, in the user community, or in the
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| requirements?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Was the development process appropriate? How can it be fine-tuned for the specific needs of this project?
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| The team has generated a list of candidate topics to focus on for its collective inquiry, or heightened analysis. The
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| team's methods of analysis need to facilitate a deepening understanding of the events characterizing the iteration,
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| incident, release, or Project Retrospective. The team will be evaluating these driving factors, which ultimately
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| documents a roadmap for the next cycle:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <b>Success:</b> "What worked well for us during the past iteration (or project or phase)?"
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Failure:</b> "What did not work well for us during the past iteration [or project or phase)?"
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Opportunities for improvement:</b> "What should we do differently, or what improvements should we undertake
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| during our next iteration (or project or phase)?"
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| With increasing emphasis, the thread of team collaboration continues throughout the Retrospective, thereby fostering an
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| environment conducive to candid, unimpeded examination by the team: a rigorous style of examination that will be
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| required to unearth the details lurking in the interactions of the team, the conditions of the project, fortuitous
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| events, failures, risks, and examples of flourishing success.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| After the team has collected and analyzed the key data in the Retrospective, the team will have evaluated key project
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| content. For each item evaluated, they will have established a root cause. The team will know what worked well, what
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| did not, and what to do differently this time, so that they can carry forward a list of suggested improvements that
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| will be prioritized by the team.
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| </p>
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| <h1>
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| Set priorities
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| </h1>
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| <p>
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| By referencing the project data collected and analyzed in the Retrospective, the team now creates a list of suggested
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| improvements, assigning a priority to each item on the list.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| The selection of improvements should be limited to a subset that will be applied in the next iteration cycle. This list
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| should be considered as input to update the next Iteration Plan, so that you can ensure an integrated relationship
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| between the changes identified in the Retrospective and the normal course of the team's work plans.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Get commitment from members to complete, the suggested improvements that have been chosen for application in the next
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| iteration cycle. The visibility and commitment among the members of the team imbue a sense that the Retrospective was
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| worthy of the team's investment of time, and that the results of the work on the Retrospective will be tracked in the
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| next iteration cycle.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Maintain a backlog of the suggested improvements that were not chosen for the next iteration cycle. This will preserve
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| the work of the Retrospective. The selected content will be available for convenient access and monitoring for
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| progress, and the unselected items will be available for consideration during future iteration cycles.
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| </p>
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| <h1>
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| Conclude and document the process
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| </h1>
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| <p>
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| The team's honed methods of investigation and analysis&nbsp;are now applied to the Retrospective itself. During the
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| evaluation of the Retrospective, the team considers the moments of empowering thought and interaction, considers ideas
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| for improving future Retrospectives, revisits the team's social contract, extends appreciation throughout the group,
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| and preserves the discoveries of the team (for example,&nbsp;through the use of Retrospective documentation,
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| or&nbsp;pictures from a digital camera taken during the Retrospective).
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| </p></mainDescription> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:ContentDescription> |
