Marc Loeffler - Improving Agile Retrospectives: Helping Teams Become More Efficient

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Helping Teams Become More Efficient

Marc Loeffler
Translated from German by Eamonn OLeary

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ISBN-13: 978-0-13-467834-4

ISBN-10: 0-13-467834-6

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To mom and dad.

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I recently read the following story in a daily newspaper. In a hotel in Amman, Jordan, a businessman is waiting in front of an elevator. It is one of those big, lavish hotels, which has, in order to better meet the demands of its guests, placed six elevators next to one another. This businessman waits and waits, but the elevator doesnt come. The problem is that he is standing so close to the elevator that he fails to notice that some of the other elevators have been at his floor for a long time. Were he to take two paces backward, he would reach his goal more quickly.

This story illustrates how we humans tend to cling to an established decision or a previous experience (the elevator we have called will come and not another one). We then blindly follow the old, familiar pathweve always done it this way or thats how its always beeninstead of subjecting it to a critical assessment.

The fundamental idea of retrospectives is to pause, consider the chosen path and, in order to make better progress in the future, to correct that path by means of a (usually small) change. Actually, this approach is rooted in our DNA: the correct Latin term for the human race is not, as is commonly believed, Homo Sapiens, but Homo Sapiens Sapiensthat is, the human who thinks about thinking (or also, the human who thinks twice). It is exactly this reflection on our normal, everyday experiences that stands at the center of retrospectives.

It is often the case in projects or companies that individual team members are well aware of how things might be improved. However, it also often the case that there is insufficient time to examine the possible changes in detail. So nothing is changed, and the result is usually that the team has even less time. This situation is a vicious cycle and is aptly expressed with the old complaint: We dont have time to sharpen the saws, we have to saw.

Retrospectives should thus also be considered part of risk management; the constant analysis of events and ensuing course corrections mean that risks can be more quickly recognized and managed. Despite the fact that retrospectives have been principally used in agile software development in order to ensure agility, the regular implementation of retrospectives can be valuable in other areas. The reason for this is partly that, as another old saying goes, you learn through mistakes. However, many companies consider making mistakes a mistake and demand instead that you do it right the first time. But in our increasingly complex world, finding out what needs to change is not just the larger part of software development. In other areas, too, the first step is to explore which is the best path to the goal. In order to do that, you must also go down some wrong paths.; otherwise, you cannot know which are the right ones.

The right decisions can thus only be reached through the development of the systemand so you may well ask: why continue with this approach? Simply put, exploration is an inherent component of software development and, in todays world, many other areas.