Retrospectives & Feedback
Retro - What x Why
Retrospectives, or retro for short, are an extremely common aspect of the agile process that you will likely encounter on the job. Typically, they occur at the end of each sprint to answer the following questions:
- What went well during the sprint?
- What could be improved?
- What do you want to commit to improve/change during the next sprint
Since projects at Turing are shorter than the sprints you will encounter on the job, we want you to practice your retro skills after each week of a project.
In this module, we will practice working on different retro formats to give you additional perspective on what works best for you/your group!
Feedback for Teammates
In addition to completing weekly retros with your teammates, we also want you to practice writing feedback to your teammates to help them improve and to give you experience with delivering feedback. Try to utilize the SMART model as best as you can!
SpecificMeasurableActionableRelevantThoughtful/Kind
Start/Stop/Continue Retro Format
Use Miro to help facilitate your retro discussion. In the templates section, under Agile Processes, there is a Start/Stop/Continue Retrospective. You may have to click the See More option to find the template. Select this template to use.
Start- What should the team start doing in the next week of the project?Stop- What should the team stop doing in the next week of the project?Continue- What should the team continue doing in the next week of the project?
All teammembers should take about 10 minutes to jot down their thoughts on a sticky note about how the past week of the project went and place them in the appropriate columns on the board. After the 10 minutes, as a team review the notes on the board and discuss.
Four Ls Format
Use Miro to help facilitate your retro discussion. In the templates section, under Agile Processes, there is a Retrospective 4Ls. You may have to click the See More option to find the template. Select this template to use.
Liked- What did the team like about the last week?Learned- What did the team learn during the last week? NOTE: This should be non-technical.Lacked- What did the team lack over the last week?Longed For- What did the team long for/want during the last week?
All teammembers should take about 15 minutes to jot down their thoughts on a sticky note about how the past week of the project went and place them in the appropriate columns on the board. After the 15 minutes, as a team review the notes on the board and discuss.
Mad Sad Glad Format
Use Miro to help facilitate your retro discussion. In the templates section, under Agile Processes, there is a Mad/Sad/Glad Retrospective. You may have to click the See More option to find the template. Select this template to use.
Mad- What made the team mad/frustrated over the last week?Glad- What made the team glad over the last week?Sad- What made the team sad over the last week?
All teammembers should take about 10 minutes to jot down their thoughts on a sticky note about how the past week of the project went and place them in the appropriate columns on the board. After the 10 minutes, as a team review the notes on the board and discuss.
Alternative Format
Use Miro to help facilitate your retro discussion. Create the following columns:
👍- What went well during the last week?👎- What didn’t go well during the last week?🧠- What did you learn over the last week?❓- What still leaves you puzzled from last week?
All teammembers should take about 15 minutes to jot down their thoughts on a sticky note about how the past week of the project went and place them in the appropriate columns on the board. After the 15 minutes, as a team review the notes on the board and discuss.
