Agile retrospectives are important – but why?

Agile retrospectives are an important yet often neglected part of the Agile/Scrum process. Central to Agile is inspect and adapt – retrospectives are an important part of his. Agile promotes continuous improvement but this can only happen if teams take the time to look back and learn from their experiences.

When should Agile teams stop having retrospectives?

When Agile teams can no longer improve they can stop retrospectives. Seeing as this never happens, there will always be a need for retrospectives in Agile environments.

How do Agile retrospectives help ensure continuous improvement?

Action points are taken directly into the next iteration so the improvements identified are acted upon immediately and the team gets instant feedback – short feedback loops are important!

What is the ScrumMaster’s Role in Retrospectives?

In Scrum the ScrumMaster’s role during retrospectives is to facilitate the meeting. The team should be taking an active part in process improvement so you shouldn’t find the ScrumMaster taking all the retrospectives!

Agile Tip – Did you know?

Retrospective is derived from “retrospecatre” which means look back in Latin.

Who Should Attend?

In Agile anyone can attend a retrospective, however normally it is only pigs that are allowed to participate, chickens can only observe.