

If possible, the work results are shown or explained and feedback is solicited from stakeholders. The Review starts with an introduction to bring everyone on the same page. To prevent these meeting formats from drifting off, it is helpful to ask the participants to prepare, and to have a clear structure and a moderator, such as a team lead or other person, to facilitate and coordinate the sessions. Neither Reviews nor Retrospectives are there for destructive criticism, heated discussions, or planning sessions. Usually, all members who participated in the last iteration are included.Īgenda: What is the right structure for a Review/Retrospective? Therefore, Retrospectives may be organized in a smaller group. To gain truly valuable insights and effectively improve processes, participants need to feel safe to openly share their thoughts. Retrospectives can provide teams with sensitive information such as communication barriers and hurt feelings. In the case of OKR, it can be helpful to seek feedback from other teams that were also aligned on a particular Objective or Key Result. This may even include customers or other stakeholders.

Since Reviews focus on the work done, they should be conducted by everyone who was involved in achieving the set goals. Feedback does not follow any hierarchy it is usually very valuable to gain different perspectives on a situation. Neither Reviews nor Retrospectives are leadership responsibilities, but they involve everyone who is part of the process, such as the Scrum team, and can therefore contribute to the feedback session. To foster transparency and alignment, it is important to include the right people in these meeting formats. Participants: Who should attend a Review/Retrospective? These insights are then shared throughout the organization. This approach helps us identify cross-functional and organizational patterns that may indicate structural alignment issues or similar problems. Insights from Workpath: At Workpath, we have found it to be most effective for each team to conduct their Reviews and Retrospectives two to three weeks before the end of an OKR cycle and then share key findings with our Program Lead. For example, the realization that teams were unable to address all goals due to unpredictable ad hoc tasks might lead to the conclusion that teams should generally plan more buffers in advance. Retro:Ī Review often points towards relevant topics for the subsequent Retrospective. Especially after introducing a new agile framework like OKR, the participants may take more time to examine their performance in depth. Teams typically take half an hour to two hours for a review session. Teams first analyze their work in a review session before moving on to a Retrospective. Meetings should be scheduled to be of sufficient length and at a time that suits the intentions, rather than on a Friday afternoon.

Review and retrospective meetings are held at the end of an iteration such as a Scrum sprint or OKR cycle to ensure that the team still remembers the most important incidents, and so that learnings can be applied immediately in the next iteration. Time and Duration: When is the right time for a Review/Retrospective? How much time should be allocated for each meeting? It sheds light on team dynamics, behaviours, meeting rhythms and the overall work environment. The retrospective aims to "improve the system" and enable better collaboration and a streamlined process. The teams discuss their results, but also reflect on their workload and preparation, and come up with new ideas. The review meeting helps teams reliably meet customer needs and deliver the best products and services. They help to evaluate where improvements are needed, while emphasizing lessons learned and acknowledging achievements. Purpose: What is the reason to hold a Review/Retrospective?īoth meeting formats enable teams to learn faster from the past and respond better to changing market conditions. In a nutshell, a Review is about the outcome, while the Retrospective focuses on the process.įind out more about retrospective meetings in this article. Both are instruments for continuous improvement in agile environments and take place at the end of the cycle, but serve different purposes and are therefore not carried out in the same manner. However, review and retrospective sessions should not fall under this procedure. In times of remote work and meeting fatigue, it may be reasonable to cut meetings or merge those that seem most similar.
