Retrospective Format: Genie in a Bottle
This retrospective is the first retrospective format I am sharing on my blog Agile Goodies. I will provide all information you need to run this retrospective by yourself. From time to time I will add more retrospective formats. If you want to read them all at a glance, please follow this link: Overview of all Retrospectives.
When to Use this Retrospective Format
I think this retrospective format fits well if the team show signs of dissatisfaction in general and there is quite some negativity around (glass is half empty).
Purpose
First of all this format creates a positive atmosphere (see appreciation). It also helps you to identify reasons for dissatisfaction. The team will also share their wishes and provide an idea how they want to work together.
Agenda
Mostly I apply the following structure:
Appreciation (Set the Stage)
Start your retrospective by asking the team for positive events or aspects during the last sprint(s). You can support with the following questions:
- What did the team/a team member great during the last sprint?
- What worked really well during the last sprint?
- What did you like in the last sprint?
Give your team 5 minutes to think about and let them write their positive experience on post-it notes. After this 5 minutes let everybody put their notes on the flip-chart. Ask for 1–2 sentences so that everybody understands the meaning of it.
Now your team is warmed up, and we can go to the next step.
Tip: Ask the team if they want to put your poster or flip-chart into the teams working space, so they can put on appreciation post-it notes whenever they wish during the next sprints. This idea leads to a higher satisfaction because they show appreciation continuously.
Genie in a Bottle (Gather Data)
Introduce the next activity by telling the following story:
“Image you are walking to the beach, and you find a bottle. It is not a regular bottle; it is a special one. You open the bottle, and a Genie appears! He will give every team member three wishes: One for them self, one for the team and one for the world.”
Besides, there is one rule: They can not wish for more wishes 😉
Give your team about 10–15 minutes to think about their three wishes. Let them write down their wishes silently on post-it notes.
After that ask the team members to put their wishes on the flip-chart with 1–2 sentences about it.
Grouping and Dot-Vote (Generate Insights)
Ask the team to group items if possible. There might be items which cannot be grouped, that is fine.
Each participant has three votes (each vote will be represented by a dot on the post-it). Participants can place more that one vote on a card. Please vote on the items that you want to have a conversation about. The items with most votes will be discussed first.
You can lead the discussion with the following questions:
- What are we already doing to make this particular wish come true?
- What can we do more/additional to support this wish?
Identify Action Items (Decide what to do)
Identify at least one action item. Something the team can do during the next sprint to make one or more of the wishes come true.
Tip: If you have more than one action item the team wants to apply, assign an owner of this action item. During the next sprint, the owner is responsible for reminding the team of the action item.
Bonus Tip: Add your action items to your Sprint Backlog. So they are always visible, and your team identifies this item as a kind of work they have to do.
Acknowledgments
This article was originally published on agile-goodies.com. You can find the article here: Retrospective Format: Genie in a Bottle.
