How To Ask Proper Questions During A Sprint Retrospective Session

Sprint Retrospective is the final scrum event during a sprint. This event takes place with the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the entire Product Development Team in attendance. The essence is to discuss the previous sprint and to talk about ways that they can improve in the next sprint.

It is important to ask the right questions during a sprint retro, ask powerful questions, but ensure they are in sync with the product your team is developing. I remember my first sprint retrospective session, while I was preparing and reading some articles around how to ask questions, I noted down some questions from an article I saw online, during the Retrospective session, I asked those questions verbatim, there and then I realized my mistake and I could feel the displeasure my team had with those question.

As a Scrum master, there are three major factors that will help you ask proper questions during a sprint retro;

1. Understand the product properly.

2. Understand the tasks assigned to each member of the product team: each member’s task must be defined, and it is your duty as the scrum master to understand that definition.

3. Know every individual's performance during the sprint: one prominent way of understanding team member’s performance is by organizing daily stand-ups.

Each Sprint retrospective is a chance for the Scrum team to reaffirm its commitment to continuous improvement-: Fixing your Scrum by; Ryan Ripley & Todd Miller

How to ask questions during a Sprint Retro;

1. Ask open-ended questions,

2. Do not attack a team member; instead of saying Jane this team will not tolerate the fact that you always deliver on your task late, you can say Jane, how can you ensure that you deliver up your tasks in time?

3. Ask questions that will make people think,

4. Ask questions that will generate curiosity in your listeners; avoid questions that will lead to a yes or no answer.

Questions to ask during a Sprint Retro;

1. What went right in this sprint and also what do you feel went wrong in this sprint?

2. What are the major obstacles as a team/ individually during the course of this sprint?

3. What are our biggest enablers?

Once you gather the insights from the above questions, proceed to ask the following questions based on the answers you got from the previous questions;

4. How can we fix what went wrong during this sprint?

5. What are the pitfalls you think we are likely to encounter in the course of this product development period?

After getting feedback from the previous question, you want to go ahead to ask questions that will help with solutions for the next sprint;

6. What can we do better to improve on the results we get?

7. What do we need as teams to help us do better moving ahead?

Asking the right question during a Sprint Retrospective is not difficult following the guides that have been listed out in this article, all you need is that you understand the product, and understand each individual’s assignment.