May the 4th Be With You Retro

Set the goal/ context (1)

The goal of this retrospective is to look at the values of the team; openness, respect, commitment, focus, and courage, to identify and gather feedback from Sprint __, and to create action items to improve challenges as well as continue to maximize what is working for the team.

Focus ON: Agile, Scrum, Team (5)

Ask the team, “who said each of these and how do these quotes relate to Scrum, this team, or Agile in general?”

 “This is a new day, a new beginning” – Ahsoka Tano. Agile and Scrum are centered on change and new beginnings, trying new things to improve and grow.

 “Your focus determines you reality” – Qui-Gon Jinn. It relates to Scrum b/c it is highlighting how Scrum is about focus and how if you focus on succeeding you will and conversely if you focus on failing you will.

 “Great kid, Don’t get cocky.” – Han Solo. Scrum is about being creative and courageous but remaining humble with estimation, team work, and iterations that produce in smaller amounts so that the business side is able to weigh in on if they really want what they think they want.

“Your eyes can device you. Don’t trust them – Obi-Wan Kenobi. Agile and Scrum if done well are a great blend of analytical quantifiable information mixed with gut feeling, hunches, and instinct.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try” – Yoda. Scrum is about doing – granted we try different things to see what works but in attitude we DO – and then make adjustments and DO again.

GOAL: Help the team to think about how many things around them in day to day life, movies, etc relate to Agile, Scrum, and being part of a team. Ideally, this will also help them to feel better connected to the underlying principles of Agile so that they can become more Agile in their mindset.

Check In – Scene Sharing (homework required) Here is the homework to email to your team, be sure to give them some time to prepare. “Prior to the retro please think of a scene from Star Wars (or any other movie) that represents one or more of the 5 team values; respect, openness, courage, commitment, and focus. You can either describe it to the team or share a clip of the scene on video through a phone or laptop.”

Watch the clips as a group and guess what the team value/s is that each clip is supposed to represent.

GOAL: Help the team connect with each of the values by thinking of scenes from favorite movies where they are exhibited.

Energizer – Human Rock Paper Scissors STAR WARS STYLE  

Divide the team into two teams by starting at one end and having the first person say 1, the next person says, 2, the next says 1, and so on. Then have all of the 1’s stand on one side and all of the 2’s stand on the other to make 2 teams.

Then instruct the two teams they will have 2 minutes to come up with their own hand signs for light saber, force choke, and blaster and that they need to create a strategy for winning best out of three Human Light Saber, Force Choke, Blaster.

Then say something like, “OK we are going to do three rounds back to back. Best out of 3 wins. I’ll say 1, 2, 3 and on 3 each team should do their first strategy. Immediately, I’ll do it two more times. Remember, light saber beats blaster, force choke beats light saber, and blaster beats force choke. Whoever wins the most out of 3 wins.

Goal: They worked on teamwork, strategic thinking, and being creative, all while having fun and getting up out of their seat 😉

Gather Insights – Star Wars

Divide the canvas into four parts, drawings are encouraged, (they don’t have to be pretty, but they encourage the team to participate). The right side is the Jedi – Good side of the force, the left side is Sith – Evil side of the force. Add the following, one into each quadrant;

• Alderaan – things that are good, keep us moving forward, increase the forward momentum of the force of the project and team as a whole.
• Death  Star – things that are killing the team or progress, slowing us down, not helpful or good. We should stop doing them.
• Tatooine – dry lifeless, not fruitful, we should do less, do better or change them.
• Forest Moon of Endor – helpful, productive things we should do more of but still need refinement.

• Explain each of the quadrants with the team and ask if they have any questions?
• Remind them to put one idea per post it note.
• Either have everyone hold feedback and put it up at once or have people add their feedback when ready.
• Read them out loud, combine any duplicate comments, and ask if anyone wants to elaborate on what they shared.
• Ask the team to come up with SMART Action Item/s for the most popular issue/s.

 

Close-Out – “Would you rather?” Star Wars style

Create your own or use any of these below. Print and cut them into strips. Place them into a bag or container of some kind and have the team pass it around. Start with the first person, they select one, open and answer, then pass the container to the person next to them.

• Would you rather be Jedi or Sith?
• Would you rather be Obi Wan Kenobi or Yoda?
• Would you rather talk like Yoda or breathe like Darth Vader?
• Would you rather fight with a light saber or a blaster?
• Would you rather live with the Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks people the Gungans?
• Would you rather live on Tatooine or Hoth?
• Would you rather ride a Tauntaun or a Bantha?
• Would you rather have Han Solo or Rey as your pilot?
• Who would you rather have as a side kick, Chewbacca, Maz, or BB-8?
• Meet Jabba the Hutt or Darth Sidious?
• Would you rather be Anakin or Luke Skywalker?
• Would you rather be C3PO, R2-D2, or BB-8?

GOAL: fun way to close out the meeting, everyone can learn a bit about their team mates.

Normally we have snacks during Planning Meeting, but we mixed it up for this one and everyone brought in a StarWars themed snack. I have compiled a great list on Pinterest – you can check out with out an account here. The Star Wars font can be downloaded for free and signs can quickly be made. Everyone really enjoys it!