This retrospective has been adapted for complete virtual/ remote use since most of the world is still working from home in May 2020.
This is a great Retrospective to help your team grow stronger as a team, remind them what the Scrum values are; openness, respect, commitment, focus, and courage, and help the team see those scrum team values in practice in the world around them, with the end goal being helping them use them more in their day-to-day life.
Check-In – We started out with some classic Star Wars quotes that are also surprisingly Agile and the team tried to guess who said what and how they are Agile.
For example the above quote is Agile because Agile and Scrum are centered on change and new beginnings, trying new things to improve and grow.
This one relates to Scrum b/c it is highlighting how one of the Scrum team values is focus and how whatever you focus on is often what you get more of.
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.
Energizer – Scene Sharing (homework required) Email this 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.” Watch the clips as a group and guess what the team value/s is that each clip is supposed to represent. You may need to describe if you have playback issues with video over your remote connection of choice, some do better than others.
GOAL: Help the team connect with each of the values by thinking of scenes from favorite movies where they are exhibited. This is always a big hit and really helps everyone see the values in practice.
Gather Insights – Star Wars Style Divide the canvas into four parts, drawings are normally encouraged, but since IdeaBoardz.com doesn’t allow drawings do what you want/ can with that. The most important thing is the questions to ask the team and encouraging the team values to be used during discussion and analyzation to create a meaningful action item.
- Alderaan – things that are good, keep us moving forward, increase the forward momentum of the force of the project and team as a whole.
- Forest Moon of Endor – helpful, productive things we should do more of but still need some refinement/improvement to be Alderaan worthy.
- Death Star – things that are killing the team or progress, slowing us down, not helpful or good. We should stop doing them all together.
- Tatooine – dry lifeless, not fruitful, we should do less, do better, or change them.
Close-Out – “Would you rather?” Star Wars style. You can create your own or google or request the complete step-by-step Retrospective here, scroll down and I’ll send the PDF. The easiest way to do this virtually is probably to have them in a random order and have the team give themselves numbers and just go in a set order with you asking the questions. Unless you know of a virtual pull from a hat – in which case please fill me in 😉
GOAL: fun way to close out the meeting, everyone can learn a bit about their team mates.
Everyone brought in a Star Wars themed snack. I have compiled a great list of Star Wars themed snack ideas on Pinterest. The Star Wars font can be downloaded for free and signs can quickly be made. Everyone really enjoys it!
Here are a few pics of some of the great food the team made
If you would like the entire Retrospective with step-by-step guide and facilitation notes just click here scroll down and request the PDF!
How did this Retrospective go for you and your team, did you create some memories, grow in understanding scrum team values, see your work in a productive yet different way? I hope so – that is the ultimate goal 🙂