JO’s Newsletter 📰

Hello, and welcome to the retro newsletter. This week, I’m looking at ways to get out of a Retro rut.

“Being stuck in a rut can kill your creativity, stress you out, and zap your productivity. Doing the same thing over and over again causes your days to blend together.”

Amy Morin

What's in this newsletter

• Getting out of a Retro Rut 🧠

  • 1. Experiment with Different Retrospective Formats

  • 2. Rotate Facilitators for Fresh Perspectives

  • 3. Change the environment

  • 4. Retro the Retros

  • 5. Have a little fun together

• 3 Tips for Large Group Facilitation 🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍ …

  • 1. Use Breakout Groups

  • 2. Mix the learning between groups

  • 3. Timebox Discussions Strictly

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Getting out of a Retro Rut 🧠

The phrase “stuck in a rut” is thought to come from the early 1800's when wheels from covered wagons would eventually end up in a “rut” or in a worn groove in a path. Of course quite literally being “stuck in rut” in that day meant that it would be difficult to get out and move along in the journey.

Now, we can build habits for ourselves that sometimes mean we end up doing the same thing in the same way with the same results. Routine is good for creating habits, and many habits are great for enabling learning and change, but what happens when it feels like your Retros are just the same old, same old?

Here are some ideas for changing things up and re-energising them.

1. Experiment with Different Retrospective Formats

I’m a big fan of Esther and Diana’s five stages for a retrospective. Go back to newsletter one if you don’t know what they are. They help a team work, learn, and improve together. Even when using the five stages, I will often switch up how I gather data and what data we gather to keep things from getting stale and to get new themes and perspectives. Even when you do that, sometimes it can feel like you are a bit stuck in a rut, so here are some other ideas.

• Virginia Satirs Temperature reading—I often use this as a retro format to get a temperature reading from the team and change things up. I’ll go through it in detail next week.

• Do an activity—I have often done an activity or solved a problem with teams that need to learn to work together better and trust each other more. The activity can be fun, and there is learning in the debrief.

• Ensemble Program—There are a few fun games that require a team to program together. This is not only fun but also an opportunity to learn about ensemble programming and how to solve problems together.

Even when I switch things up, I make sure that whatever we are doing is relevant to the team's situation and the context at hand and focused on what they need to be successful.

2. Rotate Facilitators for Fresh Perspectives

Having the same person facilitate every retrospective can lead to predictable discussions and dynamics. By rotating the facilitator role, you introduce fresh perspectives and encourage different team members to take ownership of the process.

• Why it works: New facilitators can bring their style, creative ideas, and focus areas, which can shift the energy of the meeting. It also promotes shared responsibility and diversity in how discussions are led.

• Tip: Ask for a volunteer and support them as they plan and facilitate the retrospective. This also gives you the chance to participate. Being in a different role can bring new perspectives and learning for you as well.

3. Change the environment

I have a principle, “When you get stuck, Move”. I use this principle in many ways, but sometimes we end up having retrospectives in the same place every time in the same way every time. Changing the environment and getting up and moving can give new perspectives and new ways of thinking.

• Examples:

  • Go for lunch: Once every few months, my team and I have a lunch retro. We take the retro out of the office and have lunch together. I prepare a topic that we can tackle while we eat. Sometimes, we use the time to strengthen our connections and get to know each other.

  • Find a new room: Sometimes, just being in a new room can be enough to trigger new thoughts, but sometimes, all the rooms are the same. If that is the case, find a bigger room where you can move and incorporate some movement or walking into your retro.

  • Change tools: For some people, retros are all online; if that is the case, try using a totally different tool to create your interactions and see what you and the team can learn from that.

• Why it works: Being in a different place can mean using new neural pathways. It gives different perspectives and often comes with different energy. When a team is at lunch, they are sometimes more relaxed than in the office.

4. Retro the Retros

I like to do this at least once a year when I ask the team to retro the retros. We gather data on all the retro’s we have had over the year and look at the improvements that have come from them; we challenge ourselves to look for ways to improve how we retro.

• How to do it:

  • Bring in data from all the retros over the past year, images, Miro boards, and whatever you have.

  • Bring in data from the improvement items that you have finished.

  • Generate insights about what you have achieved, what patterns you might see, and how you can improve.

5. Have a little fun together

Sometimes, a team needs to have a little fun together. I know a team that plays games together once every two months. They started playing Pictionary and then added in different board games or online games. Codenames is a fun game that can be played easily in person or online. When a team has been under massive pressure for a long time and they need to blow off some steam or do something different, that is when I haul out the games. It can sometimes be a nice change of pace in a stressful environment.

Use these ideas as a starting point to bring something new into your retros and reignite some energy. Retrospectives should be a time for genuine reflection, growth, and improvement. If they start to feel routine, it’s a sign to innovate and keep the team engaged in continuous improvement.

3 Tips for Large Group Facilitation 🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑

I often facilitate retrospectives for groups of 40 or more. When you have big groups like that, you can’t go into detail about every person’s sticky notes, so you need to create ways for groups to discuss and patterns to emerge.

Here are some things I do:

1. Use Breakout Groups

Divide the large group into smaller breakout groups to encourage more participation and deeper discussions. Afterwards, have a representative from each group share key insights with the larger team.

2. Mix the learning between groups

I will often use something like a World Cafe style that allows people to mix groups a little and gain new insights while adding new insights to each group.

3. Timebox Discussions Strictly

Keep the session focused and productive by setting strict time limits for each segment. Use a timer and clearly communicate the agenda to ensure that conversations stay on track and don’t veer into rabbit holes.

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Feel free to share this newsletter with others who might find value. Subscribers can get 10% off the Remote Facilitation Practitioner Course using the Codes NEWSZA10, NEWS10US, or NEWS10EU. If none of those geographies work for you, get in touch with me, and we will see what we can do. You can also check out BuyMeA Coffee, where I have shared additional resources and will keep adding things.

Next Issue

I am busy scheduling the interview with Esther, but in the meantime, next week, I will dive into the Temperature reading in a retro format. Contact me at [email protected] and share what you want me to discuss or ask for help with specific scenarios.