Things in this Newsletter 🗞️

• 🌟 Continuous Improvement ideas

• 🛑 The “Letting Go” Retro: Making Space for What M …

  • 1. Set the Stage – Slow Down to See Clearly

  • 2. Gather Data – What Are We Holding Onto?

  • 3. Generate Insights – Why Are We Holding On?

  • 4. Decide What to Do – Letting Go or Transforming

  • 5. Close the Retro – Leave Lighter

  • Why I like this Retro

• Quick Facilitator’s Tip

• 🧐 Facilitate or Plan with Jo

  • Jo

🌟 Editor's Note

Welcome to another Retro Newsletter. If this is your first time here, I highly recommend reading this newsletter first. It will give you the basics.

I have been travelling in the US for 2 weeks and then got back to a crazy schedule, which is why there was no newsletter. But I am back and ready for the next one, this one inspired the busyness and speed I see all around me. People are burning out or off for anxiety, and it feels like it’s all go, go, go without a pause or moment to think and reflect. So this week I’m focusing on helping a team let go.

🌟  Continuous Improvement ideas

One Experiment Per Sprint – Choose one new experiment to try each sprint (small process tweak, tool, or ritual) and review its impact in the next retro.

🛑 The “Letting Go” Retro: Making Space for What Matters

1. Set the Stage – Slow Down to See Clearly

Purpose: Create an intentional pause.

Set the stage in the normal way by making sure everyone knows why they are there and what the outcomes of the session are. Welcome and thank everyone for their time. Then take a moment to do a short breathing exercise, maybe just 2 or 3 deep breaths together to help regulate our bodies and get everyone in the space.

For a check-in question, ask: “What’s one thing you want to let go of to be here fully?”

Get people to write their answers on a sticky note or in a journal if they don’t want to share. But that gets it out of their head and creates space. They can pick it up when they leave, or they can physically throw it away, which is sometimes helpful as well.

2. Gather Data – What Are We Holding Onto?

Purpose: Identify the “weight” in our work and processes.

Now that everyone is in the space, start to gather data.

First, get everyone to write on stickies the tasks, meetings, processes, tech, or habits that are looked after by the team, or done by the team or attended by the team. It could be a nice idea to colour code these as well. Encourage specifics: not just “meetings” but “Tuesday sync with no agenda.” Focus on more than meetings here, look for the tech that you don’t think you need or the tools you might need to replace or let go of, or the processes that are wasting time.

Once they are all out and on the board, physical or virtual, get the team to cluster these where they are the same. Once you can see the entirety of what the team does, have the team categorise these into three categories.

• Create three columns on the board:
  Must Keep, Maybe Let Go, Definitely Let Go

For any that the team disagrees about, keep those to the side and begin by discussing them. Can you come to a resolution?

3. Generate Insights – Why Are We Holding On?

Purpose: Understand the roots.

At this point, you are probably going to have a good deal of data available. You might not have time to go through each sticky note. So set a timebox for yourselves and then find a way to prioritise what you talk about for the time-boxed amount of time. An idea here could be to have a look at the things that take up the most time or effort and that are in the let-go column, which is one way to prioritise the sticky notes. Another way could be to vote and cluster, or to look at what feels the most frustrating or wasteful.

• For each item you decide on, explore why it’s still here:

  • Habit?

  • Fear of missing out?

  • Legacy decision no one’s questioned?

  • It’s important for people outside of the team

• Ask:

  “If we stopped doing this, what’s the best that could happen?”
  “If we keep doing this, what’s the cost?”

  “What would need to change to make this valuable”

This step uncovers unspoken assumptions and gives permission to challenge the status quo. Get through as many as you can in the timebox.

4. Decide What to Do – Letting Go or Transforming

Purpose: Make conscious choices.

No, it’s time to make some decisions. Focus on making decisions based on the items you have spoken about and decide to let go, or transform.

• See if you can pick 1–2 “Let Go” actions to try immediately.

• Identify 1 or 2 “Transform” actions, things you won’t fully stop, but will redesign to be lighter or more effective.

• Assign owners and a timeframe so this doesn’t vanish into the void.

Remember not to pick too many because they won’t happen. An idea here could be to invest more time in understanding all of the items you didn’t get to and creating a backlog of things to transform, or to eliminate.

5. Close the Retro – Leave Lighter

Purpose: End with relief and commitment.

• Have everyone share one thing they feel lighter about after the conversation.

• Optional: symbolic act, crumple and recycle sticky notes for “Let Go” items, or move them into a “Gone” column in your digital board.

• Crumple and throw away the sticky notes of what you want to let go of to be here.

Why I like this Retro

• It makes the invisible visible.

• It normalises questioning outdated or draining practices.

• It shifts the focus from “Do more” to “Do what matters.”

Quick Facilitator’s Tip

Your job as facilitator is to lead from a half a step behind. Remember to let the team lead, based on their priorities, and allow your plan to be flexible.

🔥 Things you might like

Breathing is so much more than sending oxygen into your lungs. It is one of the fastest and most impactful ways to regulate your body and stress. Here are some breathing exercises that you can teach your team.

My Remote Facilitation Course is for anyone who wants to learn how to create engaging online experiences for teams and people who need to work together, learn together or decide together. Here are the dates for the September course.

Beehive is a fantastic newsletter platform that is easy to use, making it fun and straightforward to engage an audience with your message. Why not think about starting your newsletter: https://www.beehiiv.com?via=Joanne-Perold

🧐 Facilitate or Plan with Jo

Did you know I can help plan your next retro or facilitate it for you? I have packages available for facilitation, planning, or being a sounding board. [email protected] is the email address to use for contact.

Did You Know? The first website is still online.

The first website is still online – Tim Berners-Lee’s original site from 1991 is still live at info.cern.ch.

Till next time,

Jo