Retrospective Workshop

This last weekend I was thrilled to be involved in hosting a workshop on Agile Retrospectives.

Sharon Cichelli and I had a great time working together to get everything prepared and presented together in a really cohesive way which it seemed like everyone appreciated.

Retrospectives are my favorite part of Agile because it is cause for some reflection and growth. I find this the most difficult and most rewarding part of the Agile process.

It is difficult because saying to yourself "how could I have done this better" is a hard question to answer truthfully. While some of us spend, some might say, too much time obsessing about what someone meant or what that look was, there are others who don't have the observation skills needed to see that there was a comment or a look at all.

By meeting in a group (who have to provide a level of safety before true reflection happens), it's easier to see through the eyes of others what is the next most important thing to work on. And that's what Agile boils down to, right? Doing the most important thing next and putting aside the others until they are most important. And this sense of accomplishment is very rewarding.

I did learn a number of things while holding the workshop.
I wasn't as nervous as I expected I would be. I think presenting with Sharon, going through it beforehand, having a well organized outline and friendly participants helped, but I was still surprised that my introverted side didn't take over more.
While I knew this before we started, it was fascinating to see the difference between a bunch of technical people memorizing digits of Pi vs. verses of "The Charge of the Light Brigade". So much excitement for the first and a little apprehension for the second. To be fair, the poem was at the end of a three hour session.
Someone came up at the end and shared his view of Retrospectives which I feel needs to be a cornerstone of the next time we give the workshop: Retrospectives are not a problem->solution kind of meeting, rather a exploration and discussion type of meeting and it should be introduced, supported, and concluded that way.
He was basically saying that tech-like people will come at a meeting like this which is based on incremental improvements, safety, interpersonal skills and growth and slice and dice it into tasks with checkmarks and measures.

Sharon emailed me yesterday and asked if there was another topic I might consider hosting a workshop about. I am sure there's something out there I could focus my thoughts around, but with Retrospectives being my mental beacon for the last 6 months, I am having trouble seeing a single topic. Maybe Sharon has something she feels strongly about that I can provide some support and get energized about.

Thanks everyone for the great session, the wonderful support (hubbies Jonathan and Ryan) and all the "luck".