During the coronavirus pandemic, our social life has fundamentally changed. So has the way we work, because what was previously only possible in exceptional cases is now the norm. And after the initial weeks of personal and technological adjustment, many have become accustomed to the "new normal" of working from home.
However, we shouldn't rest on our laurels. Kaizen, continuous improvement, is the core component of an agile organization and must be further implemented. This changed way of working holds great potential. But how can a team achieve this in times of working from home?
Remote Retrospectives
This might sound a bit odd at first, but it works surprisingly well in practice. Over the past four years, Infometis has had the privilege of supporting many teams with retrospectives, and the last few weeks have been very instructive and exciting for me as well. After a thorough evaluation of various tools and several trials and experiments, we conducted successful remote retrospectives and were able to develop and implement sustainable improvements for the teams. We would like to share the most important insights and some of the tools we used.
Preparation is half the battle in retrospection
As a facilitator of a remote retrospective, there are several key differences compared to a traditional retrospective. Thorough preparation is more important than ever. The retrospective process should be carefully considered and mentally rehearsed several times. A script with notes is beneficial, especially for inexperienced facilitators, to ensure the discussion stays on track during the session.
It's important to familiarize yourself with the communication tool beforehand. Whether it's Zoom, Webex, Skype, Teams, etc., it's crucial to know the tool well and to familiarize yourself with its most important functions in advance
- How do I share content from my screen?
- How can I create sub-rooms for group work?
- How should feedback be given or how should the chat be used?
All of this should be clear.
What have we learned after the first few months of remote retrospectives? We'd like to share our experiences here and give you some useful tips and tricks.
Set The Stage
- Actively engaging participants is a key success factor, especially in remote retrospectives. Specific, not overly open-ended questions are suitable here, such as: "How am I doing working from home on a scale of 1 to 10? Please briefly explain why." Each participant should have the opportunity to speak in front of the team. This helps break down barriers and leads to more active discussions.
- A brief agenda and a review of the retrospective rulesshould not be forgotten. Only in a safe space, with honest and open communication, can the team achieve real improvement. (Las Vegas Rule, Prime Directive by Norman Kerth)
Gather Data
- Whenever possible, the retrospective should begin with a review of the measures decided upon in the last one. Were we able to implement all the decisions from the last retrospective? Have the measures led to any improvements? Do we want to continue any of the experiments, or discontinue them? Those who don't regularly monitor the effectiveness of their decisions quickly run the risk of deciding on measures but not implementing them (or only partially implementing them).
Generate Insights
- Clear instructions! The tasks given to participants must be clear. It's advisable to think about this during preparation and document it in the script. In a traditional retrospective, the facilitator "senses" the team's mood, and if an instruction hasn't been clearly communicated, they'll quickly notice. This is much more difficult in a remote retrospective. Therefore: clear instructions!
For example, in the "gather data" phase using the "glad, sad, mad" method, a clear instruction to the team could be: "Please use the next 7 minutes (set a timer) and think about the 4 most important events of the last iteration that either really annoyed you or made you sad. Or, conversely, what you found really good. Please provide at least one input for each area, and one area can have 2 inputs."
The team now knows how much time they have, how much input they should provide, and for which areas. General instructions like "Write down whatever comes to mind" should be avoided.
Decide What To Do
- Clustering – the team or the facilitator? After all the team has contributed their input, the topics are grouped. But by whom? Since the retrospective is by the team for the team, clustering should be done by the team whenever possible. For example, "silent clustering" is a very efficient method that works well in traditional retrospectives. And the basic principle can also be applied remotely.
Closing
- Gathering feedback. Unfortunately, we haven't yet found an online tool with an integrated conclusion. It's crucial for the facilitator to know whether the team perceives the retrospective as valuable and how satisfied the group was with it overall. Otherwise, the facilitator can't do what they preach: continuously work on themselves to improve. Therefore, using feedback tools like Mentimeter or Aha Slides highly recommended, even if it means switching between different media. Again, thorough preparation is essential for smooth implementation.
Which tools can provide support?
Besides tried-and-tested tools like Trello or Miro, there are others that specialize in online retrospectives. We've looked at and tested several of them. All of these tools offer basic functions such as timers, topic grouping (clusters), and voting. We'd like to briefly introduce the following:
Retrotool
Very streamlined and simply structured. Organizations or teams cannot be configured. A retrospective is started by the moderator, and the link is sent to the participants.
During the input collection phase, content can be entered onto virtual sticky notes located in a private section. These can then be structured and published in a group discussion. This clustering process occurs as participants explain their input to the group and move it to the public area of the virtual board. Unfortunately, the groupings cannot be given a heading.
A simple, efficient, and free tool. Excellent for beginners.
Parabol
A comprehensive and well-structured tool for recording organizations and teams. The task boards are particularly well-designed. They can be edited individually and by team and are very clearly laid out. This provides a constant overview of the progress of agreed-upon measures and whether they are blocked.
An agenda can be prepared for each retrospective. This allows content, topics, and rules to be discussed at the start of the retrospective. The retrospective protocol, which is automatically sent to all participants via email after the retrospective, is a particularly useful feature.
A complete and good tool that can be used for free by up to 2 teams.
Retrium
An even more comprehensive tool allows for team registration and displays the "Action Plan" for managing measures for each team. Furthermore, it offers the option of developing a spider diagram using "Team Radar." The evaluation and analysis of the Team Radar results is particularly well-designed, with the tool providing excellent questions and statistical analyses.
Unique compared to other applications is the ringtone, which sounds to all participants when a timer expires and can also be triggered manually by the moderator. Upon completion, the retrospective protocol is automatically generated and stored in the "History" section. Unfortunately, it is not possible to return to the preliminary phase during a retrospective, and the "Discuss" phase lacks a way to document the discussion that led to the action items.
A clear and well-designed tool that costs $29 per team per month. A 30-day free trial version is available.
Team retro
Teamretro is not only graphically appealing but also very comprehensive. It also includes an "Action Plan" outlining the team's measures. The results are presented historically, allowing for a visualization of development over time.
The customization of retrospectives is very well implemented. There are numerous settings available, such as whether voting or the collection of ideas should be anonymous or personalized. The system's suggested groupings are also unique. Teamretro automatically clusters the input and suggests these clusters to the team.
The most comprehensive of the tools examined costs $25 per month for a team (discounts available for multiple teams) and also offers a 30-day trial version.
Conclusion
Especially in these times of adapting to new circumstances, the fundamental principle of continuous improvement is essential. By using video conferencing in combination with an online retrospective tool, along with some preparation, discipline, and openness to new ideas, Kaizen can (and should) continue to thrive even in these times. Retrospectives are and will remain the driving force behind consistent, continuous improvement within an organization, with or without the pandemic.
If you need support evaluating tools or are looking for a facilitator for a remote retrospective, please feel free to contact us. We've also expanded our training program to include remote retrospectives. Learn more about our retrospective offerings and book a free, no-obligation consultation with me.
We are happy!
Your Mesrop Yaghubian
