means no you didn’t get anywhere near as much value as you thought you would and a thumbs to the side means you were in the middle (you got some value, but thought it could be better).
After a minute, get everyone to put their hand in one of the three options.
Go around the room and have them speak briefly about why they gave that rating and what suggestions they have.
If anything stands out as a good idea, feel free to add it as an action item.
At the very least, this gets the team to think about the value of what they’ve just done and if it could be improved.
Rotate the facilitatorPhoto by bonneval sebastien on UnsplashGenerally, the facilitator of the retrospective is the Scrum Master.
This person will run the session every time and can end up getting into a set of habits they perform each time — good and bad.
Having the same facilitator each time means that the team is always just being driven along the journey and may not actively be involved.
By rotating the facilitator occasionally, you give other team members the ability to grow their facilitation skills and possibly come up with ideas about running the session the usual facilitator may not have.
You may also find that people in the team that may be more reluctant to discuss certain things with one facilitator, may be more likely to discuss it with another.
One way to organise this is to see who wants to facilitate the next retrospective in the sprint planning session.
This gives the person time to organise their approach and get set up before the next retro.
In ConclusionIt’s important to constantly reflect on what you’re doing and if it’s providing the most amount of value for you and your team.
The way you go about running the various ceremonies in an Agile environment is just as important as the content that comes out of them.
Mix things up, try something new, ask the team what they think or want to do and you may be surprised where it takes you!.