Sprint Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective is the last of the 5 Scrum events. It is held at the end of each Sprint after the Sprint Review. It is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness.

The Sprint Retrospective is timeboxed to 3 hours. For shorter Sprints, it is common to shorten this timebox proportionally.

In the Sprint Retrospective, The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went concerning individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done. Inspected elements often vary with the domain of work.

Issues are identified and their origins explored. The Scrum Team may discuss what went well during the Sprint, what problems it encountered, and how those problems were (or were not) solved to identify the issues they want to focus on.

Once those issues are identified, the Scrum Team plans how to overcome them. Typically, these discussions will take up the majority of the time. By the end of the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team should have identified and planned improvements to increase its effectiveness.

The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible and as early as the next Sprint. The improvements identified may span more than the next Sprint and will be revisited in the later Sprint Retrospectives.

Although improvements may be implemented anytime, the Sprint Retrospective provides a formal opportunity to focus on inspection and adaptation around the Scrum Team.

The Sprint Retrospective should be a positive and productive event. Things will have gone wrong or could have been carried out differently and better. We don’t want to dwell on these. Instead, we accept we acted as best we could under the constraints and circumstances we found ourselves in. The next Sprint is a chance to improve things, so we focus on how to make this happen.

At the heart of the Sprint Retrospective is the concept of continuous improvement. The Scrum Team takes ownership of its process and regularly improves its product development ability. The complex environment around the Scrum Team is changing constantly, so it is vital the Scrum Team builds the capability to adapt to these changing conditions and that this change becomes a continuous part of their process. Change is the only constant, and the Scrum Team must learn to adapt constantly.

Scrum does not describe the techniques used to conduct a Sprint Retrospective. There are many ways to do it, and books have been written on the subject. A typical good practice that many Scrum Teams implement initially is:

1. Identify Issues: The whole Scrum Team reveals and understands the current situation. The output of these discussions may then be ordered so that attention can be focussed on the most important, impactful or urgent issues.
2. Explore Options: Potential solutions for the highly ordered issues are explored.
3. Plan & Actions: Identify a limited number of actionable improvements the team will implement as early as possible.

Most available time should typically be spent on the Plan & Actions section. The Sprint Retrospective should result in an actionable plan that the Scrum Team will implement in future Sprints, which will help them to improve their ability to develop the product continuously.

The practices and techniques the Scrum Team use in the Sprint Retrospective will change and improve over time. The Scrum Master may help guide the rest of the Scrum Team in adopting helpful practices and adapting them as needed.