A retrospective is a structured team meeting in which a team reflects on the collaboration of a past period and agrees on concrete improvements. It takes place regularly (e.g. after a sprint or project section) and serves for continuous improvement.
The best retrospective templates, formats or techniques that lead to real improvements and action depend heavily on your team and challenges. The “Drive & Drag” format, the “Battery Retrospective” and the “Moral-Health Check”, each from Echometer, often work well. All three retrospective templates can be found in the retrospective software tool Echometer.
I have listed the questions of the 3 retrospective templates and techniques mentioned here:
Here is the link to the “Akku” retrospective in Echometer.
Here is the link to the “Drive & Drag” retrospective in Echometer.
Here is the link to the “Moral Health Check” retrospective template in Echometer.
Retrospectives can be particularly productive for small IT engineering teams if you focus on specific challenges. For example, the small team can analyze how the last bugs came about or how the sprint goal was missed. The retrospective software tool Echometer, which offers various templates for productive retros in small teams, is particularly recommended for small IT engineering teams.
Various retrospective templates, techniques and ideas are suitable for use in particularly large remote or virtual teams. For example, the “Keep Stop Start” template, “Mad Sad Glad” and the “Sailboat Retrospective” are well suited for large teams.
They are therefore well suited for large teams because the questions are rather easy to answer and allow short answers.
The selection of the retrospective software tool is important for the use of these retro templates and techniques in large teams. The Echometer software tool is particularly recommended here.
Retrospectives are suitable for any team that wants to improve its collaboration - regardless of whether it works agilely or not.
Retros are particularly helpful when:
New teams can also carry out retros. A safe environment and clear moderation are crucial.
The success of retrospectives is reflected in the fact that agreed measures are implemented and measurable improvements are achieved. In addition to productivity indicators (which should be treated with caution), teams use, for example, the tracking of action items, trends on feedback scales in team health check / pulse check surveys.
Typically, there are five phases for retrospectives: Set the stage, Gather data, Generate insights, Decide what to do, and Close. The exact process can vary, but it should always lead to concrete action items. In addition to the classic 5 phases of retrospectives, there is also the Double Diamond model for the phases of retrospectives , which provides facilitators of retrospectives with a more intuitive image for successful and result-oriented facilitation.
Retrospectives help teams identify problems early, understand root causes, and collectively decide on improvements. This increases transparency, team satisfaction, and the quality of results.
No, you do not need to log in to Echometer or register to test the Retro Board and Retro Tool in Echometer.
You can try out Echometer’s Retro Board via the following link without logging in: Try a Practice Round
One of the greatest strengths of the Echometer Retro Tool are the various templates for retrospectives, which can be used as patterns for the creative design of your own retrospectives.
Here is a short list of the samples as an insight into the retrospective templates:
If you are interested in the Retrospective Tools templates, take a quick look at the tool: Echometer Retro Templates & Templates
A retrospective typically takes place in the following phases:
Special features of the retrospective process in Echometer:
A retrospective typically takes place at the team level. Usually, such agile teams have at least 3 members and up to 10 members. So all team members participate in the retrospective - regardless of the respective role of the team members within the team.
Whether the team leader counts as a team member depends on the context and must ultimately be decided by the team itself. The more involved team leaders are in the team’s day-to-day work, the more sense it makes for them to also take part in the team’s retrospectives.
A moderator should be appointed to ensure that the process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. This task can be performed by the Scrum Master, for example, but also by another team member. You may also simply rotate the moderation role within the team – everyone takes turns in a certain order.
Especially for teams with little or no experience of retrospectives, care should be taken to avoid the following mistakes:
For the first retrospective, it is a good idea to use a dedicated retro tool for support. Echometer, with its intuitive and guided mode, is very well suited for inexperienced teams. You can try out a retrospective in Echometer here: https://my.echometerapp.com/retro-setup
Agile (team) retrospectives (or “retros” for short) are regular team workshops in which teams reflect on and improve their collaboration.
Retros offer teams the opportunity to reflect on current work results and, above all, their collaboration, communication and working methods in short, iterative (sprint) cycles (e.g. every 2 weeks).
In essence, the retro answers the following 3 questions:
Tools for retrospectives such as Echometer simplify and structure this process of reflection and improvement.