Top 3 Retrospective Facilitation Techniques In Scrum
In the world of agile project management, the importance of effective facilitation techniques for retrospectives is becoming increasingly crucial. Retrospectives offer teams the opportunity to reflect on their progress and identify areas for improvement. The use of specific retrospective techniques in Scrum ensures that these meetings are productive and meaningful. In this article, I therefore present three important techniques for facilitating retrospectives that can improve your agile practices.
Retrospective facilitation techniques in Scrum
Pro tip: How to increase the impact of your retrospectives
Before we look at the specific retrospective techniques, it is important to understand how to enhance the impact of a retrospective. Effective retros are not just about following a method, but also about creating an environment that fosters clear communication and actionable results.
Focus on psychological safety:
A key factor that can influence the quality and outcome of any retrospective is the level of psychological safety within the team. Psychological safety allows team members to express their thoughts and concerns without fear of reprisal or ridicule. When a team member feels safe, the honesty and depth of feedback improve significantly. Studies at Google, for example, have found that performance correlates with the level of psychological safety in teams. I would even go so far as to say that psychological safety is an absolute foundation for a good retrospective. - If team members are afraid to address their feelings, problems will accumulate until there is a breakdown.
Implementation tip: There is no shortcut to establishing a healthy level of psychological safety. Forcing people to be sincere is not an option. As a facilitator, you have the greatest influence on this factor by leading by example. Don’t be afraid to expose yourself and show that it’s perfectly okay if things aren’t always okay. - So lead by example.
By prioritizing psychological safety, you ensure that all voices are heard and that a truly multifactorial view of problems can emerge. In this way, you create the breeding ground for continuous improvement in your team.
If you would like more information about psychological safety, take a look at this article: Psychological Safety in Agile Teams . Alternatively, you can watch my video below with 4 exercises for psychological safety.
Now we come to the retrospective moderation techniques:
Retrospective facilitation techniques in Scrum
1. the 4 L’s retrospective technique👍
One of the most effective retrospective techniques in Scrum is the 4 L’s: Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed For. By categorizing feedback into these four areas, teams can constructively discuss their experiences and feelings.
The retrospective with the 4 L’s allows each participant to contribute to all aspects of the sprint evaluation, making it a comprehensive tool for retrospective facilitation techniques.
4L-Retro 📘: How the retro works
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Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
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Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
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Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Like: What did you like?
- Learned: What did you learn?
- Lacked: What did you lack?
- Longed for: What did you long for?
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Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
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Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
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Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
4L-Retro 📘
Retrospective facilitation techniques in Scrum
2. the keep, stop, start retrospective 👩🏻💻
Another classic retrospective technique in Scrum is the keep, stop, start framework. This method encourages teams to identify behaviors or processes that should be started, stopped or continued.
This technique is particularly effective because it directly targets actions that impact the team’s progress. It helps to define actionable steps for future sprints. This is one of the key objectives that agile retrospective techniques are designed to achieve.
Keep stop start retro: How the retro works
-
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
-
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Keep: What should we keep?
- Stop: What should we stop doing?
- Start: What should we start doing?
-
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
-
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Keep stop start retro
Retrospective facilitation techniques in Scrum
3. the battery retrospective ☕️
The Battery Retrospective is one of our own creations. This retrospective moderation technique aims to increase the energy level in the team. Because no matter how good your plan or the to-do’s are, if the air is out, you can’t get much done.
Bring your energy level back up with this retrospective:
Battery retrospective: How the retro works
-
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
-
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- How full is your personal battery as a percentage right now?
- What has drained your battery recently?
- What has recharged your battery recently?
- What would help you to save energy over the next few weeks?
-
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
-
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Battery retrospective
Conclusion - Retrospective facilitation techniques in Scrum
Effective techniques for retrospectives are crucial to the success of any agile team. By incorporating techniques such as the 4 L’s, the Start, Stop, Continue framework, or the Agile Delivery Retro, facilitators can ensure that their retrospectives are as productive as possible.
You can find more retrospective techniques in our tool “Echometer”, which you can test for free. Alternatively, you can also check out this article: 21 Fun retrospective techniques
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