10 Retrospective Formats Based On The Agile Team Effectiveness Model
Use various Liberating Structures during the retrospective to familiarize your team(s) with the scientific model in a lightweight manner.
During the previous edition of the XP Days Benelux conference, I talked with retrospective expert Chris Stone about our Agile Team Effectiveness model. Chris joined a workshop in which I explained the model. He suggested developing super simple lightweight retrospective formats to help teams familiarize themselves with the model. Once teams understand the model, it might be easier to know how it’s integrated into our tool, ‘Columinity.’
In this blog post, I offer 10 simple 1-hour retrospective formats for teams to get acquainted with the Agile Team Effectiveness model and identify valuable improvements. Each format is based on one or two Liberating Structures.
I won’t describe all Liberating Structures in full detail. Check the related blog posts for a step-by-step explanation. Use the examples as inspiration, and tweak them to make it an entirely suitable format for your retrospective.
The Agile Team Effectiveness Model
How can you make Agile teams more effective? While opinions are easy to find, finding evidence-based recommendations is much more challenging. Unfortunately, scientific research in this area is limited. So, we perform this research with academics, statisticians, and psychologists. We publish our results and data through peer-reviewed scientific journals to contribute to robust knowledge.
For seven years, Christiaan Verwijs and Daniel Russo performed case studies and gathered data from over 5.000 Agile teams to develop a scientific model for Agile Team Effectiveness. They published a peer-reviewed scientific paper in the ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) academic journal.
Our model provides direction on assessing, diagnosing, and supporting Agile teams. It shows which areas are well-developed in teams and which need work. Our model offers a focus in a world where you often have thousands of options, approaches, and methods. We use the data to give you evidence-based suggestions on what to improve.
To learn more, check the academic paper or read the non-technical version in the blog post “What Makes Agile & Scrum Teams Effective?”
Retrospective Idea 1: Simple Ethnography and Conversation Cafe
Simple Ethnography is all about gathering empirical data through observation. Part of observation is being curious, asking questions, and refraining from judging. This allows you to see what’s going on. Based on our observations, what seems to be a good next step?
Step 1: Simple Ethnography
When thinking about your team and its environment…
What is something you often hear people say?
What is something you see happen?
What do our meetings look like?
What are common emotions?
What else do you notice?
Step 2: Conversation Cafe
Now that you’ve got everyone’s thinking started with Simple Ethnography, move to Conversation Cafe. This Liberating Structure encourages people to listen and understand each other’s perspectives on a profound, shared topic or challenge instead of convincing or persuading others to see it your way.
Consider using the following invitations during the retrospective:
Option 1️:
“So what can we learn from Simple Ethnography? How can we connect our lessons learned to the Agile Team Effectiveness model? What seems important to start focusing on, and what would be a good first step?”
Option 2️:
“When thinking about everything we see, hear, and notice, what factors seem important? What factors do we need to start improving? What factors seem challenging?”
Option 3:
“When studying the factors determining Agile & Scrum team effectiveness, what factors seem the most meaningful and impactful based on your experience? Why? What personal experiences can you share about these factors?”
Retrospective Idea 2: What, So What, Now What?
The Liberating Structure “What, So What, Now What?” helps by asking us to reconsider what is happening. It structures our thinking by breaking our experience into three steps: “What do we notice?” “So, what does this mean?” and “Now, where do we go from here?”. It takes inspiration from the Ladder of Inference by Chris Argyris, an expert on learning in organizations.
Consider using the following invitations during the retrospective:
What?
“When thinking about (the results of) our team(s), what facts and observations stand out? What else do you notice?”
So What?
“Given our observations, what conclusions can we draw? So, what factors seem important to invest time in?”
Now What?
“Now, what small actions can we identify to start improving on the factors that matter most?”
Retrospective Idea 3: TRIZ
The Liberating Structure ‘TRIZ’ invites the creative destruction of activities that limit innovation and productivity. It invites participants to have serious fun with a provocative question. It helps create a safe environment where people can be honest. It encourages your team to turn a question on its head: what is our worst possible outcome?
Consider using the following invitation during the retrospective:
“In your wildest imagination, what can we do to become the least effective team ever? What can we do to ensure team dynamics will be horrible, stakeholders will be dissatisfied, and collaboration with management will be a nightmare?”
Based on the team's examples, ask them what they are already doing nowadays. Or what’s their big pitfall to start doing? Next, make a connection with the Agile Team Effectiveness model. Based on the unproductive activities they identified, what factors does it impact? So, what is something they should stop doing from now on to improve this factor?
Retrospective Idea 4: Nine Whys & Min Specs
A well-known book title is “Start with Why,” by Simon Sinek. It isn’t any different for your team. It’s essential to start by answering why it exists. If this purpose is appealing, people will enjoy being part of the team. The Liberating Structure Nine Whys is a great way to think about this with your team. It starts from personal motivations and reasons and builds to the start of a shared purpose.
Consider using the following invitation during the retrospective:
“Our team exists to…” or “Our next iteration exists to…”
Now that you have some clarity on your team's purpose, the next step is to consider the factors your team must focus on to achieve the objective.
Focusing your team on the essential factors is important, not simply saying, “all 20+ factors are important”. The Liberating Structure Min Specs is an excellent structure for this. It invites people to think as broadly as possible and then funnels it back to what is essential.
Consider using the following invitation:
“What are the essential factors we must focus on to achieve our purpose?”
Try to minimize the 20+ factors to only the three essential ones. Finally, follow up with 15% Solutions to identify the first improvements.
Retrospective Idea 5: Integrated ~ Autonomy
Integrated~Autonomy exists to help groups move from either/or- to both/and-thinking. Most of the challenges we face in the real world don’t have an easy answer. Different solutions can be true or happen at the same time. This makes them Wicked Questions.
When faced with a Wicked Question — like ‘Should we take better care of our planet or allow our economy to grow?’ — we tend to shift into either/or thinking. We can do only one of both. And this means all our strategies and solutions will reflect that one-sided approach. But more often than not, some solutions promote both sides. How can we take better care of the planet and allow our economy to grow? How can we spend more time on innovation and production?
Integration versus autonomy is a Wicked Question in itself. As a team, will our purpose be best served by increased autonomy or more integration with the organization’s strategy? Or both?
Use these Liberating Structures to inspect the 20+ factors of the Agile Team Effectiveness model, and ask:
“What factors are worth investing time in, but somehow, it seems complicated to improve both simultaneously?”
For example, how is it that we want to improve our “concern for quality” and our “release frequency” simultaneously? Both are perfectly fine to improve, but while doing this simultaneously, tension arises. This is a paradoxical challenge you must face to progress as a team.
Retrospective Idea 6: Social Network Webbing
When a team struggles to get support from others to remove impediments, it can feel disheartening. If this happens, consider using the Liberating Structure “Social Network Webbing” to make the team’s network transparent and to explore how the team is connected to potential sources of support. You’ll see that there’s often more support available than teams think.
Use the Agile Team Effectiveness model as inspiration. Prime candidates are the factors the team struggles to improve.
Use the following invitations:
“Which key groups in our network have leverage, resources, or shared interests to support us in < improving factor X >?”
“Who else do we need to involve to become more effective? Who has influence, a fresh perspective, or the skills that can drive us forward?”
“Who knows whom? Who has influence and expertise? Who can block or boost progress?”
Now that you’ve created the map and made visible how the core group is connected — directly or indirectly — to the people who can help it forward, the final step is to identify how to leverage this network. Because this may require creative thinking, the Liberating Structure 1–2–4-ALL is a great way to do this.
Use the following invitation:
“How can we leverage our network to reach the people who can support us? What creative solutions do you see for reaching the people we need?”
Once you’ve clarified who to approach, consider using the Liberating Structure “What I Need From You” to express your essential needs clearly.
Retrospective Idea 7: Appreciative Interviews
The Liberating Structure Appreciative Interviews is a great way to identify what drives success and triggers insights for positive change by uncovering hidden success stories. It brings a positive mindset, makes personal connections, and puts people in a positive frame of mind.
Appreciative Interviews aim to bring all the success stories to the surface. What are the successful moments your team has experienced together? Use the factors of the Agile Team Effectiveness model as inspiration.
Consider using the following invitations:
“In pairs, share a story of a time when ‘team morale’ peaked, or ‘we had awesome retrospectives’ or our ‘collaboration with stakeholders’ was highly successful. What happened? What made it possible?”
Another option is to make the invitation more generic:
“In pairs, share a story of the most successful team you’ve been part of. What happened? What made it possible? What factors were the most important?”
You can focus the invitation on your existing team or allow people to share experiences from other teams.
Next, ask:
“So what is a factor that proved to be important in the past that we could improve in the present? What would be a good first step to start improving?”
Retrospective Idea 8: Myth Turning
Myth Turning exists to gently challenge the beliefs and assumptions that guide our decisions, either as individuals or as a group. It invites creative destruction by putting those beliefs to the test in a way that opens up new perspectives and possibilities.
Some examples of beliefs that can be put to the test are “I believe that when making a decision, everyone should agree,” “I believe that to make a bigger impact on an organization, I have to climb the corporate ladder,” and “I believe that people always resist ideas they didn’t come up with.”
To get started, ask:
“What is a belief or an assumption you have about our team (effectiveness) that you have started to question? Maybe a false notion or something holding you us for the wrong reasons.”
In the context of team effectiveness, some examples are:
“I believe we need to increase our release frequency to get more satisfied stakeholders.”
“I believe we need more support from managers to remove impediments.”
“I believe we need to become more cross-functional to improve team morale.”
Next, pick one potential myth and challenge it with the prepared questions. See this blog post for the questions and more details.
Retrospective Idea 9: Critical Uncertainties
Critical Uncertainties helps to develop strategies for dealing with a range of plausible yet unpredictable futures. It enables groups to quickly test the viability of current strategies and build their capacity to respond quickly to future challenges. Using this structure creates more resilience: the capacity to actively shape the system and be prepared to react to change.
With the Agile Team Effectiveness model in mind, the invitation for this exercise could be:
“When thinking about our team and its environment, what are the most critical and uncertain factors we face? What factors threaten our ability to operate successfully?”
Select the two most critical and most uncertain (X and Y). Give every group a large flip chart and ask them to create a grid with two axes — X & Y — with two extremes of < — → for the factor to be represented on each axis. For example:
X-Axis: We have a high level of psychological safety — we have a super low level of psychological safety
Y-Axis: We release every week — we release once per year
Next, follow the steps of Critical Uncertainties and develop strategies to operate in each of the four scenarios successfully.
Retrospective Idea 10: Ecocycle Planning
Ecocycle Planning is ideally suited to help you reflect on the factors of the Agile Team Effectiveness model. We even created a (digital) card deck to plot the various factors on the Ecocycle. In the blog post “Use Proven Success Factors From The Past To Improve Your Team In The Present,” we describe how to use Ecocycle Planning in detail. Here’s the short version.
One by one, present six prompts for everyone to complete on their Ecocycle Planning illustration. After each prompt, pause to give them time to write down their answer in the specified phase.
Gestation: “A factor my team is unaware of or hasn’t started using is…”
Birth: “A factor my team recently started using or investing time in is…”
Maturity: “A factor that provides lots of value for my team is…”
Creative Destruction: “A factor we are currently rethinking, changing, or creatively destructing is…”
Poverty Trap: “A factor we consider valuable, talk about a lot, but somehow don’t invest enough time in is…”
Rigidity Trap: “A factor we keep doing, although we know it doesn’t generate much value anymore, is…”
Once you’ve offered all the prompts, give your team time to reflect on the emerging Ecocycle and share patterns and findings. Consider asking:
“What does the placement of the factors say about the state of Scrum in your/our team? Where do you see connections between the various factors?”.
As a final step, ask:
“Which factors must we improve to become a more effective team? What would be actions to help us start improving?”
Closing
In this blog post, I offered 10 simple 1-hour retrospective formats for teams to get acquainted with the Agile Team Effectiveness model and identify valuable improvements. Each format is based on one or two Liberating Structures. Why don’t you try this format during your next Retrospective or team gathering? 😃
If you want to learn more about Columinity, check: https://bit.ly/4145JJh
