6 retrospective Methods & Tools for you and your company

In this article, our guest author Finn introduces you to the retrospective in project management.

A retrospective is a method in which the past is reflected upon - all Latin speakers may remember retrospectare "to look back". The achievements in a project or general collaboration are looked back on together and critically reflected upon. A critical reflection of the work done is useful and necessary in several respects. A retrospective is a look back at a project, a kick-off meeting is a look forward.

Table of contents

1. Retrospectives in projectmanagement
   1. 1. Five Finger Feedback
      2. Five Questions
      3. Start and Stop
      4. I Like – I Wish – I Wonder
      5. DAKI Retrospective
      6. Keep, Drop, Try
2. Retrospective Tools
3. Conclusion

In addition to a professional discussion, a retrospective is also primarily about team collaboration and the associated framework conditions (e.g. what hinders me in my daily work and how could this be improved?)

In both dimensions - professional performance and team collaboration - retrospectives are initially about evaluating past performance. It is particularly important to recognize mistakes made and to identify the causes and effects (including measures to mitigate these). This is the only way to avoid repeating mistakes.

Now that we have explained what a retrospective is and why you should conduct a retrospective, let's look at the question of where retrospectives are used.

Retrospectives in project management

Retrospectives are primarily used in project management. Work is basically divided into project-based work and non-project-based work. A project is an undertaking that is unique - in terms of objectives, resources, scheduling, etc.

In non-project-based work, there are only a few scheduled times in which a retrospective is planned. For example, in assembly line work, at supermarket checkouts or in offices, retrospectives are certainly only carried out occasionally, as the focus is on day-to-day business.

On the other hand, some project management process models actively plan retrospectives. In traditional project management, retrospectives have the character of common lessons learned. Mistakes are collected and measures to mitigate the problems encountered are noted so that less time has to be spent searching for suitable measures in follow-up projects. However, these lessons learned from traditional project management usually only consider the technical dimensions of the project - but not the team collaboration. A review of the work done is mainly carried out at the end of a project. If you are no longer sure which project management phases there are, you can read about them in the article on the different project management phases.

Scrum, an agile project management method, actively plans retrospectives into the project work. Scrum is an approach that is based on so-called sprints. These are time slots of a few days to several weeks. Defined tasks are completed within a sprint, and once the sprint is over, a meeting is held to discuss the previous sprint and plan the next one. This discussion of the sprint is a sprint retrospective. The Scrum guide on which this approach is based suggests a minimum duration of three hours if the sprint length is one month.

In Scrum, retrospective methods and team retrospectives are used to analyze and subsequently improve collaboration with each sprint.

Now that we have explained retrospectives and their purpose, we will explain some retrospective methods and retrospective ideas that you can also use in Scrum retrospectives or project retrospectives.

1. Five-Finger feedback

Five-Finger feedback is as simple as it is effective. It is a retrospective method that asks five questions that you need to answer in order to be more effective and efficient in follow-up projects.

• What did I particularly like?
• What would I like to point out?
• What did I find not so good?
• What will I take away for the future?
• What did I miss out on?

2. Five questions

A very similar method is called Five Questions and aims to reflect on the work in terms of what should be done more or less. Several rounds can be carried out for different dimensions or questions - for example, one round for the technical work, another for the team collaboration and a final round for the framework conditions of the project.

• What should we do/have more of?
• What should we do/have less of?
• What should we stop doing?
• What should we start with?
• What should we keep?

1 - 5 Questions

3. Start and Stop

Start and Stop is the simplest method and can also be used in between because it can be carried out extremely quickly. All aspects that should be stopped or started are collected.

4. I Like - I Wish - I Wonder

If you want to use I Like, I Wish, I Wonder, you don't need anything else apart from moderation cards and pens - it is of course also possible remotely, more on this later. Everyone writes the following retrospectives on individual cards:

• I Like: Things that I liked
• I Wish: Name potential areas for improvement
• I Wonder: Name concrete suggestions for improvement and specific measures for a specific (personal) problem

This ensures that everyone is heard, both for their own problems (I Wonder) and for general areas of improvement (I Wish).

5. DAKI Retrospective

The DAKI Retrospective is a matrix that is filled in together.

DAKI method

DROP: First you start by naming all the things you should stop doing. This can mean structures, process flows, but also process steps, activities, organizational forms or potential disruptions.

ADD: Next, you collect things that you would like to or should start. This can also involve various activities, framework conditions, etc. It does not make sense to limit yourself to certain framework conditions unless you carry out the DAKI method several times (e.g. once for activities, once for organizational forms, etc.).

KEEP: Even if we want to retain many structures etc., it is important to name them. As a team, you need to realize which structures are good, which help you in your work and which should be retained. In addition to an efficient meeting culture, this could also include having lunch together, short decision-making channels or flexible working hours and locations.

IMPROVE: Nevertheless, there are always things that you can improve. In a final cycle, you collect together everything that has been bad and neutral so far. From this, you then generate points that you should improve. You can also mention things that have been going well so far but still need to be adjusted.

6. Keep, Drop, Try

Keep Drop Try

With Keep, Drop, Try we collect - as in the previous methods - all the things, structures, activities etc. that should be retained, removed or improved. Here too, the team approach makes sense. Either you start individually for each person and then bring them together or you carry out the entire method together.

Retrospective tools

A remote retrospective is an alternative to the classic face-to-face retrospective. Many different project management tools are available to support you. Some offer direct templates and assistance for sprint retrospectives. Others can be customized by you.

We would like to introduce you to the retrospective method with Trello.

Trello offers some templates for this, which you can find for free on the Internet. However, you can also create a Trello board in which you carry out a remote retrospective. To do this, select one of the retrospective methods you would like to use and create the corresponding lists - see image for I Like, I Wish, I Wonder.

Structure of the Trello retrospective board

You then go through the lists one by one. You can attach roles, responsibilities, comments, files or deadlines to the respective points mentioned, as Trello allows you to do.

An exemplary process would therefore be to collect all problems in a first round, develop possible solutions in a second round and define deadlines and responsibilities in a third round. In this way, you ensure that your work becomes more efficient and effective with every retrospective you carry out.

Trello also offers you the option of using automation. This is particularly useful after retrospectives if you want to use if-then links to ensure that actions are carried out automatically.

Conclusion

Retrospective methods help you to reflect on your previous work and identify opportunities for improvement. This makes you more efficient and effective with every retrospective you carry out.

You should conduct retrospectives regularly. If you use agile project management methods such as Scrum, these retrospectives are already planned in. If you work according to traditional project management methods, it is a good idea to introduce retrospectives yourself or, in the case of short projects, to always carry them out after the project has been completed.

There are many different methods for conducting retrospectives. These can be carried out in person, but also as a remote retrospective. Choose a retrospective method that suits your use case and carry it out.

Tools can help you with this - whether remotely or in person. You can find an overview of various project management tools on OMR Reviews. In addition to Trello, many other tools also offer support. This support consists, for example, in the fact that you can schedule all points that are named as areas for improvement directly and assign them to responsible persons. This ensures that the tasks are also implemented on time by the next retrospective, creating a continuous improvement curve.