What could your team change after seeing how its work actually went? A retrospective is a regular Scrum event for reflecting on completed work and adjusting behavior to become more effective. It examines people, relationships, processes, and tools rather than treating improvement as a one-time decision. section 8.0
A useful retrospective moves from looking back to acting forward: set the stage, gather data, generate insights, decide what to do, and close the reflection. The format should be enjoyable as well as effective, giving the team a practical way to tune its behavior. section 8.0
Possible techniques give the reflection structure without turning it into a rigid script:
- Use a Check-In to set the stage. section 8.0
- Use Mad Sad Glad or Temperature Reading to gather and organize reactions. section 8.0
- Use Five Whys or Circle of Questions to generate insights. section 8.0
A small programming retro
After a sprint, a team notices that waiting for builds repeatedly breaks its concentration. It records the pattern, discusses whether the interruption or the context switch causes the greater cost, and chooses a focused experiment—such as closing email or improving build speed—to review later. section 7.3.1 section 8.0
