In today’s episode we discuss running project retrospectives. Retros give the whole team the chance to reflect on what went well, what didn’t go well and any areas of opportunity to improve upon next time. Find out why we think that not running a project retrospective is a missed opportunity to give your next project the best chance to succeed.
A project retrospective is when the team responsible for the delivery of the project take some time to reflect after the project has gone live. All the members of the team have the chance to discuss the highs and lows of the project in a structured way and to reflect on what went well, what didn’t go well and any areas of opportunity to improve upon next time.
Create a list of action items that arise from the retrospective and assign the follow up actions to different members of the team. A possible action item might be to write up the retrospective, assigning this task to someone specific ensures that it gets done.
Have a variety of questions for the team to answer to help direct the retrospective. It is so important to focus on what went well, as well as what didn’t. Consider using a traffic light system to gauge how everyone on the team is feeling as you begin the retrospective so feedback and reflections can be delivered sensitively and productively.
01.20 – Catch Up
07.52 – Questions about project retrospectives
14.30 – Managing retrospectives
17.42 – Focus on the positives
22.00 – Red, yellow, green traffic light system
25.14 – Facilitating retrospectives
