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Time Capsule (#132)

Make long-term progress visible by storing impediments in a time capsule
Source: Katrin Dreyer
It’s hard to see progress when you chip away at your challenges but in hindsight the improvements are impressive. Set your team up to realize how much it has improved in half a year. This activity will also broaden the team’s perspective to bigger topics beyond everyday improvements.

Caution: Do not use this activity if you suspect there are big unspoken issues.

Hand out pens and fancy paper. Tell participants to complete the following two sentences:
  • ’I think our biggest impediment right now is: …’
  • ’What I want to try to get rid of it: …’
Afterwards, each person reads out their impediment and plan of action. Some issues and plans might stir discussion. If needed, use Lean Coffee (#51) to dot-vote and structure which issues to discuss. If somebody wants to adapt their plan of action or if the entire team wants to commit to an action item, that’s okay. (But nobody can tell anyone else that their impediment isn’t “valid”.)

When the discussion dies down, put all papers into the bottle and close it well. Now bury it or put it into the back of your cabinet. Put a reminder in your calendar in 6 months time.

When you open the bottle with the team in half a year, check which impediments are gone. How did you do it? With the action plan you’d written down or something else? Celebrate!
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Take a Walk (#28)

Go to the nearest park and wander about and just talk
Source: Corinna Baldauf
Is there nice weather outside? Then why stay cooped up inside, when walking fills your brain with oxygen and new ideas 'off the trodden track'. Get outside and take a walk in the nearest park. Talk will naturally revolve around work. This is a nice break from routine when things run relatively smoothly and you don't need visual documentation to support discussion. Mature teams can easily spread ideas and reach consensus even in such an informal setting.
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Dialogue Sheets (#30)

A structured approach to a discussion
Source: Allan Kelly at Software Strategy
A dialogue sheet looks a little like a board game board. There are several different sheets available. Choose one, print it as large as possible (preferably A1) and follow its instructions.
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Something completely different

Dialogue Sheets (#30)

A structured approach to a discussion
Source: Allan Kelly at Software Strategy
A dialogue sheet looks a little like a board game board. There are several different sheets available. Choose one, print it as large as possible (preferably A1) and follow its instructions.
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Invite a Customer (#56)

Bring the team into direct contact with a customer or stakeholder
Source: Nick Oostvogels
Invite a customer or internal stakeholder to your retrospective.Let the team ask ALL the questions:
  • How does the client use your product?
  • What makes them curse the most?
  • Which function makes their life easier?
  • Let the client demonstrate their typical workflow
  • ...
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Something completely different

Retrospective Cookies (#27)

Take the team out to eat and spark discussion with retrospective fortune cookies
Source: Adam Weisbart
Invite the team out to eat, preferably Chinese if you want to stay in theme ;) Distribute fortune cookies and go around the table opening the cookies and discussing their content. Example 'fortunes':
  • What was the most effective thing you did this iteration, and why was it so successful?
  • Did the burndown reflect reality? Why or why not?
  • What do you contribute to the development community in your company? What could you contribute?
  • What was our Team's biggest impediment this iteration?
You can order retrospective cookies from Weisbart or bake your own, e.g. if English is not the team's native language.
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Retromat contains 127 activities, allowing for 8349005 combinations (25x30x22x22x23+5) and we are constantly adding more.

Created by Corinna Baldauf

Corinna wished for something like Retromat during her Scrummaster years. Eventually she just built it herself in the hope that it would be useful to others, too. Any questions, suggestions or encouragement? You can email her or follow her on Twitter. If you like Retromat you might also like Corinna's blog and her summaries on Wall-Skills.com.

Co-developed by Timon Fiddike

Timon gives Scrum trainings. He mentors advanced scrum masters and advanced product owners. Human, dad, nerd, contact improv & tango dancer. He has used Retromat since 2013 and started to build new features in 2016. You can email him or follow him on Twitter. Photo © Ina Abraham.