The next tip for a successful sprint retrospective is to keep things positive. There will be sprints when the team has had a difficult time, their energy is low, and their mood is negative. However, as a scrum master, you can uplift the team and instill high performance that’s all about continuous improvement.
If the team needs to vent, that’s fine, but the retrospective isn’t the place for negativity—hold that conversation for later. Have the team meet over coffee or happy hour, but not during an official scrum event.
It’s human nature that not every sprint goes well, or people may have a difficult time in their personal lives. While you can acknowledge the reality, you want to bring the energy in the room back up and keep it positive and forward-thinking.
Team members are part of a group, and in group situations, when one person complains, everyone follows. You may have personally experienced a retrospective or other meeting where one vocal team member is unhappy, and that person’s energy affects the entire room. As a scrum master, it’s an important part of your job to bring the retrospective back to a productive place.
While the sprint retrospective’s official purpose is to inspect and adapt what happened in the most recent sprint, if you can’t overcome the negativity, you may want to discuss a different time period. You could look back at the month, the quarter, or even the past year to discuss what’s gone well and how your team has progressed.
Key Takeaways:
- Keep the sprint retrospective positive.
- Find an alternative time and place for the team to vent their frustrations.
- The scrum master’s role is to bring up the team’s energy and be forward-looking.
- It’s acceptable to look back further than the previous sprint to see how the team has progressed.
Need to watch any of the other videos in the series? Find the links below!
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Presenter(s)
John McFadyen is an Executive and Enterprise Agile Coach with proven experience working on some of the UK and Europe’s largest, most complex Agile Transformations.
As a Certified Scrum Trainer, John brings a wealth of experience as an Agile coach, Agile practitioner and software developer into each of the 4 core courses he provides.
Certified ScrumMaster
Certified Scrum Product Owner
Advanced Certified ScrumMaster
Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster
The war stories, the insights into successful Agile transformations and everything he has learned from coaching high-performance Agile teams combines to provide course delegates with a unique, compelling training experience that transforms as much as it empowers.
John is passionate about cultivating high-performing Agile organisations that unleash people’s passion and creativity. As an Agile coach, John has worked with C-Suite level individuals on cultivating and embedding Business Agility within the DNA or large organisations.
In addition to being an Agile coach and Certified Scrum Trainer, John is also a founding partner of Agile Centre.
As an entrepreneur, John works at growing Agile capability with clients from around the world. Agile Centre has fast established itself as a pioneer in the cultivation and development of Agile capabilities within organisations great and small.
John leverages his experience as an Agile coach, consultant and trainer to help organisations embed Agile values, mindsets and develop a high-performance culture of Business Agility.
John is also deeply invested in growing the next generation of great Scrum Masters via the Agile Coaching Academy. An 18-month journey that helps practitioners move through an apprenticeship in Agile coaching through to journeyman and practising Agile coach.
John is also an international keynote speaker, author and Business Agility mentor. Visit www.johnmcfadyen.com for more insights into John’s writing, thought leadership and mentorship.
