[teampractices] Retrospectives: Getting deep and personal

Thu Sep 8 18:44:37 UTC 2016

+1 to Strine's thoughts. Very similarly and in line with David said about
getting a team to name emotions that occurred around mechanical feedback
(I'm removing the 'factual' part that David originally included because
emotions are facts too!), I've also had success combining the "mad, sad,
glad" format with the "timeline" format (also in the Esther Derby book,
which worked really nicely for a more engineering-centric group. The
timeline portion helped lay everything out in a logical, event-based
(feeling-free) manner; but then layering the "mad, sad, glad" piece on top
of that helped reveal how folks were feeling about various events that
happened, which spurred deeper conversation.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 10:31 AM David Strine <dstrine at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> The book "Agile Retrospectives" by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen has a
> section on managing group dynamics and a description of the "Mad, Sad,
> Glad" format. I also found an online example here [1].
>
> I've found that if you get a team to name emotions that occurred around
> the mechanical/factual feedback you can get a glimpse into the
> interpersonal issues. The emotional statements open the door for you to dig
> deeper ask pointed questions.
>
> [1]
> https://www.retrium.com/resources/techniques/mad-sad-glad
>
> On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 9:58 AM, Kevin Smith <ksmith at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm looking for advice about how to structure retrospectives to encourage
>> more feedback about interpersonal issues. I believe the teams I work with
>> feel the retros are a "safe space", but the vast majority of the issues
>> that come up are mechanical, not personal.
>>
>> Of course, it's possible that there really aren't that many interpersonal
>> issues on these teams. (They do seem to be more emotionally healthy and
>> mature than many teams I have interacted with.) But I don't want to take
>> any chances. And I don't have a ton of experience running retros, so I'm
>> hoping those of you with more experience can provide some pointers.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Kevin Smith
>> Agile Coach, Wikimedia Foundation
>>
>>
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