Continuous improvement: 6 efficient agile retrospective methods to kick off the new year

As we stand at the cusp of a new year, the role of C-suite executives becomes increasingly pivotal in steering their organizations towards unprecedented success. In this dynamic business landscape, the ability to adapt and innovate is non-negotiable. For this, setting a continuous improvement mindset within your team stands as a strategic imperative for leaders looking to take their teams to improved agility and efficiency.

In this article, we are sharing one of the most efficient ways to introduce continuous improvement in your organization: carrying out agile retrospectives. Through these 6 powerful methods declined from Scrum practices or design thinking, you are ensured to find the one that best suits your team, and rapidly assess together your past success and improvements to make. 

As leaders seek not only to weather the uncertainties of the business environment but to thrive in them, the importance of fostering a culture of reflection, adaptation, and innovation becomes abundantly clear. And that is exactly what retrospectives are all about!

The start of a new year is symbolic—a blank canvas awaiting the strokes of strategic brilliance and calculated risk-taking. When done right, an agile retrospective has the potential to not only boost team knowledge and engagement, but to fundamentally reshape organizational outcomes.

Sprint Retrospective

Initially, the exercise of retrospective is issued from agile Scrum methodologies and takes place in a team after they have completed a sprint (or iteration period) during which they have completed some tasks.

A successful Sprint retrospective usually involves the following steps: 

• An icebreaker to warm up the team;
• A data and feedback collection phase: the aim is to learn more about what went well or less well during the sprint;
• The definition of concrete next steps and actions for the upcoming sprint; 
• A wrap-up of the session: this can be a short talk about the retrospective process itself, and how it can be improved for the next time.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, the purpose of this type of retrospective is to assess the work completed during the sprint, identify the team’s successes, and the aspects that could be changed or made better next. All development team members, including the Scrum Master and the Product Owner, actively participate, fostering a safe space for discussion. 

Today, teams need to be more and more reactive towards their ever-evolving working environment. Therefore, conducting an efficient agile retrospective after their sprints stands as a valuable method to identify their strengths, areas for improvement, and actionable strategies to enhance team performance in the next sprint.

To make your Sprint retrospective even more efficient and interactive, visual management tools and features are proven to take your collective intelligence even further. Encouraging teams to infuse more creativity into retrospectives, you can try ready-to-use whiteboard templates for creating unique retros for each sprint.

Speedboat

The Speedboat method (also called Sailboat) is another part of the agile Scrum methodology. Even more than Sprint retrospectives, this creative format transforms your retrospectives into an engaging and visual experience. 

Again, the objective is to help teams collectively achieve their goals through dynamic and effective working sessions. Utilizing the boat analogy, the Speedboat method encourages teams to navigate their project journey, identifying successes, goals, and obstacles with visual clarity.

In this interactive method:  

• The boat symbolizes the team navigating their business tasks; 
• The island represents their goals;
• The sun signifies successes;
• The wind embodies supportive factors;
• The anchor and reef stand as obstacles. 

Again, a visual template of the Speedboat method facilitates a colorful and collaborative workspace for team members to express their thoughts and creates an atmosphere conducive to innovation and problem-solving.

This retrospective process particularly focuses on categorizing successes, goals, and challenges with corresponding colors, fostering interactions and engagement. Like with a standard Sprint retrospective, participants can start with an icebreaker and then progress together through each category. The resulting action plan must address project issues while offering solutions to obstacles and fostering continuous improvement.

Moreover, the Speedboat method's flexibility allows teams to adapt to their unique working styles, whether they are on-site or at a distance. Its accessibility also enables asynchronous participation, sustaining momentum and ensuring continuous improvement beyond the retrospective sessions. Ultimately, the Speedboat retrospective empowers teams to steer their projects toward success by collectively navigating challenges and setting sail toward their dream islands.

Rose, Thorn, Bud

The Rose, Thorn, Bud design thinking methodology offers a simple yet powerful tool for strategic analysis through a retrospective format, fostering continuous improvement through the metaphor of a flower. 

This approach encourages teams to categorize successes as roses, challenges as thorns, and opportunities as buds. This retrospective method employs a human-centered design thinking approach, leveraging visual elements like images and colors to stimulate creative thinking and innovation.

Among its main benefits, the Rose, Thorn, Bud method promotes visual thinking, creativity, and imaginative solutions. By incorporating images and visual associations, this retrospective technique taps into a different part of participants' brains, fostering creativity and yielding innovative ideas. 

Suitable for various situations such as team catch-ups, project stumbling blocks, and customer feedback, this method accommodates an unlimited number of participants, making it effective for generating feedback and exploring ideas collaboratively.

An example of using Rose, Thorn, Bud in a brainstorming session

1. If your collaborative workspace enables a timer, launch it for a 5-minute group brainstorming session.
2. In the first “Rose” column of your digital workspace, the participants send all their ideas about what is positive about the topic being discussed (success, efficient progression, etc.).
3. Then, time another 5 minutes, so the participants can fill in the “Thorn” column with their ideas on what’s not working, obstacles, and problems.
4. Finally, time another 5 minutes for the “Bud” column, which represents opportunities and ideas that are still to be explored.

Feel free to add 1 or 2 minutes to each category if the participants need it, before a group debriefing on all the ideas that came out of this session. You will then be able to use the outcomes of this design thinking workshop to assess your situation, learn from it, and bounce back to explore ways of moving forward as a team.

ROTI

Another way to enhance the conclusion of your team meetings or workshops is to use the ROTI method, designed to gauge the return on time invested (which ROTI stands for). 

This tool allows participants to promptly assess the value and success of a session. Whether conducted in person or remotely, team members can then provide immediate feedback, offering real-time insights and improvement suggestions.

Therefore, the ROTI retrospective method catalyzes collecting valuable feedback and elevating the quality and productivity of future meetings. It transforms communication dynamics, preventing scenarios where team members disengage, focusing on emails during meetings, or multitasking in any other way. Offering your teams an option for anonymous comments can also empower them to express opinions freely, fostering comprehensive and seamless feedback.

Visually applying the ROTI method involves having the participants categorize their feedback using a visual color code, contributing to columns such as "Useless" and "Below Average." Then, center team discussions on understanding what requires improvement while acknowledging successful aspects. 

In an area dedicated to improvement suggestions in their collaborative workspace, participants can easily organize and prioritize their ideas. Liking or voting for the most compelling suggestions can also be a good practice for their implementation in future workshops or meetings. 

In this way, integrating the ROTI methodology into your project management practices becomes an essential aspect of continuous improvement, especially when experimenting with innovative meeting formats, providing a holistic approach to refining collaboration and communication.

Remember the Future

The Remember the Future method introduces an innovative and engaging project management tool, blending inspiration from agile practices and the thrill of time travel. This methodology offers a unique opportunity for teams to retrospectively analyze past tasks and milestones, project into the future, and collaboratively shape an action plan for enhanced project management. Also acting as a powerful tool between sprints in Scrum project tracking, this agile retrospective format accommodates both short-term and long-term projects.

The session begins by reflecting on the team's previous project, and identifying successes and challenges. It then propels the team into the future, prompting members to envision the project's completion and inquire about future accomplishments. 

Then, the Remember the Future method provides a structured approach for teams to leverage their past experiences, anticipate obstacles, and refine their project management methodology. It fosters an environment where both existing and new team members can bond over shared experiences, whether working face-to-face or remotely.

To use this retrospective method visually, team members can use a collaborative whiteboard where they input project details and personalize their contributions with photos and names. The retrospective journey into the past involves categorizing what worked well and what didn't in the last project, leading to a collaborative decision on what to retain for future endeavors. The team then imagines itself in the future, posing questions and connecting answers to different-colored ideas, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of future project dynamics.

Moving forward to project management, lessons from the past guide the creation of action plans in a "To do" area. Responsibilities and deadlines are assigned, providing a clear roadmap. The journey into the future is also employed to review and categorize potential risks, ensuring proactive risk management. This method’s versatility allows for quick engagement on specific project points, facilitating collaborative decision-making and intensifying project tracking at any stage.

Kudo Cards

Finally, the Kudo Cards retrospective format introduces an effective method to enhance team motivation and foster a positive feedback culture. 

Designed as a set of cards and a dedicated workspace, Kudo Cards facilitate expressing thanks, appreciation, encouragement, and congratulations within a team to recognize the progression that has been made. The process involves selecting cards based on design, corporate identity, or specific topics, and posting them for the team to see. 

This method ultimately serves as a valuable tool for remote teams, promoting team spirit and motivation.

Derived from the Greek word 'kudo,' meaning acclaim for successful action, Kudo Cards represent a visual means for team members to acknowledge and appreciate each other's efforts. The cards, once physical, can now be seamlessly integrated into a visual collaborative workspace, providing a centralized platform for feedback sharing.

In the era of hybrid work, where feedback becomes crucial, Kudo Cards offer an interactive, spontaneous, and natural way for team members to provide specific feedback on tasks, projects, or any job performed by the team. The tool turns feedback sharing into a collaborative and motivating experience, creating a virtuous cycle of efficient interactions within the team.

The use of Kudo Cards aligns with management 3.0 and agile methodologies, providing an effective means to maximize engagement, express appreciation, and promote collaboration. A visual collaborative platform such as Klaxoon can thus serve as the perfect workspace for organizing feedback sessions. Therefore, the Kudo Cards method emerges as a key tool to boost team motivation, foster a feedback culture, and promote effective teamwork, whether in physical or remote work environments.