Running a retrospective session

Owned by Chris Cooper
Last updated: Mar 20, 2023
4 min read

GETTING STARTED

  • The buttons ‘Next' and ‘Back’ are visible only for the retrospective facilitator. Participants cannot move forward/backwards across the retrospective steps.

  • In order to get started, just go to the dashboard and select the desired retrospective.

 

TIMER

  • A timer is available so the team can timebox the entire retrospective or each individual step.

  • Only the facilitator Start/Pause/Stop the timer.

  • When the timer is running, the time is visibile to everyone (including the facilitator).

  • The facilitator can add time increments if necessary (+1m and +5m).

MOOD STEP

  • This step is optional and is only available when the “Team mood“ survey is enabled during the retrospective creation.

  • Votes are anonymous and you cannot see other participants votes.

  • The result of this survey is displayed on the Summary Step.

THINK STEP

  • From any of the existing groups/columns, click on + Add an idea.

  • Type the idea in the card and press Enter to add.

Alternatively you also can:

  • Click over the idea text to edit/update it.

  • Drag and drop cards between groups/columns.

  • Remove a card by clicking on the trash bin icon.

Notes:

  • Your ideas are anonymous and won’t be seen by others during the Think step.

GROUP STEP

  • In this step similar ideas can be grouped.

  • Only the facilitator can group ideas.

  • Drag and drop an idea over another one to group.

 

  • The target idea, after the drag and drop process will hold the merged text.

 

VOTE STEP

  • In this step participants can vote on ideas.

  • Votes are anonymous and you cannot see other participants votes.

  • Click over the thumbs up icon to vote. Click again to un-vote.

  • You can see the number of votes left if the Facilitator enabled the “Limit votes per participant":

 

DISCUSS STEP

  • In this step the team discuss the most voted ideas and add action items to adress/improve them.

  • The most voted ideas are in the top of the list.

  • Only the facilitator can add action items.

  • Select the issue type from the drop down.

  • Type the description of the issue and click add to create a new one.

 

  • Fill in any required field in the create issue screen and click Create.

  • Action items are standard Jira Issues. New action items are added to your Jira project.

 

SUMMARY STEP

  • In this step the summary is displayed with the key information regarding the retrospective.

  • The facilitator can click on 'Finish' to complete the retrospective session.

 

  • If the Team Mood is enabled you’ll see the summary of the team mood survey:

  • If necessary the facilitator can add notes about the retrospective (participants cannot add notes):

 

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