Running a Retrospective

I believe that there is always room for improvement within teams. Improvements can be small, large, incremental or even mind-blowing. In all cases the best way to improve what you do is to hold a retrospective. A retrospective is a meeting with the following agenda:

• What did we do well?
• What did we do not-so-well? 
• What could we do better next time?
• Is there something that we can do better right now?

When I run a retrospective I try not to focus on an individual project, but on the overall productivity of the team. In some cases it makes sense to retrospect a project, but if you do, here are some guidelines:

Failed Project Retrospective - I try not to focus on a failed project. This goes counter to most retrospectives or "review" of failed projects. When you do this after a failed project the team tends to feel like they are being beat up for their failure. By the time you get to your retrospective your biggest issues should have already been addressed and it isn't productive to continue flogging the team. So, keep it short, make sure that the big problem won't be repeated in the future. Above all, make sure that the team knows the goal is to improve overall and learn from mistakes.

Successful Project Retrospective - Many feel that there is no reason to talk about a successful project because it was in fact successful. This is where the "not-so-well" can come out. This is typically where the team will identify something that is really a risk to future successes. For example, we found out that someone had saved us from a critical problem "again" and that we were relying on this one person to fix a lot of problems on the fly. We were able to identify a bottleneck that could have caused a really big problem.

Overall Retrospective - I try to do these a couple of times a year. In general the team enjoys these. This is where there is a lot of patting on the back, real thought on what can be done and building morale. Focus on improving strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

It is important to try to come out of the retrospective with one thing that you can do right now to improve. For example, we had one week in our project timeline that was essentially just scheduling a task. We found that it was always one of two people who were assigned this task. The team decided that these individuals would reserve time in their schedule to do the task. Then we could always count on them to be available rather than trying to coordinate. We cut a week off of the timeline! The side effect was that we all had non-meeting time blocked in our calendars to get real work done!

Take time to look back at what you do. You'll be surprised at what can happen.

Helpful Links:

http://skycoach.be/2010/06/17/12-retrospective-exercises/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/agile-management-and-the-sprint-retrospective.html

How can a busboy affect sales?

Three months ago I went to a falafel (Chickpea) place to hang out before a sales call in Manhattan.  It was just one of five places in the block where I could go.  I noted that the place was really clean, food was good and there was a busboy, I'll call him Mario, who was working really hard keeping the place clean.  I remembered that he took my tray to the garbage can for me.  The next time I went to that client, I went back to Chickpea only because I remembered that the bathroom was clean. The place wasn't that busy and Mario came up as I was leaving and asked "are you selling to the hospital?"  I guess I stood out like a sore thumb.  He made some small talk and wished me good luck and walked me out.  The next time, I I went back to Chickpea.  I had to leave in a hurry because I was running late and only ate half my wrap.  Mario was right there, and grabbed my tray, and while wiping down my spot at the counter asked if my food was okay, then hurried to hold the door for me as he saw I was on the phone and struggling with my laptop bag.  He yelled "Good Luck!" as I left.

As my company has started putting out quarterly goals, some employees are feeling disconnected because they are looking at something that doesn't affect them.  For example, how does a goal of “Sell more widgets” affect me?  Customer Support staff says “oh well, nothing for me to do.”  Software Engineers say "I don't do sales". Others may say "I work with cogs, not widgets, so there is nothing for me to do."  My friend Mario doesn't care about the menu, the website, how much ingredients cost, or any of that.  He just knows that if he does his job over and beyond expectations that he's doing everything he is doing everything he can to make the business succeed.

There is something for everyone to do in every goal.  How can Customer Support help to sell widgets?  Support existing widgets the best that you can!  Software Engineers can make the widget more work faster.  If you work with cogs, offer new ideas to the widget department, give them a call and say "hey, we added a light blue color and it made all the difference in the world to one client." Oh and maybe one of your cog customers needs a widget and they don't even know about it!

Doing your job better, breaking up rocks, reporting rocks, giving input are all things you can do. Most of all you have to remember that the company goals are not “their goals”, but “our goals”.  Everything the company does affects customers, so everything you do affects customers.  Customers are who write your paycheck.

p.s. Did you notice in the 2nd paragraph I called Mario my "friend"?  Think about the impact you can make if customers think of you that way?

Missing Commmitments

Keeping commitments is the best way to earn trust from your colleagues.  No matter how nice you are, how smart you are or how much you are "the only one who knows".  Many cascading events can be set back if you even miss a commitment by one day.  Sometimes a missed commitment can even cause an initiative to die on the vine.

Unfortunately I know this because I have missed commitments.  One thing that my personality has built in is a need to please, so I have a tendency for optimism which leads to committing to too many things.  One thing I work hard on is reeling this in and making sure that I set realistic expectations for myself first, then for what I'm telling my team members that I can deliver.

Here's what I'm working on:

Previously I may have said, "I'll get something from Joe by mid-January".  Now I say "I will commit to getting a list of similar projects Joe has worked on by January 15th".

1. I am specific in WHAT and WHEN - NOW if I don't have that list by January 15th, I'm in big trouble.  I didn't say "I'll call."  I have a specific outcome - the list.  I gave myself a deadline - very important.  I didn't just re-direct to one person (Joe) because there can be other ways for me to get what I need.  
2. I reinforce for myself. I used a strong word - "commit" - and I know when someone else uses that word with me that they take what they are promising to do very seriously.  Think of the difference of "you said you would do it" and "you made a commitment to me".
3. I follow up with myself.  I put a reminder in my calendar at intervals leading up to my commitment - not the day of the commitment.  These remind me to work on it, or let my co-worker know that I need more time. Needing more time can be okay if I let them know well in advance of my deadline and gives them the opportunity to say "We can't wait due to other dependencies".

I'm continuing to work on this and will be giving more thoughts on this in the future!

5 Minute reading suggestion:
http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Keeping-Commitments.html

And if you haven't read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, at least check out the chart: