Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

by Norman L. Kerth, Gerald M. Weinberg (Foreword by)

Overview

With detailed scenarios, imaginative illustrations, and step-by- step instructions, consultant Norman L. Kerth guides readers through productive, empowering retrospectives of project performance.

Whether your shop calls them postmortems or postpartums or something else, project retrospectives offer organizations a formal method for preserving the valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of every project. These lessons and the measurements they yield foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts.

For a retrospective to be effective and successful, though, it needs to be safe. Kerth shows facilitators and participants how to defeat the fear of retribution and establish an air of mutual trust. One tool is Kerth¹s Prime Directive: "Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand."

Applying years of experience as a project retrospective facilitator for software organizations, Kerth reveals his secrets for managing the sensitive, often emotionally charged issues that arise as teams relive and learn from each project.

Don¹t move on to your next project without consulting and using this readable, practical handbook. Each member of your team will be better prepared for the next deadline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780932633446
Publisher:	Dorset House Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Pages:	268
Sales rank:	454,770
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xiii
	Preface	xv
1	Introduction to Retrospectives	1
	The Need for Ritual	4
	Naming the Process	5
	Prime Directive for a Retrospective	7
	The Darker Side of Retrospectives	8
	The Retrospective Facilitator	10
2	Anatomy of a Retrospective: A Case Study	13
	The Sample Retrospective	13
	Preparing for the Retrospective	14
	The Retrospective Plan	16
	Retrospective Day 1	18
	Retrospective Day 2	25
	Retrospective Day 3	28
	Preparing for the Facilitator's Job	32
3	Engineering a Retrospective: Making Choices	35
	Engineering a Retrospective	37
	First Consideration: What is the purpose of this retrospective?	38
	Second Consideration: How healthy is this organization?	41
	Third Consideration: Do I have the skills to lead this retrospective?	44
	A True Story	46
	Who Should Attend the Retrospective?	47
	Where Should the Retrospective Be Held?	49
	Selecting a Residential Site	51
	When Should the Retrospective Be Held?	52
	How Long Should a Retrospective Be?	53
	A True Story	55
4	Selling a Retrospective	57
	Understanding the Market for Retrospective Sales	59
Segment 1	Sales Approach (Change As Habit)	61
Segment 2	Sales Approach (Change Due to Pain)	61
Segment 3	Sales Approach (No Change Requested)	62
	Selling Is Okay	62
	A True Story	63
	"Qualify" the Customer	64
	Effective Selling Requires Listening	64
	Sell Trust, Confidence, and Ongoing Support	65
5	Preparing for a Retrospective	67
	Connect with the Managers	69
	Map the Community	73
	Collect Effort Data	76
	Sample Effort Data Collection E-mail	79
	Ready the Team	84
	Three Sample Retrospective Handouts	84
	What Is a Retrospective? How Should You Get Ready?	85
	Who Is Norm Kerth?	87
	Retrospective Pre-work Handout	88
	When to Get the Legal Department Involved	90
	A True Story	90
	Track Details with a Checklist	91
	Retrospective Checklist	92
	When to Arrive for the Retrospective	93
6	Retrospective Exercises	95
	The Exercises	99
	The "Introduction" Exercise	100
	The "I'm Too Busy" Exercise	103
	The "Define Success" Exercise	105
	The "Create Safety" Exercise	108
	A True Story	113
	Another True Story	114
	The "Artifacts Contest" Exercise	116
	A True Story	119
	References for Further Reading	120
	The "Develop a Time Line" Exercise	121
	Building the Time Line	122
	Mining the Time Line for Gold	124
	A True Story	127
	The "Emotions Seismograph" Exercise	127
	The "Offer Appreciations" Exercise	130
	References for Further Reading	133
	The "Passive Analogy" Exercise	134
	References for Further Reading	137
	The "Session Without Managers" Exercise	138
	References for Further Reading	143
	The "Repair Damage Through Play" Exercise	144
	The "Cross-Affinity Teams" Exercise	146
	A True Story	150
	Preparing a Proposal for Management	151
	The "Making the Magic Happen" Exercise	152
	The "Change the Paper" Exercise	157
	A True Story	160
	References for Further Reading	162
	The "Closing the Retrospective" Exercise	163
	Designing a Retrospective Meal	165
	References for Further Reading	168
	A True Story	168
7	Leading a Postmortem	171
	The Challenger Story	174
	Transforming the Failed-Project Experience	175
	Saving Face	178
	Grieving Over Loss	180
	Accepting a Lowered Self-Esteem	183
	Qualifying to Lead a Postmortem	186
	Some Important Differences Between Retrospectives and Postmortems	186
8	Postmortem Exercises	189
	The Exercises	190
	A True Story	190
	The "CEO/VP Interview" Exercise	193
	The "Art Gallery" Exercise	195
	The "Define Insanity" Exercise	197
	A True Story, Revisited	199
	The "Make It a Mission" Exercise	201
	A True Story	204
	References for Further Reading	206
9	On Becoming a Skilled Retrospective Facilitator	209
	Six Lessons	211
	A True Story	216
	Understanding the Facilitator's Procedures	220
	The "Dealing with Conflict" Procedure	220
	References for Further Reading	223
	The "Handling Resistance to Change" Procedure	224
	The "Four Freedoms" Procedure	227
	A True Story	230
	References for Further Reading	231
	The "Understanding Differences in Preferences" Procedure	231
	A True Story	234
	References for Further Reading	234
	The "Ingredients of an Interaction" Procedure	235
	References for Further Reading	237
	The "Congruent Messages" Procedure	238
	Incongruent Messages	240
	The Incongruent Facilitator	245
	References for Further Reading	247
10	After the Retrospective	249
	Retrospective Reports	252
	Collecting Retrospective Reports	253
	Sample Report Format	254
	Keeping the Wisdom Alive	256
	A True Story	257
	A Secure Location	258
	Conduct a Retrospective of Your Retrospective	259
	Collecting Retrospectives-of-Retrospectives Reports	261
	Index	263

Editorial Reviews

Kerth, a consultant to software organizations, guides facilitators and participants through the process of the project retrospective using scenarios and detailed, cartoon-illustrated instructions. The retrospective is a formal method for preserving the lessons learned from the successes and failures of projects. Kerth shows how to conduct one in an atmosphere of mutual trust and without the fear of retribution. The goal is for the lessons and changes identified by the community to foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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