Project Retrospective

Dennis Stevenson

April 23, 2008

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To do it better next time

Re`tro*spec"tive\, a. [Cf. F. r['e]trospectif.]

1. Looking backward; contemplating things past; -- opposed to prospective; as, a retrospective view.

What’s the Point?

"retrospective." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 22 Apr. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/retrospective>.

LookingContemplating

Stuff that has already happened

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What will we achieve today?

Identify the major events that led to the outcome Determine root causes for those events Identify monitoring thresholds Develop a shared action plan for the future

(a mini-prospective)

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Key Roles

Facilitator (Dennis)• Keep the meeting on track with the designated processes

• Prevent dominating/hiding/scape-goating behavior

• Enforce the Rules of Engagement

• Remain neutral to the content being shared

Participant (Everyone else)• Participate

• Be honest

• Listen and share

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Rules of Engagement

Talking Stick• Must go to everyone before repeating the cycle

• One person speaks… everyone else listens

• Speaker decides who to pass the stick to next

• Facilitator can remove from the floor to open discussion

No Pronouns (I, We, You, They, Us, Them…) This is not emotional therapy – Stick to the facts.

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Exercise 1 – The Camera Perspective

Describe the result of the Iteration and the observable events which preceded and influenced that outcome

No opinions, no judgments, just the events that happened as a 3rd Party bystander would have seen• Use your knowledge of the events to determine what is

significant

• The camera cannot record those things that did not happen (but perhaps should have) – it can only see the things that happened instead.

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Exercise 1 – The Camera Perspective

On your piece of paper, write down the following: What was the outcome or result of the effort?

• One concise, yet descriptive statement

What were 3-5 key points along the way that were significant in the process?• For recurring events, pick a representative instance

• For events that should have happened, but didn’t share what happened instead

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Exercise 1 – The Camera Perspective

What was the outcome:• • • • • • • • • •

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Exercise 1 – The Camera Perspective

Outcome

EventEvent Event Event Event

EventEvent Event Event Event

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones

Each major event leading to the outcome had a number of influences and factors that enabled it to happen.

An Ishikawa diagram maps out these forces in a cause-decomposition fashion

Focus on the top 4 events Answer the question… “Why did this happen?”

What underlying situations or events was it addressing?

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones – Event 1

FactorFactorFactorFactor

FactorFactorFactorFactor

Event

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones – Event 2

FactorFactorFactorFactor

FactorFactorFactorFactor

Event

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones – Event 3

FactorFactorFactorFactor

FactorFactorFactorFactor

Event

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones – Event 4

FactorFactorFactorFactor

FactorFactorFactorFactor

Event

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones Prioritization

For each event, select the 2 most critical factors that caused the event to happen

Each person gets 3 votes (post-it notes) and count up the most voted Factors

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Exercise 2 – Fish Bones Summary

Event 1

Event 2

Event 3

Event 4

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Exercise 3 – Risk Management Detection

Each of the Events and Factors represents a risk for a successful process going forward.

Risk: An occurrence which has not yet happened, but would negatively impact outcomes if it did.• Risks recognize the probability and impact of harm

Issue: An occurrence which has happened, creating consequences that impair the objective of the activity• Issues focus on ameliorating certain consequences

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Exercise 3 – Risk Detection

Knowing when a risk becomes an issue is a critical factor in keeping a project on track.

At this point, team actions MUST turn from preventing the occurrence to addressing the consequences.

Key Question: “How do I know I’m in trouble?” For each of the 8 Factors in Exercise 2, Identify 1 or

2 ways the team can identify this factor in the future

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Exercise 3 – Risk Detection – Event 1

Factor 1

Factor 2

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Exercise 3 – Risk Detection – Event 2

Factor 1

Factor 2

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Exercise 3 – Risk Detection – Event 3

Factor 1

Factor 2

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Exercise 3 – Risk Detection – Event 4

Factor 1

Factor 2

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Exercise 4 – Action Plan

If a given risk is detected in the future, what should we do?

When a Risk becomes an Issue, certain actions should immediately and automatically go into effect to reduce the consequences.

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Retrospective Summary

Summarize the outcomes and the achievements of the session

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Plus / Delta

Plus

Delta