How to Run Great Retrospectives 🔄
How to have them, which tools to use, and why they are crucial to your team's health.
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Kaizen is a Japanese term that stands for continuous improvement.
In business, it is a philosophy that sees productivity improvements as a gradual and methodical process. This approach was born in the late 1940s, and became popular as a cornerstone of The Toyota Way.
It was not invented in Japan, though.
As part of the Marshall Plan after World War II, United States brought in experts to help with the rebuilding of Japanese industry. These experts were also tasked with improving Japanese management skills, and developed a 10-hour training program that was rapidly adopted within the private industry.
This program was titled Improvement in Four Steps, or, in Japanese, Kaizen eno Yon Dankai.
🧘 Kaizen and Retrospectives
The Kaizen philosophy is often represented by a cycle, which should look familiar to anyone working with lean principles today. The late stage of each iteration is used to check results from previous actions and act on these findings to improve the process.
This step takes different names in different industries (e.g. NASA calls it Pause and Learn). In software, we usually call it retrospective.
This article covers:
🎯 What is a Retrospective — and how it differs from post-mortems and similar practices.
🔍 How to have a Retrospective — four fundamental steps, specific frameworks and formats.
🗓️ When to have a Retrospective — the different between short and long retros, and how to apply them to projects and people.
🔨 Tools — the four best tools to hold retros remotely or in-person.
📚 Case studies — from successful companies like Intercom and Spotify, and direct experiences from members of the community.
Let’s dive in 👇