Retrospective #10: turn on the table

turn on the table retrospective
turn on the table retrospective

The retrospective turn on the table is a retrospective that I particularly appreciate; it is also called Yin and Yang. It will aim to focus on negative things and positive things as well as team consistency.

Feel free to read our other retrospectives on this dedicated page:

Our retrospectives

Required material for turn of the table

For the turn on the table, you will need to prepare very little material. Here is what the facilitator will need to animate this retrospective:

  • post’it (two different colors [green and orange recommended])
  • pens

The overall time to plan is 35 minutes to 1 hour.

All steps

Here are the different steps to take to complete this new retrospective.

Step 1 of turn on the table

The Scrum Master will ask the different participants to write on a :

  • green post’it what they think is the most positive thing about the sprint that ends
  • orange post’it what they think is the most negative thing of the sprint that ends

Participants will keep secret what they have written on their post’it.

Duration: 5 minutes

Step 2 of turn on the table

During the second step, each participant will give the green post’it to the right neighbor and the orange post’it to the left neighbor.

At that moment, each participant will have to explain the positive point and the negative point that he has in hand. It’s interesting to see how each member interprets the post’it of their neighbors; Moreover, if the post’it is misunderstood, the one who wrote it will be able to explain it.

This step will help to see if team members talk regularly together or if there is an isolation in the team.

Duration: 15/30 minutes

Step 3 of turn on the table

The scrum master will ask the participants to define axis of improvement that respond to all the points raised during this session. Reminder: they will write one axis of improvement per post’it.

Duration: 5 minutes

Step 4 of turn on the table

The participants will make a Dot Voting to define the 3 main axis of improvement on which the team will work during the next sprint.

The scrum master will not forget to ask participants to choose a volunteer to be responsible for monitoring the implementation of these axis of improvement. It is important to remember that it is essential to empower people to ensure that the axis of improvement will not be forgotten after the end of the retrospective.

Duration: 15 minutes

Conclusion: turn on the table

Original, this retrospective turn on the table offers a different way to look for axis of improvement. In addition, it allows to see if the team is coherent and if it has already shared upstream on the problems encountered; sometimes this lack of coherence can show the problems of individuals interaction.

 

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About Judicaël Paquet 368 Articles
Judicaël Paquet (agile coach and senior devops) My Engagements in France and Switzerland: - Crafting Agile Transformation Strategies - Tailored Agile Training Programs - Raising Awareness and Coaching for Managers - Assessing Agile Maturity and Situational Analysis - Agile Coaching for Teams, Organizations, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Agile Coaches Areas of Expertise: Scrum, Kanban, Management 3.0, Scalability, Lean Startup, Agile Methodology.

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