The human heartbeat is amazing. It powers the body and mind. It is fantastic, but it isn’t the only critical system running on some sort of cadence. Here are a few others you may be familiar with:
Circadian Rhythms: The body’s internal clock that operates on a roughly 24-hour cycle. It regulates sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, eating habits, and digestion, among other functions. It’s why you feel awake or sleepy around the same times each day.
Respiratory System (Breathing): Breathing cycles are also regular and controlled by the brainstem, which adjusts the breathing rate based on carbon dioxide levels in the blood, ensuring proper oxygenation of the body.
Digestive System (Peristalsis): The digestive tract moves food through a series of muscle contractions known as peristalsis, which occur at regular intervals to ensure food is digested and nutrients are absorbed.
Endocrine System (Hormonal Release): Hormone release often follows regular cycles, such as the insulin release in response to blood sugar levels, the menstrual cycle in females governed by the cyclic release of estrogen and progesterone, and the daily rhythm of cortisol release that helps regulate metabolism and immune response.
Lymphatic System (Lymph Flow): The lymphatic system, which helps remove waste and toxins from bodily tissues, moves lymph fluid back into the bloodstream through a network of vessels and nodes, facilitated by muscle movement and contractions at regular intervals.
In Agile, specifically SCRUM, the Sprint creates a much-needed artificial rhythm for the team and company. But just like the human body, the team and company may have more than one system and more than one cycle running at a time.
So, if there are different cycles, why is there only a retrospective at the end of a Sprint? Shouldn’t some of the other cycles also go through an introspection process? I think so.
For example, many industries have seasonal sales cycles. Some industries have massive bursts when a large majority of sales are made in a short period. It would be very valuable to understand what made those cycles or the company cadence successful or caused them to fail.
Definitions:
Retrospectives (shorthand Retros): In the context of Agile methodologies, a retrospective is a meeting held at the end of each iteration or Sprint. This is a set period during which specific work must be completed and made ready for review. The main purpose of a retrospective is for the team to reflect on the most recent Sprint, project, or work period. During a retrospective, team members discuss:
o What worked well during the Sprint or project phase, and which practices were effective and should be continued or expanded?
o What didn’t work well and needs improvement, identifying specific problems, challenges, or inefficiencies encountered?
o What lessons were learned and insights gained that can inform future work and interactions?
o What actions can improve the next Sprint or phase, including specific steps or changes to be implemented to address the identified issues or to enhance the team’s performance?
Safety: In the context of Agile methodologies, “safety” refers to the creation of a secure, open, and respectful team environment that encourages honest and constructive communication, collaboration, and experimentation without fear of blame, retribution, or negative consequences. Safety is foundational for fostering a culture of trust and transparency, where team members feel valued, supported, and empowered to share their thoughts, ideas, vulnerabilities, and mistakes. This concept is crucial for Agile teams because it underpins the continuous improvement processes such as retrospectives, where team members are expected to openly discuss what worked, what didn’t, and how they can improve.
Going from Suck to Awesome
Sucks – Not holding or not effectively holding retrospects on a regular basis.
Sucks a little less – Holding retros on a regular basis but never improving on the format or the frequency.
Awesome – Having retros when they add the most value.
The Value of Retrospectives as Part of the Company Cadence
Project-Based Retrospectives
Project-based retros have some advantages and disadvantages. Neither should discourage you from performing project-based retros, but being aware can help mitigate some of the disadvantages.
Advantages of Doing a Retrospective at the End of a Project
Comprehensive Evaluation: Allows for a holistic review of the entire project, offering insights into the effectiveness of the process from start to finish.
Long-term Lessons: Can help identify long-term patterns and systemic issues that might not be apparent in the shorter Sprint retrospectives.
Strategic Improvements: Provides an opportunity to discuss strategic and structural changes that could benefit future projects.
Project Closure: Offers a formal opportunity to close the project, ensuring all lessons learned are captured for future reference.
Downsides of Doing a Retrospective at the End of a Project
Memory Bias: Team members may forget details about challenges and successes that occurred early in the project, leading to less accurate reflections. One way to mitigate this issue is by providing a retro board early in the project. Bookmark the location so team members can add context and information to the board during the experience.
Overwhelming Amount of Information: The longer the project, the more information there is to review, which can make retrospectives more cumbersome and less focused.
Change Resistance: Implementing significant changes after a project ends may be more difficult, as there’s no immediate next cycle (like in Sprint retrospectives) to apply them to.
The disadvantages can be mitigated by having Sprint-based retrospectives in addition to Project-based retrospectives. It shouldn’t be either-or. Project-based retrospectives should be done at the end of a project but not replace traditional retrospectives.
Crisis Retrospective
An example of a crisis would be if your system was hacked or a major system feature destroyed critical data. Much can be learned from responding to a crisis. Many claim this is where they gain most of their wisdom. So, after a major crisis, make sure to have a retrospective. Some companies may refer to this type of retrospective as a post-mortem. In some cases, it could also be a legal or compliance requirement.
Conducting a retrospective after a crisis, such as a security breach, can be particularly beneficial for an organization. Benefits include:
Identifying Root Causes: A retrospective focused on the crisis helps meticulously analyze the sequence of events leading up to the breach, identifying both the immediate causes and underlying vulnerabilities. This thorough analysis is crucial for preventing similar incidents in the future.
Improving Response Mechanisms: It provides an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the crisis response. This includes how quickly and effectively the organization was able to detect, contain, and mitigate the breach, allowing for improvements in incident-response protocols and training.
Enhancing Security Posture: The insights gained from the retrospective can be directly used to strengthen the organization’s security measures. This could involve updating or patching software, revising access controls, enhancing monitoring capabilities, or implementing new security technologies.
Building Resilience: By learning from the crisis, an organization can develop more robust systems and processes that are better able to withstand future attacks or failures. This resilience is crucial in a landscape where threats are constantly evolving.
Promoting Transparency and Trust: Conducting and openly discussing the findings of a retrospective demonstrates to stakeholders that the organization is committed to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. This is important to executives, employees, and customers alike and can help rebuild trust the breach may have eroded.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Conducting a retrospective and taking corrective action can also help demonstrate compliance with relevant laws and regulations. For example, compliance may require evidence of due diligence and ongoing efforts to enhance security. Additional documentation may be required to satisfy entities outside of the team.
Cultural Shift Toward Security Awareness: A retrospective can serve as a catalyst for fostering a culture of security awareness throughout the organization. Involving various teams in the retrospective process can help ensure security becomes a shared responsibility that’s embedded in every aspect of the organization’s operations.
Retrospective After a Pivot
Even the largest of companies pivot from time to time. Some teams and companies pivot to avoid failure, increase their odds of competitive advantage, react to market forces, or respond to regulation. There are too many reasons to list here, but in some industries, such as technology, pivots can be frequent. Not acknowledging pivots directly can be jarring for the staff, vendors, and customers.
Advantages of Conducting a Retrospective After a Pivot
Understanding the Reasons for the Pivot: A retrospective provides a structured opportunity to analyze why the pivot was necessary, helping clarify whether it was due to market demand, technological advancements, or internal challenges. This understanding is crucial for aligning future strategies with market needs and organizational capabilities.
Evaluating the Pivot Process: It allows the team to assess how effectively the pivot was planned and executed. This includes evaluating communication strategies, decision-making processes, and how well the organization managed the pivot logistically and culturally. At this point, you won’t be able to judge the outcome of the pivot but rather the process of pivoting.
Learning from Successes and Failures: By examining what worked well and what didn’t during the pivot, the organization can capture valuable lessons. This might include insights into product-market fit, customer engagement strategies, or operational efficiencies.
Improving Team Alignment and Morale: Pivots can be disruptive and unsettling for employees. A retrospective provides a forum for open dialogue, helping address concerns, clear up misunderstandings, and rally the team around the new direction. It can enhance team cohesion and commitment to the revised goals.
Refining the Business Model: Insights gained from the retrospective can be instrumental in refining the new business model or product strategy. This iterative approach to strategy development helps create a more viable and competitive offering.
Enhancing Agility and Resilience: Reflecting on a pivot helps cultivate an organizational culture that values agility, adaptability, and resilience. These are critical traits for thriving in dynamic market environments.
Informing Future Pivots: The knowledge and experience gained from a retrospective after a pivot better prepares the organization for future shifts. It can help develop a more proactive and strategic approach to change, ensuring future pivots are executed more smoothly and effectively.
Company Cycles Retrospectives
Just like individuals, companies go through cycles. Some cycles may occur several times a year. For example, ski resorts dramatically staff up during the winter and then staff down during the summer. Other cycles may take years to manifest. Microsoft went from being predominantly a desktop software company to being a cloud company. The transition took years.
Advantages of Conducting Retrospectives for Company or Industry Cycles
Strategic Insights: Retrospectives can provide deep insights into the strategic decisions made at various stages of the cycle, allowing companies to assess the effectiveness of their strategies in response to changing market conditions, technological advancements, and competitive pressures.
Adaptation and Flexibility: By reflecting on how the company or industry has evolved through the cycle, organizations can identify areas where they were able to adapt successfully and areas where they struggled. This helps develop more adaptable business models and processes to withstand future cycles.
Innovation and Improvement: Looking back at a complete cycle allows for a comprehensive review of what innovations were successful and why, as well as what could have been done differently. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
Market Understanding: For industry-wide cycles, retrospectives can help the team understand broader market dynamics, including customer behavior changes, regulatory impacts, and competitive shifts. This is crucial for aligning future strategies with market realities.
Performance Analysis: Retrospectives provide an opportunity to analyze financial and operational performance over the cycle, identifying patterns of strengths and weaknesses. This can inform future financial planning, risk management, and operational efficiency efforts.
Learning from Failures and Successes: By examining both successes and failures, companies can cultivate a learning environment that values transparency and accountability. Learning from past cycles prepares the organization to perform better in the next cycle.
Cultural and Organizational Insights: Reflecting on how the company culture and organizational structure supported (or hindered) navigation through the cycle can lead to meaningful changes in how teams are organized, how work is done, and how innovation is fostered.
Preparing for Future Cycles: Understanding the nature and impact of past cycles equips companies to better forecast and prepare for future cycles, potentially gaining a competitive advantage by anticipating market shifts and responding proactively.
Retrospectives for shorter company cycles should focus more on improving the transitions since they are more predictable and frequent.
Retrospective of Retrospective
Retros vary vastly from team to team. More sophisticated teams with dedicated SCRUM masters and product owners tend to vary the format of their retrospectives. Neither is right or wrong. Neither is better or worse. But, varying retros can help keep them interesting and allow the team to experiment to find what works best for them.
Teams with a high level of safety tend to have the most productive retros.
The team may feel their retros aren’t effective, so from time to time, doing a retrospective on the retrospective can be valuable. Here are some pointers.
Determine when the team will meet: I recommend two main approaches:
Just meet during the normal retro time, but instead of discussing the Sprint, discuss the retro project. This approach has the advantage that no extra time needs to be allocated, and no scheduling logistics need to be performed. The disadvantage is that some teams really do need each and every retro because they are still figuring out their process.
Create an independent meeting. Not much more needs to be said about this. The pros and cons are mostly inverted from the first approach.
Explicitly state what is working and what isn’t: Before jumping in with solutions and suggestions, it is best to have the team review what they like about the current format(s) and what they don’t like. If possible, state what goals are being met and what goals aren’t being met. For example, continuous improvement may be a major goal. Maybe the team talks about many important topics but never takes any action.
Write it down: As the team formulates modifications, make sure they write them down where everyone can see them. Additionally, reconfirm with the team that what was written is what they said.
Allow yourself the option to roll back: It may take some time and several attempts to get something that works for the team. If a new format is proposed and fails upon trial, don’t force the team to keep using the new format. The modifications may need to be tweaked, or they may need to be thrown out. Agile is an iterative process, and flexibility is key!
Conclusion
In exploring the multifaceted nature of cadences beyond the Agile Sprint cycle, it becomes evident that just as the human body operates on multiple rhythmic systems for optimal functionality, so too can organizations benefit from recognizing and evaluating the various cycles that influence their operations.
From circadian rhythms to cellular metabolism, each system’s regularity underscores the importance of establishing a harmonious rhythm. Within a team or company, this rhythm can foster greater efficiency and well-being. Agile methodologies, notably SCRUM, have popularized the Sprint retrospective as a vital mechanism for reflection and improvement at regular intervals.
The argument for diversifying the timing and focus of retrospectives is compelling, especially when considering the unique opportunities and challenges presented by each type of cycle. For instance, project-based retrospectives offer a comprehensive evaluation and identification of long-term patterns. Retrospectives following a crisis, on the other hand, can pinpoint root causes and enhance security measures. Similarly, reflecting after a pivot can clarify the reasons behind strategic shifts and improve future agility. And retrospectives aimed at examining company or industry cycles can yield strategic insights and foster innovation.
Moreover, the concept of a “retrospective of retrospectives” emphasizes the importance of continuously refining the retrospective process itself. This can ensure the process remains effective, engaging, and tailored to the team’s evolving needs. This meta-level reflection encourages a culture of ongoing improvement and adaptability, which is crucial in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business environment.
Ultimately, retrospectives can significantly enhance strategic insight, operational flexibility, and team cohesion when thoughtfully applied across various cycles. By adopting a more holistic approach to retrospectives, organizations can ensure they are not only reacting to past performances but proactively preparing for future challenges and opportunities, thereby cultivating a resilient and dynamic culture of continuous learning and improvement.
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