The Business Benefits of Retrospectives
September 6, 2010
This is a part of a series that was created to help you get the practice of retrospectives built into your company. This series will walk through the approach, necessary roles, in addition to guides for each role to help your company get started quickly.
Why Conduct Retrospectives?
Retrospectives and AARs provide quick results in a short time and can be applied to a broad range of activities. They are simple, adaptable, and scalable. Importantly, they empower individuals and teams to remove barriers together quickly and effectively.
Other benefits include:
Team-oriented
• Helps the team identify and fix problems
• Develops a team and project culture that values open and honest feedback
• Improves team cohesiveness and productivity
• Helps eliminate issues that might otherwise fester
• Helps clarify goals, roles, and communication needs
• Identifies people issues as well as process issues
• Gets people to commit to making necessary changes
Process-oriented
• Provides a list of things that went well and common items to improve
• Provides better insight into operational performance
• Identifies where preventive measures can be taken to reduce project risks
• Increases efficiency of project planning and process development
Knowledge-oriented
• Knowledge gained helps avert future crises
• Establishes repeatable, successful behaviors
• Creates a knowledge-based learning culture
• Enables you to position the company as a learning entity
Next week, I’ll share some insights as to why retrospectives are a company-wide strategy.