Tiny Retrospective

Use:

Use to get the team to focus on the really small things that can sometimes make a big difference. For example one team came up with an action to move the lunch hour back by half an hour. The result was more work done in the morning, shorter afternoons and a much happier team! – though the total hours worked were unchanged.

Length of time:

60 minutes.

Short Description:

Retro that focusses on the really tiny things that can sometimes make a big difference.

Materials:

Whiteboard, post-it notes, pens, whiteboard markers.

Process:

Divide the whiteboard into sections covering Technical, Process, People and Other. Add another section called Big Ideas Parking Lot.

Explain that this retro is focussing on the really small things that might make a difference. Allow the team to write up post-it notes and put them into the relevant sections. The Big Ideas Parking Lot allows them to capture any thoughts that are not really small, for later discussion another time. They should read out what they have written as they put the note on the board.

When all the team have contributed, ask some members to group the post-its.

Then get the team to vote on the grouping they most want to talk about. Allow 3 votes per team member (can put a mark using a whiteboard marker).

Allow the team to discuss the grouping with the most votes, and record the actions (suggest 1-3) that result from the discussion.

Source:

James Cade, inspired by the TED talk “Sweat the small stuff” by Rory Sutherland (https://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_sweat_the_small_stuff?language=en).