EasyRetro Blog

Team Charter: What is it With Examples

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 14:00:00 +0000

No matter what type of environment you work in, teamwork always comes with its challenges.

You can achieve some incredible things with a team! However, you need to make sure that you take the right approach in order for everyone to work well together and achieve common goals. This is what creating a team charter is all about.

Quite simply, a team charter is a roadmap that teams use to steer themselves in the right direction. Establishing this is a great way to boost teams’ chances of success while ensuring everyone works together efficiently.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about team charters. This includes a step-by-step guide on how to create a team charter, as well as team charter examples and templates you can follow.

What Is a Team Charter?

A team charter is a document that outlines the goals and direction of a team. This includes defining the team’s assets, constraints, and obstacles, as well as how the team will work and what they expect to achieve.

Team charters are very similar to product roadmaps, except they only apply to a single team.

The main focus of a team charter is the deliverables of the team, and how the team will be able to achieve this over time. Team charters are developed early on during the team’s formation. It’s important that the entire team establishes the team charter document in a group session, as buy-in is needed from each team member.

There are two main objectives of any team charter. The first is to ensure the team has a clearly defined outline of their direction and focus. The second is to illustrate the direction and focus of the team to outsiders - like external work groups or organizational leaders.

Developing a clearly defined team charter is essential for keeping the team on the right track. These documents help to reduce the risk of rework, or of team members working in the wrong direction. They also reduce any confusion about the team’s objectives, helping to get any work done right the first time around.

A team charter is a kind of road map the team follows to ensure smooth operations over time.

What Should a Team Charter Include?

A team charter should be broken down into different sections. The more detailed you make each of these sections, the more well-defined the direction and goals of the team will be.

All of the different elements must work together and align with each other to create a useful and well-planned team charter. Here is a breakdown of the different information your team charter should include.

The Team’s Purpose

The central focus of a team charter is to define the overall purpose, or goal, of the team. When establishing this, it’s important to ask yourself two questions:

What is the main problem the team is facing and what would the ideal outcome of solving this problem look like?
What kind of value will the team achieve by bringing the different people and roles together?

Establishing the value of the team and providing a clearly-defined goal is the essential first step when putting together a team charter.

Team Members

Of course, you’ll need to include a list of all team members in the team charter. Individually list the team leaders and members, outlining their roles, responsibilities, and skills. You can also list alternate team members.

After the team lists, assign the team sponsor from the leadership group. The team list is important for defining the team, providing recognition, and clearly establishing the team’s commitments.

Project Scope

It’s critical that the team establishes a realistic project scope. This helps to define the start and finish of the team’s spectrum, and identify what tasks are required within the scope.

An important part of doing this is identifying any tasks outside of the scope, which reduces scope creep.

Identifying the scope of the team’s purpose helps to set parameters for the team. Even if this is just a rough guideline, it helps team members figure out exactly how large the task ahead of them is, which is important for establishing how they will tackle it.

Timeline

The team needs to have a clearly defined time commitment in place. Documenting the amount of time a team spends working together is important, as this allows the team charter to clearly outline what needs to be achieved and when.

Having a time frame in place is necessary for being able to easily put the team’s objectives into action.

When establishing time commitments, you might find that the team’s needs require more time than the meeting schedule of the team can meet. This is why it’s important to also establish the amount of weekly or monthly time the team will be able to dedicate to the tasks.

The Desired Goal

Similar to the team’s purpose that you initially established, you also need to lay out a clear goal for them. This is the ideal result that the team wants to achieve. Setting this up is all about starting the team charter off with the end in mind.

A key part of establishing the team’s desired result is also establishing smaller goals for individual team members.

The sponsor will generally establish these goals for the team to achieve.

As with any type of goal setting, the goals need to be clearly defined and actionable. Using a SMART goal framework is important. Setting up clearly defined goals makes the magnitude of the team’s work very clear.

Required Resources

What supporting resources are required for the team to achieve its purpose? This will often involve additional people and skills outside of the established team.

Figure out what skills and resources are required for each goal and task the team needs to perform, and list these.

This could include equipment, travel arrangements, meeting rooms, software, and more. Establishing this is necessary for guiding collaboration outside of the team, as well as for establishing a budget for the team.

Deliverables and KPIs

Once the team’s goals have been established, the next step is to define the team’s outputs. This is because you can’t have successful goals without attaching KPIs (key performance indicators) to them.

Establishing KPIs early on is critical. This helps you avoid immeasurable outputs and eliminate unnecessary tasks from the team’s scope.

When establishing deliverables, make sure to include any documents, long-term auditing processes, and desired behaviors that will help to verify that the correct deliverables are achieved. This is necessary for ensuring the team is on the right track to achieving its purpose.

Reporting and Communication

How will the team report on its progress?

Having a clearly established line of communication and reporting is important for the smooth operation of the team. This will generally involve establishing which higher authority (outside of the team) the team needs to report to.

The reporting plan should outline how the team will communicate with this person, and how frequently team updates must be made. Reports and communications will include topics like the progress of the team, what tasks have been completed, and any hurdles or challenges the team is facing.

Overlapping Links With the Team

What overlapping links, collaborations, and departments will the team have to work with in order to achieve its purpose?

It’s important to consider any other departments or organizations that might overlap with the team’s purpose. The team should fit this into their operations.

How To Make a Team Charter

Once you understand all of the elements above, the team can get together to map out the team charter. Use these elements to create an outline, or template, for the team charter.

You can simply create this in a regular text document, where each section is outlined in detail underneath the relevant heading. However, you could also create a team charter using a project management or visual collaboration tool, like Monday, Notion, or Miro, that includes templates for creating team charters.

Once you have the template in place, here are the basic steps you can take when putting your team charter together.

1. Collaborate

The first essential thing to understand when creating a team charter is that it needs to be a collaborative process. This important document should never be created by a single person. Instead, the entire team needs to come together to make it happen.

So, set aside enough time to get the whole team together to discuss the charter. When doing this, be sure to encourage a collaborative environment. It’s important that everyone on the team agrees with each other and decides on the different elements of the team charter together.

2. Establish the Context Of the Team

Start the meeting by establishing the general context of the team and why it exists. This should involve going over:

Who is the team leader?
Who does the team report to?
What kind of output are key stakeholders expecting from the team?
What are the individual expectations of the team members?
What types of skills and knowledge does each individual within the team bring?

Again, make sure that this is a collaborative process. Each team member should provide their answers and insights to these points.

3. Establish the Team’s Objective

As we’ve already outlined, a vital part of creating a team charter involves establishing the overarching vision and goals that the team aims to achieve. Figuring this out involves asking what success would look like for the team and what the team wants to achieve to add maximum value to the organization as a whole.

A good strategy here is to condense this vision into a clear and actionable mission statement. The aim of this is to succinctly outline what the team aims to achieve.

4. Create an Actionable Plan

A team charter is not just a document that outlines what a team aims to achieve and why this is important - it also needs to outline how the team will achieve this. To do this, the next step in creating a team charter is to use your team’s objective to set individual tasks, goals, milestones, and deadlines.

This step involves figuring out the details of how the team will do what it aims to achieve. The different sections involved here include covering:

Required resources.
Deliverables and KPIs.
Timeline.
Reporting.

Remember to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member. Once this portion of the team charter is established, the team has an actionable roadmap it can use to work toward its main vision.

Another important element to include here is how each actionable step, or goal, will be measured and recorded. This is necessary for knowing whether the team is operating on track.

5. Get the Entire Team to Sign Off

Everyone on the team should sign off on the charter. This shows they agree with and understand the charter. It also highlights their accountability and symbolizes their commitment.

Ensuring everyone has signed a version of the team charter is all about getting everyone on the same page and making the document feel more official.

This step also ensures that all team members have familiarized themselves with the charter. This ensures a smooth transition into a new project!

6. Make it Dynamic

Once the team charter has been established, this doesn’t mean the team’s path cannot change. A good team charter is stable but can adapt to change. Markets change, organizations change, and team structures change, so the charter should be able to respond to this.

To achieve this, get the team together regularly to review the team charter and agree on any possible updates or changes that need to be made. Quarterly meetings to revisit the team charter are generally best.

Not only does this ensure the team charter stays relevant, but it also offers a great opportunity for the team to refresh themselves with the charter and ensure they’re still working in the right direction.

Without revisiting this document, a team can lose sight of its main objectives.

When To Make a Team Charter

Now you know how to create a team charter. But, when is this necessary? The simple answer to this is any time you work in a team environment. Teams of all sizes, levels, and disciplines can benefit from a well-planned team charter.

The best time to create a team charter is as soon as the team is formed. This is because team charters act as roadmaps that outline the direction the team needs to take. The earlier this direction is established, the better.

If your team is experiencing issues, like a lack of direction or unproductivity, then forming a team charter is also a great idea. Team charters should be established if a team or its organization goes through any major changes.

As mentioned earlier, team charters should be dynamic. So, while it’s always a good idea to start a team charter when the team is established, it’s also important to continually revisit and restructure the team charter over time.

Team Charters Examples

There are various ways you can create a team charter. Different types depend on what template, design, and platform you use to create the document. While all team charters generally include the same information, the way they are presented can differ significantly.

Here are some great team charter examples to help inspire you.

Simple Column Team Charter

One of the best ways to create a team charter is by using a simple column format. This team charter example covers all of the important elements in columns - like team members, core values, roles, and metrics. Each relevant block within the column is filled in with the right information.

Credits: Miro

Team Board

This team charter example visually represents each element of the charter in a block, with each block creating a simple board. It’s a great way to easily address each important area of your team charter.

Credits: Miro

Whiteboard Style Team Charter

Imagine putting together your team charter on a whiteboard using sticky notes. This is the general idea behind this team charter example.

You can create different colored notes for different team members, which is an easy way to facilitate collaboration.

Credits: Conceptboard

These three team charter examples all cover the same general information and ideas, but they’re just presented in different ways.

You can make your team charter as innovative and interactive, or as straightforward and simple as you like. Ensure that you include all of the essential information and create your team charter so that it’s easy to read and understand.

Final Thoughts

Creating a team charter can be incredibly valuable.

As long as you include the right details, it will help to keep teams operating efficiently towards the right goals. Everyone on the team will understand their responsibilities, and ensure they’re always adding value to what they do.

Make sure that this process is completed in a collaborative fashion. Also, ensure a realistic time frame is given to this process!

A well-planned team charter can make a massive difference to your productivity and workflow organization.

How Can The Scrum Master Support The Product Owner?

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 13:00:00 +0000

The Scrum framework makes use of certain roles that need to be filled for everything to run smoothly.

Two of the most prominent roles are the Scrum master and the product owner. Although these have different responsibilities, one of the Scrum master’s responsibilities is to support the product owner.

But how, exactly, can the Scrum master support the product owner?

In this article, we’ve addressed that exact question. Below, you’ll find a list of all the different services the Scrum master should provide the product owner.

What Is The Role Of The Scrum Master?

Scrum masters are, ultimately, the facilitators of Scrum. According to the Scrum Guide, they are servant leaders. This means that they do whatever is needed to help the team implement Scrum and agile processes.

They should be committed to the foundations of Scrum, yet flexible enough to help the team improve and refine their processes.

The Scrum master and the product owner often work very closely with one another. However, each performs distinct roles, and you should always have both a scrum master and a product owner.

While the product owner focuses on the what, the Scrum master focuses on the how. The product owner should deal with the product backlog and figure out how to maximize the product’s value. The Scrum master, on the other hand, should lead the development team and support the product owner.

Responsibilities

1. Facilitate Events

The Scrum master should facilitate Scrum events and ensure that these events are in line with Scrum’s best practices and procedures.

For example, the Scrum master must prevent the development team from overcommitting in the planning meetings. They must also ensure that the daily scrum takes place and is efficient.

The Scrum master is there to capture feedback and note areas for improvement during the sprint reviews and retrospectives.

Ultimately, the Scrum master must help the team make the most of the Scrum events.

2. Coach Team Members

Scrum masters experts at Scrum and agile processes. They are there to coach the team members in these processes.

Team members should understand the principles and values of agile software development. They should know what the Scrum events and artifacts are, and how to make the most of them.

The Scrum master is there to get the team members to this point. They should empower the team members to implement the Scrum and agile principles and processes themselves.

Learning is a continuous process. The Scrum master should always be there to answer questions. They should constantly be building on team members’ existing Scrum knowledge.

3. Remove Impediments

While the development team is working on a sprint, they will identify any roadblocks. These are impediments that are making it difficult for them to work productively and reach their goals on time.

Team members will usually first try and resolve the roadblocks themselves.

However, if they need help, they will turn to the Scrum master. The Scrum master is there to do anything they can to ensure that the roadblocks are resolved as quickly as possible.

4. Board Administration

The Scrum master is the Scrum board’s administrator. They must ensure that all the cards are updated. Moreover, they must ensure that the team’s Scrum tool of choice is running successfully.

5. Internal Consulting And One-On-One Time

Scrum masters act as internal consultants. They should always be on hand to answer any questions that members of the team may have about Scrum and agile.

Scum masters should also be available to consult with team members and stakeholders about how to best go about the project.

Disagreements can arise in the workplace. When they do, it is the Scrum masters that need to come in and smooth things over. They should hold one-on-ones with involved parties to iron out any disagreements or address tensions.

6. Other Busy Work

The Scrum master is also there to complete any miscellaneous tasks that need to get done. They’re the ones to call if computers need to get fixed, or tables need to be moved.

They are there to do whatever they can to make the lives of the team easier, and should not be above a late-night coffee run.

7. Support The Product Owner

The Scrum master is there to help the product owner maximize product value. This one responsibility includes many different services.

Each one is essential to the success of the sprint, and we will cover them extensively below.

How Can The Scrum Master Support The Product Owner?

1. Help Define The Needs Of The Product

The Scrum master can support the product owner by helping them define the needs of the product. The needs of the product refer to the product’s goal and scope.

This is often called the scope definition. It is one of the most important (if not the most important) phases of the Scrum process.

At the end of the day, everything the Scrum team is doing is to meet the client’s needs. If they misunderstand these needs, it will affect every single phase of the process.

If defining the product needs gets complicated and the product owner needs assistance, they should look to the Scrum master for help.

The Scrum master should then do everything they can to ensure that the product statement is correct. Two minds are better than one, and some product owners prefer to work with the Scrum master in this phase.

2. Convey The Goal And Scope Of The Product To The Team

It is not enough for the Scrum master to help the product owner define the needs of the product. The Scrum master must also ensure that these needs are accurately conveyed to the development team.

The Scrum master should also help the product owner describe the value of the product. The team must understand just how important it is for the product to be delivered on time.

Just like defining the needs of the product, conveying these needs to the team is crucial. Any miscommunications could cause major problems down the line, and waste time and resources.

Once the team understands the product’s needs, they can start familiarising themselves with the tools and techniques they will use to meet these needs.

3. Backlog Management

Backlog management is one of the most crucial ways the Scrum master can support the product owner.

The product owner is tasked with creating and managing the product backlog. However, the Scrum master must do as much as they can to help the product owner with this.

By doing so, the Scum master helps ensure that the product backlog is always up-to-date and accurate. This is essential, given the important role the product backlog plays in the overall project.

The product backlog is a list of items that the development team needs to follow. The items are features that need to be developed and delivered to the client. They are listed in order of priority, ensuring that the most important ones are covered first.

The Scrum master should help the product owner identify which features are the most important. They should also check in with the development team, and ensure that they are following this backlog and focusing on the right items.

4. Make Sure That The Team Understands The Product Backlog

The Scrum master should help the product owner ensure that the development team has a clear understanding of the items on the backlog.

This involves helping the product owner answer any questions the development team may have about these items.

It also involves helping the product owner explain each item on the backlog and its importance to the team.

It is a good idea for the Scrum master to explain to the development team that they should not hesitate if they have a question about one of the items.

Lastly, the Scrum master should help the development team update the backlog. Any estimates and dependencies should be added to the backlog as soon as possible for everything to run smoothly.

5. Help The Product Owner Maximise Value

Although it is the product owner’s responsibility to maximize value, the Scrum master can, and should, help them.

The best way to help the product owner maximize value is to guide them through the process of prioritizing backlog items.

The Scrum master will usually have learned a lot about this from past experiences. They should have a good idea of which items should be at the top of the list to maximize value.

For example, they can help the product owner apply techniques that are commonly used to help prioritize backlog items.

One of the most popular techniques is called MoSCoW. This involves labeling an item as must have, should have, could have, or not have. These indicate the priority they should be given to each task (with must have being the most important and not have being the least).

6. Facilitate The Relationship Between The Product Owner And Other Parties

Another way the Scrum master can support the product owner is by facilitating important relationships. They should help establish and maintain relationships between the product owner and other important parties. These parties include developers, integrators, ordering parties, and more.

Ultimately, the Scrum master should do all they can to ensure that everyone is on good terms and is working together effectively.

This means being a guardian of the product owner’s positive relationships. It also means ensuring that every team member and stakeholder is engaged in the process and is contributing to the shared goal.

Moreover, the Scrum master must play an active role in ensuring that the client is knowledgeable about the product realization.

When the client understands what is going on, they can be more present during critical phases. These include the planning phase, sprint review, acceptance tests, and more.

The client can play an active role in the product realization, collaborating with the product owner to reach the best possible outcome.

7. Help With Product Planning In An Empirical Atmosphere

Product planning works best when it happens in an empirical atmosphere. An empirical atmosphere is an environment in which work is guided by experimentation and past experience.

The Scrum master will typically have a decent amount of experience with developing products. They should know what has and has not worked in the past.

This allows the Scrum master to draw knowledge from previous projects to help foster an empirical work environment.

This makes them the perfect person to ensure that the product owner and development team are planning in an empirical atmosphere.

8. Facilitate Scrum Events

Scrum events (sometimes called Scrum ceremonies) are meetings that are held throughout the Scrum sprint process. They are essential to the success of your sprint, ensuring that all team members are motivated and on the same page.

There are different types of events, and each plays an important role in the success of the sprint. For example, the daily scrums keep everyone on track and up to date, while the sprint retrospective helps refine the process.

The Scrum master should help the product owner by facilitating these Scrum events. They should be present to ensure that all events take place and fulfill their purpose.

9. Help The Team Practice Agile

Scrum projects should be developed in line with agile. This means the team needs to implement the tools, processes, and techniques of agile software development.

The product owner should understand the world of agile. However, the Scrum master works more closely with these agile processes.

They should assist the product owner by helping the team practice agile software development and make the most of these practices.

Final Thoughts

One of the Scrum master’s main responsibilities is to support the product owner.

However, this support can take many different forms, with each one being essential to the success of the sprint.

From helping with backlog management to facilitating Scrum events, the Scrum master is the secret to the product owner’s success in maximizing product value.

What Are The 5 Scrum Ceremonies?

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Within the Scrum methodology, Scrum ceremonies are key to projects running smoothly. These ceremonies give structure to the work of each stakeholder involved.

Scrum ceremonies are held to ensure that the product owner, Scrum master, and development team are on the same page.

There are five types of Scrum ceremonies, and all must take place if you want a successful sprint.

We’ve broken down everything you need to know about these ceremonies to help you make the most of your sprints.

What Are Scrum Ceremonies?

Scrum ceremonies are meetings that occur throughout a sprint.

These play a fundamental role in sprints, which lie at the heart of Scrum. Sprints are iterations of work that need to be completed within a set time. A sprint can be broken down into different ceremonies, artifacts, and roles.

Scrum ceremonies are different phases of a sprint that must be completed for the sprint to be properly executed. They ensure that all stakeholders can work towards the completion of the project in harmony.

Each ceremony has a unique role to play and will occur at a different point in the agile sprint cycle.

Who Participates In Scrum Ceremonies?

The main parties involved in Scrum ceremonies are the product owner, development team, Scrum master, and other stakeholders.

Which of these parties needs to attend each ceremony? Well, that depends on the type of ceremony.

We’ll discuss who participates in each Scrum ceremony when we cover each one in depth.

How Long Should Scrum Ceremonies Be?

The length of a Scrum ceremony depends on various factors, including the particular ceremony and the overall length of your sprint.

While different ceremonies have different lengths, all of them are time-boxed. Note that a time box is the maximum amount of time you can spend on a meeting.

Aim to keep meetings on the shorter side. This makes the meetings more efficient, encourages productivity, and stops the team from going off-topic.

Let’s dive in: what are the 5 Scrum ceremonies? When should each one take place, and who should be present?

What Are The 5 Scrum Ceremonies?

There are four official Scrum ceremonies: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.

The Backlog Refinement process, while not an official Scrum ceremony, is an ongoing activity that is performed throughout the sprint. This is often considered to be the unofficial 5th Scrum ceremony. Given its important role, we have included it in our discussion.

You know what the 5 ceremonies are called. Now it’s time to explore the ceremonies in a bit more depth.

1. Sprint Planning

Sprint Planning is the first Scrum ceremony and starts off the sprint. Sprint Planning aims to decide the objective of the sprint and how tasks will be executed. Usually, the whole Scrum team will work together to decide this, as it is a collaborative effort.

These meetings tend to last around one to two hours for a typical 2-week sprint. However, a meeting for a month-long sprint could take up to 8 hours. The duration of the sprint planning ultimately depends on the complexity of your task and product backlog.

When planning your sprint, certain decisions need to be made and certain topics need to be discussed.

Time box

You will need to decide how long your sprint will be. This is known as the sprint’s time box.

It is generally advised to keep your sprint’s time box under a month. Straight after one sprint ends, you’ll start another.

It’s better to have a higher amount of shorter sprints than fewer longer ones. This way, you have more control over what you are doing and can make adjustments to your tasks easily.

The typical length of a Scrum is two weeks. This is recommended as a starting point. Make sure to increase or decrease this length if the demands of your sprint require it.

Objective

The product owner must describe what the objective of the sprint is to the development team. They should also identify which backlog items will help the team achieve this objective. The development team must indicate whether they feel they can achieve the objective in the time box.

How

Once the team knows what their objective is, they need to discuss how they will achieve it. The development team should plan out the work that needs to be done. They should then negotiate the best plan with the product owner, bearing the effort required in mind.

In this stage, try not to focus too much on the ‘how’. The focus of sprint planning is to identify what the sprint goal is and whether it can be achieved. It’s okay to make some assumptions and figure out the intricacies of how to achieve your goal later on.

Who

The two essential parties involved in the sprint planning are the product owner and the development team. Both need to be present, or else the planning stage will not serve its purpose.

The product owner has to define the objective of the sprint. The development team needs to understand the objective and indicate whether is it achievable or not.

Inputs

When planning a sprint, consider what needs to be completed in the sprint. A good place to start is the product backlog. Look at what work has already been done in the increment. This will likely give you some inputs you can use in your sprint.

Outputs

The main outcome of the sprint planning stage is that the development team understands the objective. They must also have an idea of how they will start working towards achieving the objective. This will be evident in the sprint backlog, or a simple to-do list.

2. Daily Scrum

The daily scrum is a short meeting that happens every day during the sprint. During this meeting, the development team will monitor their progress. They will also decide on any adaptations that need to be made for the achievement of their goal.

The purpose of the daily scrum is to increase the chances of the development team meeting their objective. They will discuss any progress that they have made and suggest any necessary adaptations to the original sprint plan.

The daily scrum is not a status update to the product owner or Scrum master. It is also not a problem-solving session for the development team to delve into complex issues.

This is not the time for in-depth discussions about solutions and adaptations. If these discussions need to take place, the development team should rather meet straight after the daily scrum. In fact, this is a very common occurrence.

Ultimately, daily scrums aim to improve communication and collaboration, eliminating the need for many other meetings. They simply make it easier for everyone to stay on track and meet the sprint objective.

How

To help the product team stay on track and cover everything during the time-box, members typically limit their discussion to answering three questions:

What work did I do yesterday that will help us achieve the sprint objective?
What work do I plan on doing today that will help us achieve the sprint objective?
Are there any obstacles that are preventing me from completing my current work?

When you focus your daily scrum meeting on these three questions, it makes it easy to stay on track. Your team should be able to cover everything you need to within the required time.

When

The rule of thumb is to limit your daily scrum to 15 minutes. A 15-minute time box helps keep everyone focused and on track. It prevents the team from going on tangents and forces everyone to focus only on what is necessary.

It is recommended to conduct your daily scrum meeting at the time every day. You should also conduct the meeting in the same place. This regularity and consistency help ensure that everyone can commit to, and attend, the meetings. It decreases the chance of scheduling conflicts.

Who

The members of the development team are the main participants of the daily scrum. They will essentially run the meeting, reporting their progress and discussing adjustments along the way.

The product owner and Scrum master do not have to be present at the meeting. They are not active in the development work and are not necessary.

However, they can still add value to the meeting, and can be present should the development team think it beneficial.

For example, the product owner can help adjust the sprint’s backlog items. The Scrum master can also help ensure that everything is running smoothly and no common pitfalls are occurring.

3. Sprint Reviews

The sprint review is the second last ceremony in the sprint. The purpose of the sprint review is to discuss the outcome of the sprint. It is also to consider any adaptions that should be made for future sprints.

Members of the development team must show the results of their work to the key stakeholders. They will also explain to the stakeholders how the work of that sprint contributes towards the overall product goal.

The stakeholders will review the progress, and consider any changes that occurred during the sprint.

Then, the development team and stakeholders work together to decide what the next step is. Stakeholders should voice opinions about any adjustments that need to be made to the product backlog.

The sprint review should involve collaboration between the development team and the stakeholders. Don’t fall into the trap of treating it like a presentation made by the team to the stakeholders!

Who

If you want your sprint review to meet its purpose, the Scrum master, project owner, key stakeholders, and development team needs to be present. Usually, the product owner will invite all the other parties to attend the meeting.

When

The sprint review is the second last ceremony in the sprint. It should not be longer than four hours for a one-month sprint.

The rule of thumb is to have one hour for every week of the sprint. For example, a one-week sprint should be time-boxed to one hour.

Common Elements

Members of the development team should go through each item in the product backlog. They should explain which items have been completed and which ones have not.
The development team should describe which parts of the sprint went well and which ones did not. They should identify any problems they experienced, and how these were solved. If they could not solve a problem, they should explain why.
The development team should answer any questions the key stakeholders have about the increment.
The product owner must explain the current state of the backlog. They might also project potential delivery and target dates based on how much progress has been made.
Everyone must discuss what the next step is. This makes the sprint review a valuable resource that can be used in the next sprint planning meeting.
Everyone must consider any environmental changes. For example, market changes may influence what the next step should be.
Everyone should review the budget and timeline.

4. Sprint Retrospective

The sprint retrospective is a ceremony that focuses on continuous refinement and improvement of the sprint process.

According to the Scrum Guide, the sprint retrospective helps you plan how to improve the effectiveness and quality of subsequent sprints.

In some ways, it is similar to the sprint review. Like the sprint review, it takes place after the sprint. It also focuses on evaluating what happened during the sprint and what improvements can be made for the next sprint.

However, while the sprint review focuses on the product, the sprint retrospective focuses on the processes.

During the sprint retrospective, the Scrum team must have a look at how they conducted the last sprint. They should consider the tools and processes used, and even how individuals worked, interacted, and collaborated.

Anything to do with how the Scrum team performed during the sprint is up for discussion. If a team member did something differently to great success, this should be recognized. If assumptions were made that led members astray, this should also be discussed.

The Scrum master will usually run the meeting, and encourage the team to improve its practices and processes.

The sprint retrospective can essentially be boiled down to three questions:

What went well during the sprint?
What did not go well during the sprint and could be improved?
What improvements will the team commit to for the next sprint?

Note that the team should constantly be trying to improve and refine their processes and practices. The sprint retrospective allows the team to ensure this gets done.

It forces them to set aside some time to focus specifically on improvements to their processes that otherwise might not be made.

How

Typically, the members of the development team are asked to suggest topics that should be discussed. Often, they are asked to write down their thoughts before the sprint retrospective.

Once they have done so, all their thoughts are grouped into different topics and themes. The development team can then vote on which topics and themes they want to discuss at the retrospective.

This allows an agenda to be set that ensures the most important topics are discussed in sufficient detail.

It’s a good idea to keep the development team members’ comments and votes anonymous. This will make them feel more comfortable sharing honest feedback.

Who

All members of the development team need to be present if you want to make the most of your sprint retrospective. The Scrum master should also be present to run the meeting.

Although not necessary, the product owner may want to sit in. They may be able to add valuable insight into the sprint retrospective. After all, product owners are often very involved with the teams and processes.

When

The sprint retrospective is the final Scrum ceremony and concludes your sprint.

The general rule is that your retrospective should take between 30 - 45 minutes for each week of your sprint. For example, you should spend approximately one hour for a two-week sprint.

Note that your sprint retrospective should be limited to three hours for a one-month sprint.

Product backlog refinement (sometimes called product backlog grooming) refers to the updating and refining of the product backlog.

This is a continuous process. However, Scrum teams will often dedicate meetings to backlog refinement.

Product backlog refinement aims to keep the product backlog organized and up to date. This, in turn, makes it easier to use the backlog during this sprint and in the next one.

Backlog refinement involves different practices.

The product owner and development team must ensure that the backlog includes all the appropriate items. They must add new items to the backlog, and remove any redundant, invaluable, or outdated ones.

The development team and product owner must also ensure that the items are arranged in order of priority. The most important items must be at the top.

Backlog refinement also involves adding more details to the items that are already in the backlog. For example, you could add details about an item’s estimated effort or acceptance criteria.

The top items of your product backlog should all be given user stories if they don’t already have them. User stories explain a product feature from the perspective of the end user.

When

Backlog refinement is different from the other ceremonies in that it does not take place as a set stage in the Scrum. This is why it is often considered the unofficial fifth Scrum ceremony.

It should ideally be happening continuously throughout your sprint. However, most Scrum teams will hold meetings specifically for backlog refinement during the sprint.

Sometimes, teams can schedule a weekly meeting. Other teams may hold multiple backlog refinement meetings a week.

Generally, the less experience your team has (with the work and with each other), the more meetings you should schedule.

Who

The product owner and development team will typically be present in your backlog refinement meetings. This allows your development team to ask the product owner any questions they may have about the product in the backlog.

However, every member of the development team doesn’t need to be present at the meeting. This is because the purpose of the meeting is not to resolve complex issues but simply to ensure that the backlog is up-to-date and accurate.

Which Scrum Ceremony Is The Most Important

Each ceremony has an important role to play. If you forego any ceremony, there will be serious consequences to your sprint.

Without the daily scrum, you cannot ensure that all your work is aligned. You cannot discuss any obstacles that are slowing down the team.

Without sprint planning, it becomes very difficult to know what you are working towards in the current sprint and how you will achieve it. It becomes almost impossible to have a smooth, successful sprint.

Without the sprint review, you will struggle to analyze your outcome and decide what your next step should be.

Without product backlog refinement, your backlog will be disorganized and inaccurate.

However, if we had to choose one ceremony to be the most important, it would have to be the sprint retrospective! This means that you should pay special attention to this ceremony, not ignore the rest.

If your team is going about the process in the wrong way, they won’t know without feedback. They might be using faulty and inefficient processes that are hindering them from achieving the objective in the time box.

Without the sprint retrospective, you won’t be able to address these issues. They will continue into subsequent sprints, and hold your team back from their full potential!

Never underestimate the importance of the sprint retrospective, and ensure to include it in every sprint.

Final Thoughts

So, what are the 5 Scrum ceremonies?

The Scrum ceremonies were designed to help teams get the most out of their sprints.

These ceremonies can be quite specific. However, they encourage your team to work like a well-oiled machine, which is sure to pay off in the long run.

All it takes is understanding! Be sure to pay attention to each ceremony that should be implemented and conduct yours accordingly. You’ll reap the benefits in no time!

Who Ensures Everyone on the Scrum Team Does Their Tasks for the Sprint?

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0000

With 81% of agile adopters using some form of a scrum methodology, it’s an incredibly popular project management approach. Scrum is a valuable tech skill to learn. When properly executed, scrum methodology can help projects operate a lot more efficiently. To get this right, you’ll need to have a carefully planned scrum team.

Although scrum teams are typically small in size, a common question is, who ensures that everyone on the scrum team does their tasks for the sprint?

In this quick guide, we’ll cover the various roles and responsibilities involved in scrum teams. This will help you understand whose job it is to keep the team on track.

Table of content

What are the Roles in the Scrum Team?
Who Should Make Sure Everyone on the Scrum Team Does Their Tasks for the Sprint?
Final Thoughts

What are the Roles in the Scrum Team?

Scrum teams comprise three different roles: a scrum master, a product owner, and the development team.

In any scrum team, there is only ever one scrum master and one product owner. However, there can be multiple members of the development team.

Let’s break down some of the roles and responsibilities of these different team members:

Scrum master: The scrum master makes sure the scrum team follows the scrum values and operates efficiently. Scrum masters manage any obstacles for the team. They lead sprint planning meetings, facilitate daily standups, and keep track of the different team members during a project.
Product owner: The product owner ensures the scrum team meets all the product goals and external stakeholder expectations. They work closely with product managers and set the overall product vision for the scrum team. Product owners oversee the product backlog and ensure the team achieves the correct product requirements.
Development team: The development team does all the work to achieve the sprint goals. These teams may consist of designers, computer engineers, data analysts, and more. Typical development team responsibilities include programming, designing, and improving products, and helping to set goals and plan the sprint.

Who Should Make Sure Everyone on the Scrum Team Does Their Tasks for the Sprint?

The scrum master is responsible for ensuring that everyone in the team operates effectively and does the right sprint tasks. They plan the meetings, keep the team on the right track, and check that all operations run smoothly.

While the product owner is focused on aligning the team with the product goals, the scrum master is in charge of making sure the team takes the proper steps and actions to achieve those goals.

The development team also takes responsibility for achieving their sprint tasks. As they do the hands-on work, they don’t only wait for orders. Usually, they also collaborate during goal mapping and planning for the sprints.

Final Thoughts

To make sure scrum teams operate smoothly, it’s essential to clearly define each member’s roles and responsibilities. This project management methodology is relatively straightforward, and it’s an excellent approach to use for small teams.

The scrum master facilitates the scrum team, so it’s their job to ensure everyone on the team does their tasks for the sprint. It’s essential that all three roles within the team work closely together for efficient project management.

Top 7 Scrum Master Techniques for a Successful Team

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Scrum masters are innovative heads who think on their feet and ensure their scrum team is set up for success. To achieve their goals, they often use various scrum master techniques that they have learned through formal training or gained as experience over the years.

Because the role of the scrum master is fluid, you have to switch between many hats based on the circumstances you face. On any given day, you might have to transition from the role of coach and servant leader to become an evangelist or change enabler.

While each team and project is unique, there are a few essential techniques and responsibilities that any scrum master should cover. We share some of the most important ones in the guide below.

What Techniques Could the Scrum Master Use to Ensure Success?
Final Thoughts on Scrum Master Techniques

What Techniques Could the Scrum Master Use to Ensure Success?

To lead the team successfully, here are seven techniques for you to own:

1. Be Able to Establish a Unified Goal and Vision

One of the first and most important techniques for a scrum master to grasp is establishing a shared vision for the team. This technique involves working towards a central goal and ensuring everyone on the team is aware of this same goal. Doing this helps to align each person throughout the project.

A great way to do this is to create a vision statement for the project. This will be a concise statement that clearly outlines what the team aims to achieve. Every member should agree on this.

Having a clear goal and vision guides all decision-making processes and keeps the scrum team’s focus in the right direction.

2. Create Clear Communication Techniques

A vital role of the scrum master is to establish clear communication between the scrum team members. This is necessary to ensure the project moves along swiftly and that everyone is working towards the project’s vision.

The first scrum master technique in this context is to ensure proper communication channels are in place. Whether a team is working remotely or in an office space, everyone should know the correct channel to get in touch with each other and make requests.

The other vital technique is for the scrum master to promote a transparent environment. This involves regularly connecting with all team members, listening to their thoughts, facilitating discussions, and being open to new ideas. This kind of environment is a great way to enhance productivity and collaboration.

3. Know How to Prioritize Tasks

The scrum master is in charge of making sure the project runs efficiently, and that all sprints meet their targets and deadlines. To do this, the person will need to prioritize work properly.

Creating a prioritized list of work items helps the team understand the project’s scope and know what tasks require the most immediate attention. T-shirt sizing is an excellent technique for understanding the scope of the project tasks, where tasks are measured based on T-shirt sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL).

It’s the scrum master’s job to communicate the project’s progress with all stakeholders, including the product owner. To do this, they will need to clearly understand what tasks are being completed and by what date each task needs to be completed. Prioritizing work is an essential task here.

4. Help the Team Achieve Their Best

When leading and managing a scrum team, you want to ensure that each team member works to the best of their abilities. A useful technique to achieve this is asking the right questions.

Scrum masters should know how to ask powerful, open-ended questions to their teams. Instead of simply dishing out tasks, the scrum master should involve the team and encourage participation based on their skills.

This involves asking the team what skills and interests they have. Ask questions like “what possibilities are available for this situation?” and let everyone provide an answer. This can reveal some meaningful insights that help drive projects forward.

A good scrum master should always keep a neutral mindset and listen to every team member equally. This is important for understanding all viewpoints and facilitating collaboration and new ideas.

5. Identify and Clear Obstacles

The scrum master should be in charge of identifying any possible obstacles that might be slowing down or blocking a team’s progress. This involves carefully understanding the project’s goals, the tasks at hand, and the team’s advancement.

If tasks are taking longer than anticipated, host a meeting with the team members and try to establish what is slowing progress down.

Removing obstacles also often involves working closely with external stakeholders, like suppliers.

6. Host Team Meetings and Sprint Planning

Facilitating regular retrospective meetings with the team and planning sprints is a crucial part of scrum management. This is necessary to ensure you understand progress while keeping the team on track for the right tasks.

The start of each sprint should involve a sprint planning meeting, where the team creates a sprint goal and reviews the backlog. The end of the sprint should involve a retrospective to find ways to improve future sprints.

Efficient sprint planning and retrospectives ensure teams are constantly improving, learning, and growing. This helps make each sprint easier and more efficient.

7. Mastering Scrum Knowledge

This may seem obvious, but any scrum master needs to have a deep understanding of scrum and agile methodology, including the values.

An essential part of the role is ensuring the rest of the team also understands the values and knows how to use them effectively. As long as everyone is on the same page, projects will move along much more smoothly.

Final Thoughts on Scrum Master Techniques

As a scrum master, your job is to ensure development projects run smoothly and the team achieves its best. To do this, it’s crucial for you to make the most of the scrum master techniques above.

As long as you can facilitate a well-planned project that has a clear goal, where all team members can communicate and work efficiently with each other, everything should be set up for success.

T-Shirt Sizing In Agile: Everything You Need To Know

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0000

T-shirt sizing in agile is one of the simpler project estimation techniques used by software development teams. Compared to bucket systems or affinity mapping, it’s one of the rougher ways to estimate projects, backlog requirements, and timelines.

T-shirt sizes are assigned according to the available information at the time of the estimation. The technique is often used by development teams for roadmap and release planning, helping them get clarity on the project ahead.

But if t-shirt sizing is merely guesswork, does it really matter? After all, it’s only a rough estimate and ballpark figure.

In short, it’s helpful for planning in the long term. Teams can break projects down into smaller parts and have a better overview of product estimation and capacity planning. When done right, T-shirt sizing can be a great way to avoid estimation oversights.

This guide will outline what T-shirt sizing in agile is, how to use this method in your next project, and its pros and cons.

What Exactly is T-Shirt Sizing in Agile?

T-shirt sizing in agile is a technique to help with capacity planning and product estimation. In this estimation technique, agile teams estimate initiatives based on T-shirt sizes - such as XS, S, M, L, XL, and XXL. This approach is a form of relative estimation that helps teams understand how much time and effort the initiative will take.

Using T-Shirt sizing for your product backlog is an alternative to numeric ratings. This aims to provide teams with a more dynamic evaluation of the required initiatives or stories. Instead of assigning numeric values, T-shirt sizes let agile team members think in more dimensions.

T-shirt sizing in agile is a general estimation, though, and not entirely accurate. Once a T-shirt size has been assigned, the agile team can look deeper into the initiative and set a numeric value.

The T-shirt sizing agile chart and approach you take can depend on various factors. For example, you can assign T-shirt sizes based on factors like time, effort, or complexity.

The technique of T-shirt sizing in agile is a useful way to manage a large backlog of items. It gives teams a general understanding of the total backlog size and the effort required to clear it.

How Does T-Shirt Sizing Work?

T-shirt sizing in agile is not an exact science. Instead, it allows you to make general relative estimations. Here are the steps you need to take when using this approach for your backlog.

1. Establish T-Shirt Sizes

First, understand what T-shirt sizes you want to use. The larger the scope of your project, the more sizes you want to introduce. However, using fewer sizes (S, M, L, and maybe XL) will make this technique easier to manage - especially when defining smaller projects.

2. Understand What the Sizes Represent

T-shirt sizing in agile will only work if everyone understands what each T-shirt size represents. Ensure everyone is clear on what each size means and how they will be assigned. This should be established in a collaborative discussion with the team.

Understanding this will also involve knowing exactly what factors determine which size. Everyone on the team needs to be on the same page regarding this.

Beyond just establishing what factors the sizes will represent, everyone needs to understand how the sizes relate to each other. For example, S could be twice as small as M or six times as small. Whatever relativity scale you use must be consistent for all sizes.

This is why projects with a larger scope do better with more sizing options. The increased options help to establish the scale better.

3. Determine Who Does the Sizing

Will T-shirt sizing be open to the whole team, or will a single person be in charge of this task? This will depend on your agile team structure.

Generally speaking, the person who determines sizes would be:

Agile teams running Scrum: The product owner assigns sizes, and the Scrum master reviews them
Product backlogs: The product owner assigns sizes
General project teams: Individual team members establish sizes based on the team’s sizing definitions

4. Assign the T-Shirt Sizes

The next step is to assign the T-shirt sizes. This can be done based on a T-shirt sizing agile chart, which displays the value that each size represents.

5. Evaluate the Workload

Once all T-shirt sizes have been established, the team can now estimate and evaluate the workload ahead. This will generally depend on how much time or effort the initiatives require.

Of course, if additional tasks or initiatives are added to the project, they can be sized accordingly. In turn, you can adjust the estimated project scope.

Pros and Cons of T-Shirt Sizing in Agile

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of using T-shirt sizing in Agile.

Pros

It’s a simple approach that lets agile teams make fast estimations on projects with large numbers of items.
A more fun and creative approach toward estimations (different from a more analytical approach)
A straightforward way to help teams understand their tasks, priorities, and efforts without implementing deadlines
Does not involve strict deadlines, so priorities can be adjusted and extended.

Cons

T-shirt sizing in agile is not always completely accurate. Numeric value estimations are more accurate, and T-shirt sizes are often converted to numeric values later on.
It can be difficult to accurately compare the different sizes to each other.
Relative sizes need to be consistent.
T-shirt sizing in agile provides rough estimates, so it is not the best tactic to accurately project projects, set deadlines, and hold teams accountable to

Final Thoughts

While it’s not a perfect system, T-shirt sizing in agile is one of the best estimation techniques for many projects. As long as your agile team properly understands the meaning of T-shirt sizes and their relative values, you can use this technique to gauge project requirements easily.

T-shirt sizing in agile is also a fun approach to breaking down complex projects. Team members can easily understand the concept of sizes, which helps to make evaluating project scopes and sprints a lot more straightforward.

What is story grooming? The ultimate guide to backlog grooming

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Story grooming, backlog grooming, feature prioritization, resource management — sometimes it feels like product management is just a never-ending prioritization session.

Making sure your project achieves its objectives requires you to constantly assess your to-do lists. As the budget shrinks and resources start dwindling, you need to ensure you only include features that truly add value. So while regular prioritization sessions seem tedious, it’s an essential practice.

Today, we’ll dive deep into some of the most essential prioritization activities any product manager can perform: story grooming and backlog grooming.

What is story grooming? The ultimate guide to backlog grooming
- What is story grooming?
Backlog grooming best practices
- Well-timed sessions
- Confidence is key
Preparation for story grooming
Who should attend backlog grooming sessions?
Backlog grooming checklist

What is story grooming? The ultimate guide to backlog grooming

What is story grooming?

Story grooming (also referred to as backlog grooming) is the practice of prioritizing user stories in the product backlog to ensure they are ready for sprint planning. It’s an essential practice that ensures the backlog doesn’t become bloated with ideas destined to die.

Story grooming sessions help teams maintain alignment with the project and business goals. It also ensures that everyone on the team is fully up to date on any developments affecting the project development cycle.

Story grooming sessions involve looking at each item in the product backlog, opening a discussion, and finding ways to improve. This can involve:

Writing new user stories
Refining and reprioritizing previously written user stories
Breaking large stories into smaller stories
Removing items from the backlog
Redefining acceptance and testing criteria
Reviewing time and personnel estimates
Adding new product features

By using story grooming to keep your backlog healthy and relevant, your teams will be able to create products that exceed customer expectations.

Backlog grooming best practices

Backlog grooming allows teams to be more efficient and better organized. Let’s look at some tricks to ensure your story grooming session offers maximum value.

Well-timed sessions

Backlog grooming sessions usually happen during a sprint, around three or four days after starting if you’re working with a two-week sprint. The meeting follows a demonstration of the deliverables created in the previous sprint so that the project status is fresh in everyone’s mind.

Everyone involved should leave the session feeling familiar with what’s still in the backlog and the goals for the upcoming sprint. The meeting results will be refreshed in everyone’s mind come sprint planning, so the team can start the next sprint with total confidence.

Confidence is key

The phrase “plan for success” is a little silly because no one running a successful business has ever planned to fail. But the confidence of the phrase is something we should all embrace.

We run grooming sessions to ensure we can go into the next sprint with full confidence. Start each backlog grooming session with a clear statement of expectations for the meeting and make sure to have a set agenda. You should also add context to every decision by reminding the team why you’re building the product.

Preparation for story grooming

Preparation is crucial. Without preparing for your backlog grooming session, you risk pruning an item that could be integral to a great customer experience. This is what you need to know:

Know the objectives of the project

Every decision during a grooming session can be made independently, but it shouldn’t be. Each decision you make will impact the final product, and teams need to keep this in mind at all times.

Get the right people involved

As with any meeting, there will be people essential to backlog grooming sessions and some who don’t need to be involved. We’ll get into this in more detail shortly.

Align with stakeholders

Conflict between development teams and stakeholders is common. It’s also incredibly disruptive and should be avoided as much as possible. Maintaining alignment with stakeholders ensures you don’t accidentally prune an item from the backlog that your stakeholders favor.

Review the work you’ve done

Product teams should constantly review their previous work, especially Agile teams. Take note of key metrics and look for ways to improve next time around.

Who should attend backlog grooming sessions?

It’s always worth inviting other departments to your backlog grooming sessions. After all, you’re rarely going to make a product specifically for other developers.

Bringing in participants from other teams and departments will bring fresh perspectives to the meeting. They act as a new set of eyes on the project and can make points that the development team may have missed.

However, it’s equally important to keep your session simple. Bringing in too many people can cause the session to run off track.

To avoid overcrowding, try to limit backlog grooming sessions to team members with the highest involvement in the building process. When it comes to external departments, make sure to appoint just one pre-appointed team member to act as that department’s voice.

Key participants of a backlog grooming session include:

The meeting leader — this is usually the product manager or product owner.
Product managers (if not leading the meeting) and key representatives from the product team
Lead engineers
Appointed spokesperson for external departments such as marketing, QA, and customer-facing teams.

Backlog grooming checklist

It can take a lot of work to figure out when to end a backlog grooming session. You can easily identify when to put a pin in the meeting by building a story grooming checklist.

Does the backlog contain user stories or other items that no longer make sense?
Has a user need been identified that isn’t already part of the backlog?
Does your backlog prioritization represent the needs of the customer?
Did the importance of delivering any item change since the last time you looked at the backlog?
Are any estimates outdated?
Is any backlog item too broad to know what developers should implement in the next sprint?

Once you have ticked every item on the checklist, you can call your backlog grooming session complete!

Looking for a simple way to visualize, prioritize, and share your backlog grooming results? Grab a FREE EasyRetro account today!

Agile estimation: Story Pointing Fibonacci

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0000

The Fibonacci Sequence pops up in life far more often than you realize. Flowers, pinecones, shells, hurricanes, and even entire galaxies exhibit the Fibonacci sequence. The numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are the heart of how things grow in the natural world, but the sequence also has plenty of applications in business!

If you’ve ever played Priority Poker, you already know one way we can apply the Fibonacci Sequence to product management. Today, we’re going to look at how the Fibonacci Sequence can be used for Agile estimation.

Agile estimation: how to do Fibonacci story pointing
- What is Agile estimation?
- What are story points in Agile estimation?
What is the Fibonacci sequence?
Why the Fibonacci sequence is important for Agile estimation
How to use the Fibonacci scale in agile estimation

Agile estimation: how to do Fibonacci story pointing

Before we get into how to perform story pointing using the Fibonacci sequence, you need to know what Agile estimation is and why it’s important.

What is Agile estimation?

Agile estimation is the process of estimating how much effort is required to complete a task from the product backlog. This is similar to how architects estimate cost and resource use. But unlike building a house, requirements for software projects are constantly changing. This makes estimating a difficult job for software developers.

Despite the challenge, estimation is a crucial part of any project. It allows us to communicate better with those outside of the development process who have a vested interest in the product. It also helps us plan out resources and avoid waste, even with changing requirements.

Sprint planning sessions also benefit from Agile estimation as it reigns in the team. They can plan sprints with budget and resource limitations in mind rather than getting carried away.

What are story points in Agile estimation?

When performing Agile estimation, we tend to avoid specific timeframes. Deadline dates and timeframes don’t factor in non-project work that inevitably creeps into our days, like emails and meetings.

Instead, we use story points. Story points are a measurement unit representing an estimate of the effort required to deliver a task in the product backlog. Story points are assigned relative to the complexity, risk, and amount of work involved.

While this can be a confusing concept at first, story points are great for helping teams understand how much they can achieve each sprint. Assigning values more abstractly pushes the team to make tough decisions to ensure you only add value to the project.

What is the Fibonacci sequence?

The Fibonacci sequence is made up of numbers commonly found in the natural world. It has been adapted as a tool to aid mathematics, science, and even business! It is a sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers and looks like this: 0,1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on. The sequence is closely related to “the golden ratio, “ which artists use to create works with beauty, balance, and harmony.

Agile uses the Fibonacci sequence to assign numbers to story points. If you’ve played Planning Poker, this concept will be familiar to you. Numbers are assigned to story points to represent the complexity. The higher the number, the more complicated the story point will be.

Why the Fibonacci sequence is important for Agile estimation

Estimation sessions can often get a little ambitious. We all hope to perform the maximum possible amount of work even with resource and time limitations, but it’s just not possible. Using ambitious estimates for sprint planning can set the team up for failure.

As the project progresses, requirements change, and unexpected variables pop up. This can result in a failure to reach the high expectations established during estimation sessions and lots of re-planning. The Fibonacci scale gives teams a more realistic way to approach estimation.

Each number in the Fibonacci scale is exponentially larger than the preceding number. This is important for estimation because it clearly lays out which item has more importance. With a linear scale, something with a rating of 5 can seem almost as important as something with a 4 or 6 rating.

How to use the Fibonacci scale in agile estimation

You need a set of cards to run an Agile estimation session with the Fibonacci scale. These can be regular playing cards, specially made priority poker cards, or even cut-up pieces of paper with the numbers written on them.

The process will look at each user story individually.

The product owner will start by giving an overview of each story. The team has a set amount of time to discuss the story and ask questions to better understand requirements, risks, and assumptions. Team members should avoid assigning estimation numbers to the story at this stage to avoid bias. It can also be helpful to assign a moderator during these discussion sessions to make notes on key points and enforce time limits.

Once the discussion has ended, it’s time for the team to assign a card to the current user story. Cards should be placed face-down to not influence others. Team members will then turn over their cards, simultaneously revealing their estimations.

You can move on to the next story if all the numbers are the same. If there are different numbers in the group, ask those who have given significantly different values to explain their reasoning, then repeat the process until the team is aligned.

The most common use of the Fibonacci scale in Agile estimation is Planning Poker (also known as Priority Poker). This is a great way to gamify the estimation process and adds fun to the workday. Planning Poker encourages even the quietest team members to participate, making sure you get input from everyone.

If Planning Poker sounds like an excellent activity for your product team, you can learn more about it on the EasyRetro blog. And if you’re ready to start with story pointing using the Fibonacci scale, you can make the session even more exciting with Planning Poker cards!

14 of the best product manager interview questions

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 09:00:00 +0000

They say one of the toughest parts of being a product manager is getting the job in the first place. Interviews are high-pressure situations on both sides of the desk — which fits the role perfectly when you think about it. Product managers need to navigate constantly changing situations and guide teams to deliver the best possible products.

A product manager needs to be able to effectively identify customer needs and business objectives that should be baked into the products they create. They need strong prioritization and people skills, as well as enough technical know-how to identify which features are possible.

These qualities are what an interviewer will be looking for, and they will be asking questions that look to highlight them.

Let’s take a look at what those questions may look like and break them down into key categories.

Product management interview questions
- How would you explain product management to someone unfamiliar with it?
- What is a product you wish you had been involved in developing? And how would you improve it?
- [In your opinion, what are 3 of the most important technology trends for the next 10 years?](#in-your-opinion,-what-are-3-of-the-most-important-technology-trends-for-the-next-10 years)
- How would you describe our products to someone?
Technical product manager interview questions
People management product manager interview questions
Learn more about great interview questions on the EasyRetro Blog

Product management interview questions

How would you explain product management to someone unfamiliar with it?

This question is like product manager kryptonite. Most people in the product management world can’t come up with a specific answer for this one, and that’s the point in asking it.

This question is designed to put the candidate on the spot and think about people outside of the product management world, much like they would during a project. There is no “right” answer here, but key points are a strong customer focus, excellent prioritization, time-keeping, and communication skills.

What is a product you wish you had been involved in developing? And how would you improve it?

To prepare for this question, the candidate should think of a product they love and have a strong, intimate knowledge of how it works. Make a list of features they like and which they feel could be improved upon, or even develop an entirely new feature that would solve existing customer pain points. There are bonus points to be scored here if the product is made by the company they’re applying for!

In your opinion, what are 3 of the most important technology trends for the next 10 years?

Businesses are always looking forward and are keen to identify ways to get involved in upcoming trends. This question shows that the candidate is keeping up with new developments and that they’re thinking about long-term goals.

How would you describe our products to someone?

It should go without saying that you need to research the company you’re interviewing for. For product managers, this should also include the products the company offers.

The candidate should treat this question as if they were talking to someone who knows little about how products are made. They should focus on tangible benefits to the customer and avoid jargon!

Technical product manager interview questions

How do you align the technical team with the product vision and the overall company goals?

Teams need to align completely with the product vision and company goals to create a successful product. This is easier said than done, and product managers often face roadblocks they need to overcome to achieve alignment. This question looks to identify how the candidate will align teams and overcome those roadblocks.

How would you position a successor product to a popular legacy product without eating into revenue from the original product?

Tech companies are constantly evolving and adding new products to their line-up. This question asks the candidate to consider the company’s current offerings and target audience. If the new product isn’t designed to replace the original, candidates should discuss pricing for the legacy product and existing customer needs that both products will address.

How do you prioritize tasks?

Prioritization is a huge part of the product manager role. This question simply checks if the candidate understands the importance of prioritization and has knowledge of prioritization frameworks.

How do you monitor the performance and success of a product?

Product management doesn’t stop at launch. While some product managers are happy to deliver the product and walk away, many companies are looking for someone who will continue to monitor and improve the product. The candidate should consider the metrics and feedback processes they use to manage long-term success.

People management product manager interview questions

What software tools do you use to manage team members, and how do you use them?

There are plenty of product management programs on the market and tech stacks change from business to business. This question helps the interviewer identify if the candidate will fit in quickly with the business’s processes and tools.

How do you keep projects moving along despite differing opinions from stakeholders?

There’s bound to be conflict during development. Stakeholders can sometimes have ideas that are a little too far out of the scope of the development team. The product manager needs to handle any disputes to maintain relationships and keep development running on schedule.

How do you motivate a team after a setback?

Not every sprint will result in a home run, and product managers need to know how to bounce back after a difficult time. This is where a candidate’s people management skills are put to the test.

Product manager experience questions

This section is for experienced candidates. Interviewers may ask similar questions about their education or other relevant experience for candidates just starting out in product management.

Describe a typical day in your current product manager role

This question helps the interviewer to judge how well a candidate will fit into the company’s existing processes. The answer should highlight key processes and events that will be performed on a daily basis.

Tell us about a time you launched a product that had direct competition and how you set your product apart

Businesses are always looking to hire candidates that think outside of the box. There’s no value in following the crowd, and this question helps to highlight the candidate’s ambition.

How do you know you’ve finished a product design?

There’s potential to create a never-ending series of improvements when working with iterations. A good product manager will know when to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough.

Learn more about great interview questions on the EasyRetro Blog

If you’re hiring for multiple positions and need more great interview questions, check out the EasyRetro Blog, where we’ve covered interview questions for IT managers and product owners.

Once you’ve hired your new product managers, have them try out EasyRetro for easy, fun sprint retrospectives. Get started for free today!

Some of the top IT manager interview questions for interviewers and candidates

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 14:00:00 +0000

Interviews can be a little awkward on both sides of the table. For the interviewee, everything you say is being scrutinized to see if you know your stuff and aren’t just spouting canned answers. For the interviewer, you’re the first contact for the interviewee, and the way you conduct the interview represents your company.

To make the experience a little less stressful, it’s worth doing some research, so you know what to expect. No matter if you’re trying to get the job or trying to hire the best IT manager talent, knowing the best questions can make you feel more comfortable during the interview.

15 of the top IT manager interview questions
- General IT manager interview questions
- In-depth IT manager interview questions
Questions IT manager candidates should ask in interviews
- Questions about the team
  - What’s the team I’ll be working with like?
  - What’s the management style the team responds to best?
- Questions about the company

15 of the top IT manager interview questions

We’re going to break this up into sections to help you quickly find the areas you’re most concerned about.

General IT manager interview questions

What are your roles as an IT manager?

This is the standard question in any interview. Though it seems like a mundane question, it actually serves as a great starting point. The answers will help you quickly identify which candidate has real experience in the field and which candidate has simply Googled the role and memorized the generic job description.

Describe your management style

There are many different methods and frameworks we use to manage our teams. This question allows you to better understand the candidate and how they operate. You can see which candidates will fit best with how your team works by asking this question.

What led you to pursue a career in IT?

It’s always nice to hear how people have worked toward this moment. This question also lets you see who is the most passionate about their work.

What’s your technical background?

This is where we get into the real nitty gritty. One of the most common questions for any IT role involves running through the candidate’s technical work. The question lets you see if the candidate’s technical background fits the company’s current objectives and processes.

In-depth IT manager interview questions

How do you motivate people?

Management requires great people skills. The team won’t always be functioning at 100%, and morale will dip at some point during the project. That’s not a reflection on management style. It’s just an inevitable part of life. What’s important here is to discover how your candidate will bust that lull and motivate the team again.

Do you prefer outsourcing tasks or developing internal talent?

This is quite a specific question that can help you understand how invested your candidate will be in the success of their new team. Do they prefer to get as much work done as quickly as possible? Or do they prefer to have a solid team that they guide and help better their abilities?

Of course, the type of manager you want depends on your existing processes.

In your opinion, what’s the most important role of an IT manager?

You need to ensure your candidate has the same sensibilities as your company. This question helps you identify the candidate’s priorities and areas of expertise. It helps to tick a few boxes on your perfect candidate list as it shows which areas the candidate can occupy.

What are the most important skills in IT today, and why?

Management skills and technology are rapidly changing. What was a popular framework a year ago may be completely outdated now. This question helps identify who has the most up-to-date knowledge to ensure you won’t need to train your new hire on recent developments.

How important is documentation to you?

Documentation is incredibly important. If your candidate doesn’t respond with a similar notion, it’s time to move on.

What value would you bring to the IT department?

This is the candidate’s opportunity to sell themselves. This is where they can let their passion and expertise shine. Ideally, the answer to this question will be fresh rather than rehashing what they’ve said earlier in the interview.

Questions IT manager candidates should ask in interviews

If you’re going for a role, you should make it clear that you have an active interest in the role, the company, and the team you’ll be working with. By asking questions, you can show the interviewer that you really care about the role.

Questions about the team

What’s the team I’ll be working with like?

As much as the interviewer is looking for a perfect fit for their teams, candidates also need to make sure they’re heading into an environment they’re comfortable with. This question helps clarify to both parties that the candidate will fit perfectly into the company’s existing teams.

What’s the management style the team responds to best?

Again, this question helps both parties assess how well the candidate will fit in with the team. There are many management frameworks, especially in the tech world. You can have a brilliant manager, put them on a team that works with a different framework, and they’ll struggle to be as effective as they usually are.

Questions about the company

What’s the company culture like?

Company loyalty is hugely important to how well someone works. If you’re jumping into a new company with a culture that doesn’t sit right with you, you’re going to be looking for a new job very quickly.

What are the company’s values?

You need to be sure you share the same values as the company you’re working for. You need to have pride in where you work, which gets much harder when your values don’t align with your company’s values.

What’s the company’s view on upskilling and professional development?

This is a great question for an interviewer to hear because it shows you have a long-term plan for this new role. Businesses want to hire someone who sticks around for a long time, but sometimes they can’t offer any way to climb the ladder. By asking about a company’s progression opportunities, you can gauge if you’re going to settle down or if you’ll be looking for a new job in a few years.

For more top tips, be sure to ready the EasyRetro blog. And for the best way to run remote retrospectives, try EasyRetro today!

How to Create Jira Dashboard

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Think about your car’s dashboard. At a quick glance, you are shown a summary of all the important information you need to drive your car.

Your dashboard in Jira does a very similar thing for your projects. It gives you a high-level overview of all the important information you want to keep track of.

Understanding and utilizing the power of a Jira dashboard is an easy way for you to make the most of the platform and easily stay on top of everything.

What Is A Dashboard In Jira?
How To Create A Jira Dashboar
How To Customize The Dashboard Layout And Add Gadget
How To Share Your Jira Dashboard
Conclusion

What Is A Dashboard In Jira?

Your Jira dashboard is the default display that you should see when you log in to Jira. The purpose of a dashboard is to give you an overview of ongoing projects so that you have a streamlined view of everything that is going on.

This makes it much easier to stay up to date and on top of everything and prevents you from wasting time doing repetitive tasks simply to gauge a high-level overview of projects.

You can have individual dashboards for different projects, or you can combine everything into one dashboard that gives an overview of every project you are involved in.

A dashboard is made up of windows called gadgets. These can show you anything from project statistics and graphs to JQL queries and personal Jira filters.

You should have a default dashboard that will be set up by your Jira administrator. However, you can also create your own and customize it to best suit your needs. Creating your own dashboards makes it much easier to make the most of the dashboard feature.

How To Create A Jira Dashboard

Step 1: Once you have opened Jira, you should see a horizontal menu across the top of your screen. One of the options contained in this menu is Dashboards. Click on Dashboards, and this should open a drop-down menu.

Step 2: At the bottom of the menu, click on the option to Create Dashboard. This will open the Create Dashboard Window.

Step 3: The window will contain a field to fill in the Name of your project and a field for you to fill in a Description of the project.

The Name field has a red asterisk, which means that it is a required field. You have to fill in a name for the dashboard. The Description, however, is optional. Only fill this in if it would be useful for you.

Below the Name and Description fields, you will see a dropdown menu of different Access options. This determines which users will have access to your dashboard.

The menu will give you various access options for viewing and editing the dashboard.

For viewing, you can choose between four different options: Project, Group, My organization, and Private.

For editing, you can choose between: Project, Group, User, and Private.

If you click on Project, Group, or User, an additional drop-down button will appear where you can select which project, group, or user you want to give access to.

Once you have selected your desired Access option, remember to click on the Add button to the right of the access menu.

Step 4: Once you have added access and filled everything in, all you need to do is click Save. The save button should be in the bottom right corner of your Create Dashboard window.

Once you have clicked Save you have created a new dashboard!

How To Customize The Dashboard Layout And Add Gadgets

Now that you have created your Dashboard, it is time to start building your dashboard by adding gadgets and customizing your layout.

A Dashboard is essentially a collection of Gadgets, so choosing the right Gadgets is essential.

To add Gadgets, you need to click on the Add gadget button. When you’re in your dashboard, you will find this in the top right-hand corner of your screen.

Clicking on Add gadget will open a menu on the right-hand side of the screen. When you create a dashboard, this sidebar will automatically be open as you go into the dashboard.

This menu will contain a list of gadgets. Many gadgets are automatically available to all Jira users. However, there are lots of other gadgets you can download from the Atlassian Marketplace.

You can find a gadget by scrolling through the list of your available gadgets. Alternatively, you can use the search bar or narrow down your search using categories.

For each gadget you want to add, simply click the Add gadget button.

Once you have selected all the gadgets you want to add, simply click the close button (X) at the top right corner of the window.

Once you have chosen your desired gadgets, it’s time to customize your layout should you want to change anything. You can change around where the gadgets are displayed simply by clicking on the gadget you want to move and dragging it to its desired location.

You can also change how the gadgets are displayed by clicking on the Edit layout button in the top right corner of your screen. This will provide you with different options for displaying your gadgets. Simply click on the option you want.

When you make your dashboard, you will select who has access to the dashboard. However, you might want to share this dashboard with others users later down the line.

All you have to do is click on the Dashboards option in the menu at the top of your screen and navigate down to View all dashboards.

Navigate to the dashboard you want to share, and click on the More button, represented by three horizontal dots. This will give the option to Rename or share dashboard, which will open up the dashboard settings.

Then, all you have to do is choose who you want to share your dashboard with and select Save.

Conclusion

Creating and customizing a Jira dashboard is easy. It is also very useful and will make it so much easier for you to keep track of all your ongoing projects and keep your finger on the pulse.

Follow these simple steps and you should be able to create, customize, and share your Jira dashboards in a matter of minutes.

How to create an Epic in Jira

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Workplace collaboration tools are everywhere these days. They have completely changed the world of work and, when used correctly, can make completing tasks a lot easier.

We’ve all encountered mammoth tasks at work - ones that usually take lots of people a lot of time to complete. In Jira, these are called ‘epics’. The epic feature in Jira is incredibly useful, allowing users to break these large tasks up into more manageable, bite-size pieces.

If you want to create an epic in Jira, you have come to the right place. We have put together everything you need to know about epics and set out three simple routes you can take to create your epic!

What Is An Epic In Jira And How Does It Work?
How To Create An Epic In Jira
Creating An Epic From A New Issue
Creating An Epic On The Roadmap
Creating An Epic From The Epic Panel In The Backlog
Conclusion

What Is An Epic In Jira And How Does It Work?

An epic is essentially a large body of work that needs to be broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces of work. An epic will typically take a long time to complete.

An epic in Jira is a type of issue, like a task, story, or bug. In many ways, it operates like the other types of issues. It must have a name and summary. You can give it a description, assign it to individuals or teams, and give it a due date.

However, an epic is different from other types of issues in that it is a large body of work that you can further break down into smaller tasks. It has a unique ability to link other issues and act as a parent issue of these issues.

While you can break down other issues into various subtasks or child issues, an epic can contain different issues which, in turn, can contain subtasks. It sits at the top of the hierarchy.

How To Create An Epic In Jira

There are three main routes you can take to create an epic in Jira. The first is creating an epic by using the global create button you use to create issues. The second is creating an epic on the roadmap. The third is creating an epic from the epic panel you will find on the backlog screen.

Regardless of the route you take, you will have to fill out some information about the epic before you create it.

First, you will need to specify the name of the epic. This should identify the topic covered by the epic and will act as a label for all the issues belonging to the epic.

Second, you will need to provide a summary of the epic. This is a short description of the epic users will see every time they see the epic.

Creating An Epic From A New Issue

To create an epic from a new issue, the first step is to go to the global navigation bar at the top of the Jira display. The global navigation bar contains the Create button. This is a blue button with the word “Create” in it. It is sometimes represented by a “+”.

Click on this create button and it will open a Create Issue window. This window allows you to create different types of issues, including epics. Fill in all the required information like Project Name and Project Summary. The required fields are the ones that have a red asterisk next to them.

Navigate to the Issue Type drop-down menu. You should find Epic as one of the options. It is represented by an icon of a purple square with a white lightning bolt in it.

Simply select Epic as your Issue Type and then click on the Create button at the bottom right corner of the window.

Creating An Epic On The Roadmap

The roadmap feature on Jira is a useful tool you can use to plan and visualize large pieces of work (both current and future). It is also a starting point you can use to create an epic on Jira.

To create an epic from your roadmap, you first need to ensure that your roadmap has been enabled. If you do not have a Roadmap option in the menu on the left side of your display, it means your roadmap has not been enabled and you must enable it.

To enable your roadmap, go to Your work, Boards, and View all boards.

Click on the More button represented by three horizontal dots for the board you want a roadmap for. From here, click on Edit settings.

Click on Roadmap.

Enable your roadmap.

Now, you should have a Roadmap option in the menu on the left side of your display when you go into your project.

Click on this and then simply click on the Create Epic option on the roadmap. It is represented by an “+” icon.

Clicking on Create Epic will enable you to start typing straight away. Simply type out the information for the epic and hit Enter on your keyboard.

Creating An Epic From The Epic Panel In The Backlog

The last route you could take to create an epic is doing so from your backlog screen. To begin this process, navigate to the Scrum project you want to create an epic for.

Navigate to the Backlog option contained in this menu and click on it.

This will take you to your backlog, which contains an Epic Panel. You may need to enable the Epic panel by clicking on the Epic button next to the search function and toggling the Epic panel to enable it.

You will see the Epic panel on the left-hand side of your Sprints and Backlog.

Simply click on Create Epic and you will be able to type in the name of your epic. Then hit the Enter key on your keyboard.

Once you’ve created your epic, click on it and you’ll be able to add issues to it.

Conclusion

Creating an epic in Jira is relatively straightforward if you know what to do. Luckily, Jira offers three different routes you can take to create an epic. The best route is simply a matter of personal preference.

We’ve broken down exactly how to do each one so that you should have no problems creating an epic in Jira and making the most of this function.

How To Delete An Issue In Jira

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Digital platforms and collaboration tools like Jira have revolutionized the way we work, especially in the context of remote or hybrid work. Jira is one of the most popular online work platforms. If you are using it, you will know that the use of issues is central to Jira’s functionality.

But, perhaps you’ve created a duplicate issue or created an issue that you don’t need anymore and now you want to delete it and aren’t sure how.

Well, if you are considering deleting an issue, need help with how to delete an issue, or simply want to know more about deleting issues in Jira, you have come to the right place. Below, we have put together everything you need to know about the process and consequences of deleting an issue.

Step-by-step Instructions On How To Delete An Issue In Jira

Here are step-by-step instructions that you can follow to delete an issue in Jira.

Finding The Issue

The first step is to locate the issue that you want to delete. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Go into the project with the issue you want to delete. Here you will find a TO DO list with the issues for the project.

Step 2: You will either be able to see the issue you want to delete or you can search for it in the search bar above the issue list.

Alternatively, you can narrow down your search by using different pulldown menus to group your issues. You can narrow your search according to the status of the project or the individual or team the project was assigned to.

Each time you narrow your search according to one of these criteria, you will get an updated list of relevant Issues.

Regardless of what method you use to find the issue you want to delete, you should find the issue in the search results.

Deleting The Issue

Step 3: Once you have found the issue you want to delete in the search results, click on it. This will open the issue and show you more details about it.

Step 4: In the top right corner of the issue, you should find the Actions button. It is represented by three dots in a horizontal line and is to the right of the Share button.

Click on the Actions button and you should see a drop-down menu that contains different actions. One of these is Delete.

Step 5: Click on the Delete option, and this will open a window asking for confirmation that you intend on deleting the issue from the server.

Step 6: Now, all you have to do is confirm that you are deleting the issue by clicking Delete in the new window and your issue is deleted!

Alternative Way To Delete Issues

If you’re looking for a quicker way to delete issues in Jira, you can delete issues straight from the TO DO list.

When you hover your mouse over an issue, a menu button (three dots) will appear.

Click on this button on the issue you want to delete and it will give you a list of actions.

Click on Delete.

You’ll see the same pop-up mentioned above warning you that you are about to permanently delete the issue. Click Delete and that’s it!

Save Deleted Issues In Jira Cloud

When you delete something on your computer on your mobile phone, chances are you will be able to recover it. It is not immediately removed from your device and is usually stored (sometimes temporarily) in the trash or a recycle bin.

Unfortunately, when you delete an issue in Jira, you are not able to recover it. The default situation with Jira is that once an issue has been deleted, it is lost forever. Jira permanently removes the issue from the database and will leave no trace of it.

This can create big problems if you delete important issues by mistake, or you later discover that you need to access some part of a deleted issue. Luckily, there are add-ons you can use to save your deleted issues in Jira Cloud. For example, there’s an Issue History for Jira add-on from Saasjet and Rewind’s Rewind Backups for Jira Cloud.

Note that you have to download these add-ons before you delete an issue for it to be recoverable. If you have not yet downloaded and enabled an add-on that allows you to save your deleted issues to Jira Cloud, any deleted issues are gone for good.

Therefore, we cannot recommend downloading and enabling one straight away. Don’t wait until it is too late!

Why Can’t I Delete Issues In Jira?

You might try to delete an Issue in Jira, only to find that you are not given the option to do so. This is quite common.

If you cannot delete an issue on Jira, this usually means that you do not have the project authority required to do so. Note that even if you are a super admin, you still might not have the necessary authority.

To find out whether or not you have authority, check out the permissions settings of the project which will show you who has the authority to Delete Issues.

If you don’t have the authority to delete an issue but need to be able to do so, get in touch with the individual or admin who has authority to do so. Ask them to grant you permission to delete the issue or delete the issue on your behalf.

Final Thoughts

The process of deleting issues is pretty simple if you know what to do. If you want to delete an issue, simply follow the steps set out above and you shouldnt encounter any problems. Simply ensure that you have the authority to delete the issue, find it and then delete it.

Just remember that, unless you have an add-on that backs up your issues before you delete them, deleted issues are not recoverable. Therefore, it may be worth downloading and activating an add-on or being very careful with what issues you delete or who has the permission to delete issues.

16 of the Best Engineer Manager Interview Questions

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 09:00:00 +0000

It’s tough to prepare for an engineering manager interview. The title can mean different things to different companies, so checking all the right boxes isn’t as easy as interviews for other roles. Companies looking for an engineer manager will need a candidate who can show strong leadership and prioritization skills and the technical know-how to be a reputable authority.

For people seeking out the role, many see it as a chance to code less and work with people more. Now this isn’t entirely wrong, but it doesn’t quite represent the role. Regardless of the role definition, a great engineer manager will need to have great people and technical skills. It’s important to remember this during the interview so your answers aren’t leaning towards one side.

With such a wide scope, both the interviewers and interviewees need to be well prepared. So with that in mind, let’s dive into the questions!

Technical competency questions
- How would you design __ system?
Project management questions
- How would you prioritize the following work?
- What have you been working on over the past year?
- How do you handle trade-offs as a manager?
- Could you explain how you deal with change management?
- Tell me in detail about a project that failed
- Tell me about a past project that ran over schedule and explain the steps you took to remedy the situation
- How would you balance engineering limitations with customer requirements?
- Tell me about a time you needed to deliver a project on a deadline but encountered various setbacks, and explain how you managed that situation.
People management questions
Culture fit questions
Brush up on more great interview questions on our blog

16 of the best engineer manager interview questions

Technical competency questions

How would you design ___ system?

This is almost guaranteed to come up and is a common question with big tech companies. Technical know-how is crucial to this position, and interviewers will want to know that the candidate can tackle ambitious projects in a structured way.

Project management questions

How would you prioritize the following work?

This is a great opportunity for the interviewer to see how candidates will fit into their workflows. The candidate will have the chance to show off their prioritization skills, which is a crucial responsibility for engineering managers. A great engineering manager will know how to ask the right questions to aid prioritization efforts and should be able to explain their approach during the interview.

What have you been working on over the past year?

An engineering manager should have plenty of experience behind them. This question allows the candidate to highlight relevant experience while also allowing the interviewer to identify candidates with a true passion for their work.

How do you handle trade-offs as a manager?

Analyzing trade-offs is crucial to decision-making and successful software development in general. There are multiple ways to manage trade-offs, so this question allows the interviewer to see how well the candidate will fit into current processes. It also allows candidates to dive into their previous experiences and demonstrate success.

Could you explain how you deal with change management?

Product development rarely goes according to the original plan. Adapting and guiding your team is a crucial skill for any manager in the tech world.

Tell me in detail about a project that failed

Failure is an opportunity to learn. This question isn’t about finding flaws but finding out how the candidate learned from mistakes and corrected them in future projects.

Tell me about a past project that ran over schedule and explain the steps you took to remedy the situation

Projects often go off schedule, so the ability to put the train back on the tracks is a highly valuable skill. That said, cutting corners isn’t the answer we’re looking for on this question!

How would you balance engineering limitations with customer requirements?

Customers often shoot for the stars with feature requests. An engineer manager needs to understand which requests are realistic from a technical standpoint while still building value into the product.

Tell me about a time you needed to deliver a project on a deadline but encountered various setbacks, and explain how you managed that situation.

With this question, we’re looking for design, technical, and people management problems the candidate has faced. Being able to turn things around during difficult periods is the difference between a good and a great engineering manager.

People management questions

How do you deal with high and low performers?

One of the toughest jobs any manager will have is sitting down with poor performing employees. There could be a number of reasons why their performance is down. A good manager will go into these meetings with empathy and understanding. On the other side of things, a great manager will make sure to acknowledge good work in a way that doesn’t devalue the efforts of other team members.

How do you develop and retain your team members?

Employers don’t just want an engineer manager who can deliver on time and within budget. They want someone who will invest in their team members, focus on growing their skills, and ensure they feel valued. The more effort you put into your employees, the more you will get back, and the longer they will stay with the company.

Have you had any conflict with a supervisor? If so, how did you resolve it?

Engineering teams often have conflicts with management who have big goals but maybe don’t have the technical knowledge to understand what they’re asking for. These conflicts are often nerve-racking because you don’t want to upset higher-ups, but you must clearly explain why some things just aren’t possible — and why.

Culture fit questions

How do you view the engineering management role?

As we mentioned earlier, this role can have a different definition depending on the company. This question will help the interviewer understand if the candidate fits the company’s definition of an engineering manager.

How do you handle conflicts?

Conflict is inevitable when working closely with the same people every day. As with any management role, an engineer manager needs to be able to handle conflict in a swift manner that addresses each party’s issues.

Describe a time when a customer asked you for one thing, but you knew that they needed something else

Customers rarely know what they want, and even when they think they know, they’re likely asking for a superficial solution. A great engineer manager will be able to identify the root cause of an issue and solve it in a way that surpasses customer expectations.

When was the last time you did something innovative?

It’s pointless working in software development if you’re happy toeing the same old line. Not every idea someone has will be a million-dollar idea, but having a creative and innovative management team is essential for businesses looking to grow.

Brush up on more great interview questions on our blog

If you’re looking to fill multiple roles in your team or are a candidate eager to learn what might come up in an interview, be sure to visit the EasyRetro blog where we’ve recently covered interview questions for different roles including IT managers and product owners.

How to Create a Filter in Jira

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Knowing how to create a filter in Jira is a vital task for any user. Filters make managing your work a lot easier and they help you stay up to date and informed on important issues.

Creating a filter in Jira is a relatively simple task, although the more complex part comes down to the JQL query that you use. Any user in Jira can create filters, and there are various things you can do with filters.

In this guide, we’ll cover how to create a filter in Jira as well as share a few best practices for filters.

What Is A Filter In Jira?

A filter is a saved set of criteria for searching for an issue. When you search for an issue in Jira, you need to input different criteria for your search. This could be a basic or advanced search.

It’s possible to save these search criteria as a filter, to make it easier to access that same search again.

The filter can be shared with other users, groups, or projects in Jira, or it can be private.

When you create a filter, you become the owner of that filter. Only filter owners and admins in Jira can access and modify private filters.

Anyone in Jira can create and configure their own filters.

How To Create A Filter In Jira

Knowing how to create a filter in Jira is an important task for all users.

To create a filter, simply follow these steps:

1 - Navigate to Issues.

2 - Go to Search for Issues and input your search. You can also filter by the Project, Type, Status, and Assignee. Ensure that you actually execute the search to know that the search query is correct.

3 - Select Save As.

4 - Type in a name for your filter. 5 - Click Submit.

Managing Your Filters in Jira

Now that you know how to create a filter in Jira, you will need to know how to control that filter. Here are two important functions to know.

Viewers and Editors

When you create a filter in Jira it is set to private by default. You can change this and share it with other users. You can set viewers and editors of filters to:

Projects
Specific project roles
Public (any user)
Groups
Any specific logged-in user

View permission allows users to see and use the filter in a dashboard, and access the query results of the filter. If the filter is kept private, then users won’t be able to access any of this.

Edit permission allows users to also edit the filter details and change their query. Users with edit permission can also control who has View and Edit access on the filter.

If you share a filter with a project board, then all users who have access to that board will be able to access the filter.

Subscriptions

Jira sends out emails to users about any updates on filters. This is managed through issue filter email subscriptions, where you can control how these emails are sent out and who receives them.

You can set a query and determine a run time interval. Jira will then send out email updates that include snippets of search results for the query at each interval. Subscription emails share the first 200 results. The owner of the filter and any users who can access the filter can add subscriptions.

To add subscriptions to a Jira filter:

1 - Go to the Filters tab and click View all filters.

2 - Navigate to the menu button on the filter you want to add a subscription to and click on it.

3 - Select Manage subscriptions.

4 - Now you can access and control the filter subscription. To add a subscription, click on Add subscription.

5 - Select the Recipients, Schedule, and Interval, and then click Subscribe.

Using subscriptions is a great way to stay up to date with the results of each filter and be informed about any issues. If there is a particularly important issue, then you can use subscriptions to always stay on top of it.

Tips For Using Issue Filters

Knowing how to create a filter in Jira is a pretty simple process, but there are a few ways that you can improve the way you use filters.

Create Lists For Your Favorite Filters

You can favorite your filters and create lists out of them. To do this, click on the star icon next to the filter name.

Configure Ownership

The default owner of the filter is the person who created the filter. Each filter always only has one owner, but if the filter is shared the ownership can be changed. This can be done by the owner or Jira administrator.

To change ownership of a filter:

1 - Go to the settings cog in the top right corner of Jira and select System.

2 - Select Shared Filters.

3 - Now you can change ownership of each filter using the cog icon next to each filter.

Understand Filter Changes

If you change a filter, you will change the search results for any element that uses the same filter. It’s important to understand subscriptions and shared users of the filter before you make any changes to it.

Define a Naming Convention

An important part of managing filters efficiently is having a standardized naming convention for all filters.

Filters can be created and shared by all users, so it’s very possible for many different filters with various naming conventions to appear. This also means duplicate filter names are going to be a common issue.

Defining a consistent naming convention in advance will avoid this.

Be Careful With Your JQL Queries

When creating filters, try to use queries that require minimal updating. The ways that you create these searches should also be consistent, which makes managing and understanding filters a lot easier.

There are various ways that you can filter results in Jira. Start by basing filters on projects. Create a broad query first, then narrow down the search query for more specific information.

Conclusion

Knowing how to create a filter in Jira will make your life a lot easier. Filters can save lots of time, and they make navigating and understanding issues a far more simplified process. It’s important that you stay consistent with the way that you create and manage filters. Get this right, and it will transform the way you work in Jira.

How To Delete A Board In Jira

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Teams that work in Jira rely on boards to simplify project workflows and improve the way each project is managed. While it’s important that you know how to set up and manage boards, it’s equally important to know how to delete a board in Jira.

If you have completed all of the issues or tasks in a board, or if you transfer your workflow to a different board, then you will want to clear up the old board. Because boards are linked to project tasks, it’s okay to delete them even if the project is still under development.

In this guide, we’ll cover exactly how to delete a board in Jira. These methods apply to any kind of Jira board.

What Is A Jira Board?

A board is a representation of tasks or issues from one or more projects in Jira. Boards display an intuitive representation of a project to make it easier to view and manage any work in progress. Each board has a filter configuration that determines what the board displays.

Any type of project in Jira can have one or multiple boards. Anyone working on a project can use these boards.

When you create a board in Jira, it can display up to 5000 issues at a time.

In Jira, there are three different types of boards that you can create. These are:

Team-managed boards: These boards are designed for teams working in agile. This is a straightforward type of board with a simplified setup. If you are new to Jira and working with boards, then this type of board is probably the best approach to take.
Kanban board: A Kanban board is for teams that constrain and manage their work in progress. These boards can include a Kanban backlog.
Scrum board: Scrum boards are for teams that work in sprints. These boards use a backlog of issues and they bring teams together to focus on a single main goal.

The type of board that you use will depend on the way that your team works and manages tasks.

Why Are Boards Important In Jira?

Boards offer a way to manage projects and issues in an even more organized way. Instead of just relying on a project that lists a large number of tasks, boards provide more flexible insights into how the tasks are coming along.

Boards are generally broken up into four main categories. These are:

To-do tasks
Tasks in progress
Tasks in review
Completed tasks

By using a board, the whole team can easily stay up to date with how each project is shaping up and what other team members are working on. This improves collaboration and communication, and it makes it easier to understand what tasks require focus. Basically, boards turn siloed work into a cohesive workflow.

When you set up a board, there are different types of boards that you can use (as mentioned above). These boards have unique setup requirements to match the kind of work your team is doing.

How To Delete A Board In Jira

It’s important that you know how to delete a board in Jira to help your work stay more organized. There are two different ways that you can do this. You can either delete a board from the homepage or from the project dashboard in Jira. Only admins in Jira are able to delete boards.

When you delete a board, it will not delete the sprint cycles or issues in that board. This is because the issues are linked to a project.

If you want to delete the issues completely, then you will have to close or delete the project they are linked to.

How To Delete A Board In Jira From The Home Page

Follow these steps to delete a board in Jira from the home page:

Step 1: Select the Your Work button at the top of the home page

Step 2: Navigate to Boards and then click on View All Boards

Step 3: Now you will see a list of all your active boards. Scroll to the board that you want to delete and select the three dots button (…) to reveal more options

Step 6: The board has now been deleted from Jira. You will see a notification display at the bottom of the screen confirming that the board has been deleted

How To Delete A Board In Jira From The Project Dashboard

Follow these steps to delete a board in Jira from the project dashboard:

Step 6: The board has now been deleted from Jira. You will get a notification at the bottom of the screen to confirm that you have deleted the board

Conclusion

Knowing how to delete a board in Jira is a pretty straightforward task, but it’s important to know in order to streamline your workflows.

Deleting boards in Jira is done in a different place than creating and configuring boards, so it’s a task that could confuse many users.

Deleting boards won’t delete the project or the tasks. Instead, boards are just a way to visualize work in progress. Once your team completes the board, you can delete it, however, the tasks will still remain active.

How To Create A Project In Jira

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Knowing how to create a project in Jira is essential for improving the way you manage teams and developments. Any kind of development you work on in the software should be broken down into a project to make organization, planning, and collaboration a lot easier.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Jira projects. This includes how to create a project in Jira, what types of projects you can create, and how to share project configurations.

What Is A Project In Jira?

A project is when you put together a group of tasks, or issues, in Jira. Instead of just having a long and unorganized list of tasks in Jira, projects help teams prioritize work and stay organized.

A project in Jira is typically used to coordinate a product or service development.

There are different types of projects that you can create and manage to help your development work stay on track more easily. Projects can be customized to match the specific needs of your team.

Types Of Projects You Can Create In Jira

The type of project that you choose should depend on what kind of approach your team takes to develop, and what kind of project you will be working on.

When you create a project in Jira, you can choose between these six options:

Basic software development
Scrum software development
Kanban software development
Task management
Process management
Project management

Each of these types of projects comes with its own specific set of features.

Step-by-step Guide On How To Create A Project In Jira

Knowing how to create a project in Jira will help you manage your software developments more efficiently. Follow these steps to create your first project.

Step 1: Create The Project

Start by setting the project up. You will need to be a Jira administrator with global permission to do this. It’s important to understand Jira Permissions before you start.

To create the project, simply:

Select Projects in the navigation

Select Create Project

Step 2: Select The Product Or Category Template

Now you need to choose a template for your project. This is the type of project that you will create, as outlined earlier. To do this, you can choose between category templates and product templates.

Category templates are grouped together based on use-case categories. Product templates are grouped together by Jira cloud products under Products.

When you view each template, it will display detailed information about how the specific template works.

You can go through the different available templates for your project and choose the one that best matches your needs. To do this, click on one of them and simply select Use Template.

When creating a project in Jira based on a template, the project is created with a set of predetermined schemes.

These schemes are:

A notification scheme (default)
A permission scheme (default)
A field configuration scheme (default)
A workflow scheme
A scheme for issue security
A scheme for issue type

Step 3: Choose The Project Type

Next, you will need to choose what type of project you will create in Jira. This can either be a company-managed project, or a team-managed project. The type you choose should depend on how you want the project to run and what you want collaboration to look like.

Any member of Jira can create a team-managed project, but only Jira admins can create company-managed projects using any template.

Step 4: Name The Project

Your Jira project will need a name, so now is the time to add this.

If you want to change the service project template at this stage, you can do so. Simply select Change Template and find a template that better matches your project.

You can also change the type of project that you selected in the previous step.

Step 5: Make The Project Live

Now your project in Jira is ready to go. Select Create to get the project into action.

Jira will automatically generate a project key at this stage. The person that created the project is automatically set as the project lead.

You can change the project lead and project key by navigating to Project Settings in the sidebar.

Then select Details. Here you can:

change the project name and key
choose a category for the project
select the project lead
and assign it to the relevant team member

Creating Shared Configuration Projects

When learning how to create a project in Jira, it’s important to understand that you can create different projects with a shared configuration. This is only possible for Jira admins to do.

If a project in Jira shares configurations, then it shares the following with another project:

Workflows
Permissions
Issue types
Fields
Notifications
Screens

If you change one of these elements within one project, then any other projects with the same configuration will adjust to the same change.

To create a project with shared configurations, follow all of the steps above up to step 4. Make sure that you choose a company-managed project.

Then, before creating and finalizing the project, do the following:

After naming the project, select the Share settings with an existing project tickbox
Click on the Choose Project dropdown menu and select the project that you want this new project to share configurations with
Now you can select Create and the new configured project will be set up

Note that this feature is not available on the free version of Jira.

Conclusion

Knowing how to create a project in Jira is simple, although there is a lot that can go into each project. It’s important that you understand the different project types and templates available to make sure that your project is perfectly configured for the specific development you’re working on.

Once you understand how to create a project in Jira, it will help your team to stay a lot more organized and manage work more efficiently.

How To Create An Issue In Jira

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 18:00:00 +0000

The emergence of online collaboration tools has fundamentally changed how we operate in the workplace. No matter your field of work, chances are you are using at least one of these tools.

If Jira is your tool of choice (or you are considering trying Jira out), you need to understand its use of issues to effectively navigate and make the most of the platform.

Before you can do anything with issues, you have to be able to create them. To help you do so, we have put together everything you need to know about creating issues in Jira.

What Is An Issue?

Issues in Jira are commonly referred to as the building blocks of a project. An issue is essentially a piece of work that needs to be completed.

The nature of the issue depends on the piece of work it represents. Therefore, it can be anything from a project task to a software bug, story, or leave request form.

This issue will travel through the project’s workflow until it is completed. Once your team completes all the issues in a project, the project itself will be complete.

How To Create An Issue In Jira

Given the central role of issues in Jira, it is essential to understand how to create and manage issues to navigate Jira.

There are many paths you take to create an issue in Jira. The easiest and most commonly-used one is to start by clicking the Create button.

You will find the Create button in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen. It is represented by a + icon and is usually at the bottom of the navigation bar.

Alternatively, you can click on “Create issue” in the TO DO column when you’re in a project board.

Step 2: Fill In All Required Fields (And Any Optional Fields You Choose To)

Once you have clicked the Create button, you will see various fields to fill out. Note that only the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

The first of these is the Project. Select the project under which the issue falls.

The second required field is the Issue Type. Here, you need to specify what type of issue you have. There are six different options: a Task, Story, Epic, Bug, New Feature, and Improvement.

A Task is just a general item of work that needs to be completed.
A Story is used by teams to deal with requirements in users’ stories.
An Epic is a large task that will typically have to be divided into smaller tasks.
A Bug is a defect that needs fixing.
A New Feature is a new feature of a product.
An Improvement is simply an enhancement of a product.

You will not always see all of these options as some of them may be incompatible with your project’s workflow.

The third required field is Summary. Here, simply provide a summary of the issue.

The last required field is Description. In this field, you should flesh out your summary and describe the issue in more detail.

Once you have filled in the required fields, you have the option to fill in other fields, such as assigning your issue a Priority (we’ll elaborate more on this later) or creating another issue with the same Issue Type and Project.

Fill in any additional optional fields you want, and you are one step away from completing an issue!

Step 3: Simply Click Create!

The final step is to simply click Create. You will find this at the bottom right of your screen.

Now you have completed the process and successfully created an issue!

Creating Subtasks For Issues

Jira allows you to break your issue down into various subtasks. This is incredibly useful, as it allows you to split big tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. It also allows you to break an issue into different components that different teams need to complete.

Creating and tracking subtasks also allows you to observe any sub-issues that may be holding up the completion of the main issue. If there are one or two sub-issues that take a lot longer than all others, you can convert these sub-issues into their own issues.

Alternatively, if you find out that an issue is actually a sub-task of a bigger issue, you can convert that issue into a sub-issue of the bigger issue.

How To Create A Subtask

If you want to create a subtask, the first step is to select the issue you want to be the main issue. This is called the parent issue.

In this issue summary, click on the “Add a child issue” button.

Once you have clicked on this button, you will have the option to fill in the issue summary.

Once you have filled in the summary, simply click on the Create button and your sub-issue will be created.

You can further edit the subtask by clicking on it. Here you can change its priority, add comments, edit its description, and more.

Ranking Issues According To Priority

Jira gives you the option to rank issues in terms of their priority. This feature is incredibly useful, as it signals to teams which issues are the most important and require urgent attention. It shows teams what issues they should choose to work on next and ensures that important matters don’t fall between the cracks.

To rank your issues, go to either your backlog or your board where you can see all your issues.

Ranking them is pretty simple - just click on the issue you want to move and drag it to where it falls on the list in terms of priority. For example, click on the most important issue and drag it to the top of the list.

Final Thoughts

When used correctly, Jira is a powerful platform that streamlines your work and enhances collaboration.

Understanding how to create and track Issues in Jira is essential to navigating the platform. Luckily, when you know what to do, creating Issues is relatively straightforward. Just follow these simple steps, and you should have no issues creating issues!

How To Create A Sprint In Jira

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Knowing how to create a sprint in Jira is one of the most important functions of using this software. Sprints keep backlogs organized, they help teams understand exactly what work they need to do each day, and they’re a key element for keeping projects on track.

Without sprints, any product backlog will just be a long jumbled mess. Not organizing your backlog into sprints can result in a lot of confusion or wasted work on unnecessary tasks.

Follow this guide to learn exactly how to create a sprint in Jira step-by-step.

What Is A Sprint?

A sprint is a predetermined period of time that a team uses to complete a project from their product backlog. To create a sprint, a team first sets a fixed time period. Then, they complete and implement a functioning list of product tasks within that time period.

As the term suggests, a sprint is not a particularly long period. Instead, it is a period that is usually between one to four weeks long.

You also don’t use a sprint to cover all of your issues that need work. Instead, you choose a select few issues that have the greatest importance and use the sprint period to tackle them. The team commits to all of these issues at the start of the sprint.

Knowing how to create a sprint in Jira is important for streamlining the way work is managed. By using sprints and diving the work up amongst a team, collaboration improves and projects are better able to stay on track.

How To Create A Sprint In Jira

Knowing how to create a sprint in Jira is essential if you use this software. Follow these steps to help you create your first sprint.

Step 1: Create The Sprint

The first step is to create a new sprint. To do this, you will need to:

Enter Jira and navigate to the top of your backlog in a scrum project.
Select the Create Sprint button. This is found at the top of the backlog.
Now your sprint is created and ready to be filled up.

You can create more than one sprint at a time. However, you can only work on one sprint at once. If you create multiple sprints, you will need to arrange them in the correct order for your backlog.

Step 2: Add Issues To Your Sprint

You have an empty sprint, so now you need to fill it up with issues from your backlog. To do this, you will need to take the following steps:

Navigate to your backlog.
Simply click and drag issues from the backlog and drop them into the sprint.

Alternatively, select the issue in your backlog and edit it. You can update the Sprint field when doing this.

It’s essential that you figure out this step as a team. Don’t just randomly start dropping issues into the sprint. Sit down with the team and discuss what issues require the most work and commitment.

You also need to understand how much time each issue will take, and factor this into your sprint period.

Step 3: Start The Sprint

Your sprint is now set up and ready to go. The next step is to get your team working through the issues on the sprint.

To do this, you will need to:

Navigate to your scrum project’s backlog.
Choose the sprint you’re ready to start and select Start Sprint.

Now you can:
- Select the start and end dates of the sprint
- Add the sprint name
- Add a sprint goal

In this step, it’s important to note that you can only start a new sprint once a previous sprint has already been finished. Otherwise, you will need to use the Parallel Sprint feature in Jira.

Your sprints that are ready to go will also be arranged in the right order in your backlog. You can only start sprints at the top of your backlog, so make sure to reorder the sprints correctly.

Step 4: Review Progress

An important part of running a sprint in Jira is monitoring your team’s progress throughout the sprint. You can access the important details that you need to follow in the Sprint Report.

If you have a strict timeline in place to complete your product backlog, then it’s important that sprints stay on track. This often requires a lot of collaboration within the team. So, try to have regular standup meetings where team members share updates on their progress and areas that they need help with.

Step 5: Close The Sprint

Once you reach the end of the sprint, the final step is to close it. To do this, you can:

Go to your scrum board and navigate to Active Sprints.
Choose the correct sprint from the sprint drop-down menu.
Select Complete Sprint. Now, all of the issues in the sprint that have been completed will move out of your active sprints.

If there are any incomplete issues that still exist when you close the sprint, you will need to move them to either:
- The backlog of issues
- A new sprint
- A future sprint

It’s important that you have a clear definition of when work will be done for you to complete the sprint. Sprints are only effective if you have a clear definition of when work for your epic is done. Otherwise, sprints might drag on longer than they need to.

Conclusion

Knowing how to create a sprint in Jira is easy, and it’s one of the most important processes for effective project management.

Once you get the basics of creating sprints down, there are various ways you can optimize your sprints. One of these is to automate sprints and send weekly automated Slack messages to your team about all open issues within the sprint. In addition, when a sprint ends, you can ensure any outstanding issues get moved to the next sprint.

Sprints are all about teamwork and making your backlog of issues run more efficiently. The more you do sprints, the better you will get at understanding how many issues to add to each sprint and how long to dedicate to each sprint. By using sprints, managing scrum with Jira software will become a whole lot more efficient.

16 virtual meeting best practices for hosts and organizers

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Many have realized over the past couple of years that hosting a remote meeting is a little tougher than we might like. There are a few obstacles that you need to overcome to run a remote meeting without a hitch. While you may have all the skills to host a great meeting in person, there’s no guarantee that those skills will transfer.

Some may think that because they know how they should act and what they should do during a virtual meeting, they know how to run one too. Unfortunately, that’s not quite true. That’s why we’re going to run through some top tips to help you run your virtual meetings like the hero you already are.

For great remote meetings, follow these 16 virtual meeting best practices

For great remote meetings, follow these 16 virtual meeting best practices

Before your virtual meeting

Set a purpose and agenda for the meeting

As with any other meeting, you should clearly define the purpose of the meeting and set a plan to ensure everything that you have enough time to discuss everything.

Make sure to send the agenda out to everyone involved in the meeting before the meeting is due to start.

Choose and test what technology you’ll use

Technology has a nasty habit of malfunctioning right when you need it. To avoid this, make sure your set-up is working properly. That includes your webcam, microphone, internet connection, and video conferencing software.

Keep time zones in mind when scheduling

There’s always a chance that someone working remotely is in a different time zone to you. It’s also worth keeping in mind that some remote workers may operate on a different schedule than you.

To avoid any confusion, use scheduling software such as Outlook or Google Calendar — these programs will automatically display the meeting time in the correct time zone for whoever is looking at it.

Security

It’s unlikely that you will have someone crash your remote meeting, but by now, I’m sure we’ve seen the viral videos that show how wrong things can go if you’re not careful.

Make sure to password protect your meeting and use a secure link to ensure only the people you want on the call can enter the meeting room.

Location

Make sure you’re in a quiet, well-lit area that is free from distractions. This is something all involved in the meeting should be doing to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.

Assign roles (if needed)

Sometimes it can help to assign roles to meeting attendees to help the meeting stay on track. This can include a timekeeper, voice of the customer, note taker, and facilitator. If you’re an agile team, avoiding roles may be more beneficial to ensure that everyone is focused on the task at hand and gets an equal say.

During your virtual meeting

Lay out ground rules first

Even if you’re hosting a meeting with a team that has done 100 virtual meetings, it’s always good to lay out the ground rules before you get started. Clearly state when people should be muted, if everyone is required to be on camera, etc.

Stick to your agenda

Time is a valuable thing. You can’t afford to have the meeting go on a tangent, especially when working to deadlines. If something comes up that’s not on the agenda, make a note, table it, and come back to that point in a future meeting. If the team would like a brief catch-up, schedule it into your agenda as one of the first points of order.

Keep meetings short and to the point

Meetings can sometimes get boring in person, so the physical disconnect of virtual meetings can make things more tedious if your meetings start to drag on. Keep virtual meetings short and to the point to avoid your team switching off halfway through.

Record the meeting

We’re living in the 21st century — stop tasking someone with taking notes and let them fully take part in the meeting. Simply record the meeting through your video conferencing software to ensure everything discussed is kept on record verbatim.

Take your own notes

While you will come away from your meeting with a full recording, it’s still worth taking your own notes. This can include key points you would like to remember and areas where you could improve how the meeting is performed.

Remember to jot down timestamps to help you find the moment again.

Make sure you’re letting everyone speak up and participate

It can be difficult for people to speak up in a virtual meeting as you never quite know the right moment to interject. One way of ensuring everyone gets to put in their two cents is to ask everyone to stay muted and use the video conferencing software to digitally “raise their hand” when they have something to say. This allows everyone to say their piece without risking interrupting someone else.

Wrap up with any action items that people need to take

It’s always best to wrap up with a call to action. This way, the most pressing tasks fresh in everyone’s minds, and they know what to do once the meeting is over.

After your virtual meeting

Make sure to share any notes and recordings among the participants so they can also look back on key points raised during the meeting.

Reflect

It’s tough to host the “perfect” virtual meeting. It’s something that comes with time and experience. Take time to reflect on your meetings and assess if there’s anything you could do to improve the experience and add more value to your virtual meetings.

Follow up

We hold meetings for a reason. Every action discussed during the meeting will be crucial to productivity and contribute toward the project’s end goal. So, of course, you need to ensure your team is performing their tasks. Make sure to follow up on the action items finalized in your meeting, either the next day or the following week, depending on your timeframes.

Looking to host remote retrospectives? EasyRetro has everything you could need for a seamless remote retro experience. Get started for free today!

Your guide to remote meeting etiquette: 10 rules to live by

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0000

It doesn’t feel like too long ago that remote working was a buzzword that few actually experienced. Then the world went crazy for a little bit, and remote work became a normal part of many people’s lives. Almost 75% of workers across the globe work from home at least some of the time, and it seems that hybrid working will be the most popular work style going forward.

Of course, all that remote work means we are having more remote meetings than ever before.

Now, by this stage, we should all be familiar with remote meetings and the various annoyances that come with them. Yet, for some reason, there are still some out there who don’t quite seem to grasp how to be respectful via digital communication.

With all that in mind, we’ll look at some key rules you should follow to maintain perfect remote meeting etiquette. Don’t be afraid to send this around to your teams if you know some people who could do with a little refresher course!

10 remote meeting etiquette rules to remember
Remote meetings are here to stay, so why not make them easy?

10 remote meeting etiquette rules to remember

Act like you would at any other meeting

The best advice we can give you is simply to treat remote meetings like you would an in-person meeting. Just because the meeting happens digitally doesn’t mean it’s somehow less important. You should be paying the same amount of attention, avoiding distractions, and allowing others the chance to speak up.

Check your lighting

Lighting plays a huge part in how you come across on a webcam. Most built-in laptop cameras are designed to do the job and little more, so they’re often on the lower quality side.

By ensuring you are well lit, you can ensure your body language comes across correctly, and you don’t look like some kind of Bond villain. Avoid sitting with a bright light directly behind you, as it can blow out your image, and all anyone will see is a shadowy outline.

Now, we’re not saying it should be “lights, camera, action!” every meeting. You just need to be aware of how your room is lit.

Find a quiet space

By now, we’ve all seen the viral videos of children and pets ruining remote news interviews and meetings. While they make for hilarious viewing, it’s less than ideal for those involved in the conversation. Your remote meetings should be held in a closed-off space free from intruders and distracting noises. If that’s not possible, make sure to take note of the next tip.

Use the mute button

Okay, now we know we’re all sick of hearing “you’re on mute,” but hear us out. The mute button is actually your friend. Rather than having everyone with their microphone on at once, which can encourage a free-for-all discussion, everyone should be muted when they’re not talking.

By doing this, everyone can hear the people speaking without disruption from other people’s microphones. It also eliminates the chance of people talking over others which can be incredibly frustrating. Most video conferencing platforms have a feature that allows you to “raise your hand” when you have something to say, allowing meetings to stay structured and inclusive.

Test your software before meetings

If you’re a bit of a technophobe, video conferencing software will likely confuse you a little bit. There are a lot of features and different buttons you need to know to get the best out of it. However, figuring it out on a call can negatively affect productivity.

If you’re unsure about the tech you’re due to use for a meeting, try it out beforehand. You can even call someone else on your team who can walk you through everything. That way, meetings can be purely for business and productivity.

Try not to assume anything

With everyone staring at their screen, it’s impossible to know who they’re looking at. So if you’re just randomly talking while looking at someone, in particular, they’re not going to know you’re addressing them directly. To avoid confusion, be clear about who you’re speaking to by simply using their name.

Making assumptions about someone’s intentions or mood is another thing that you should avoid. Some people aren’t as comfortable on camera as they are in person, so their body language and tone may be a little off.

Use body language

Yes, we know it seems silly to talk about body language when all anyone will see is your shoulders and head, but body language is still vital to remote meetings. A simple head nod, smile, or movement can show you’re genuinely interested in what others have to say, whereas just slouching in your chair gives the impression you don’t want to be there.

Minimize distractions

It’s always worth remembering that even though you’re working from home, it is still work. It’s not time to browse social media or watch a video on your phone. Keep distractions to a minimum, close those extra tabs and put your phone away for a little bit!

Silence your phone

Speaking of phones, turn them off or put them on silent! Few things are more disruptive to a meeting than someone’s phone making a noise every two seconds. The group chat can wait for half an hour, we promise.

Try not to multitask

Trying to get some extra work done during a remote meeting can be very tempting. You’re already on the computer, so what’s the harm in opening that spreadsheet?

If you’re working on something else, you will not be able to actively listen to what is being discussed in the meeting. This can mean you’re caught off guard when someone asks for your opinion on something or may even lead to a bigger disruption down the line when you’re not sure what tasks you should be working on.

Remote meetings are here to stay, so why not make them easy?

Here at EasyRetro we’re all about making virtual team meetings fun and simple. If you follow these remote meeting etiquette guidelines, your remote meetings are sure to run smoothly. And if you’re looking for a great way to run remote retrospective meetings, give EasyRetro a try! Our platform take the guesswork out of remote retrospectives so you can focus on the work at hand. Get started today!

How To Mute Microsoft Teams

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0000

An estimated 270 million people across the world use Microsoft Teams every month. Its core function is to provide a messaging app for your organization and enable real-time collaboration while serving as a workspace for meetings.

However, while communication is one of its most important functions, knowing how to mute Microsoft Teams is useful to prevent any unwanted noise from being transmitted into the meeting.

Similarly, you may want to unmute your mic to participate in the meeting, or mute or unmute participants for any number of reasons.

Note that Muting does not only pertain to sound. You can also mute and unmute chats and notifications.

Table of content

How To Mute And Unmute Yourself In A Microsoft Teams Meeting
How To Mute And Unmute Participants In Microsoft Teams
- Mute An Individual During A Meeting
Turn On Live Captions In Teams
Can You Mute A Microsoft Teams Chat?
Conclusion

How To Mute And Unmute Yourself In A Microsoft Teams Meeting

Being able to mute yourself during a meeting ensures your privacy isn’t compromised. It can even help you manage the flow of the meeting, ensuring you don’t talk over or interrupt speakers with unnecessary utterances such as ‘agreed’ or ‘mmm’.

The mute icon may be in different places, depending on whether you’re on a Mac, Desktop, or mobile. In any case, it’s represented by a little icon that looks like a microphone.

Interacting with it (muting or unmuting) may be via a toggle, by clicking on the icon itself and seeing a crossbar appear (meaning you’re muted), or by removing the crossbar.

When your microphone is set to mute, other meeting participants won’t be able to hear you, but you will still be able to hear them.

Note, the main roles of a Teams meeting are Organizer, Presenter, and Attendee. Only the Organizer and the Presenter can mute other participants. If you’re organizing a meeting and want to allow an attendee to be able to mute others, you have to assign the role of Presenter to that person.

Muting Before A Meeting

Before joining a meeting, you will be able to toggle your camera and microphone. To mute yourself, simply toggle the microphone to ‘off’ before clicking Join now.

When off, the microphone symbol will have a strike through it.

Muting And Unmuting During A Meeting

To turn your microphone on while in a meeting, select the microphone icon in the meetings control tray.
To mute yourself during the meeting, tap the microphone icon and you’ll see a strike through it - meaning nobody can hear you.

Using A Keyboard Shortcut To Mute

When using the Microsoft Teams desktop app, you may want to stay muted to limit noise during a meeting, yet be able to quickly respond when called upon.

To cater for this, Windows 11 includes a new keyboard function where you can quickly unmute, then mute your device’s microphone using your keyboard.

Here is the step-by-step process for using a keyboard shortcut to mute or unmute during a meeting:

Go to Settings > Privacy and ensure the Keyboard Shortcut to Unmute is toggled on.
To quickly unmute yourself, press and hold down the keys Ctrl+Spacebar (on Windows) and Option+Spacebar (on Mac). Note the alert saying you’re temporarily unmuted.
Once you’re ready to be muted again, simply release the keys. How To Mute And Unmute Participants In Microsoft Teams To avoid audio distractions and random noise during an upcoming meeting, the meeting organizer can disable individual or all attendee microphones, thereby preventing them from using their microphones during the meeting.

This means attendees will notice that their microphone is turned off when they join the meeting.

Here is the step-by-step process for muting or unmuting participants during a meeting on Windows:

During the meeting, click on the participants button on your control panel.

Next, click on the three dots at the top right-hand corner of the participants panel and select Manage permissions. This will open your Meeting options.
Here you have the option to ‘allow mic for attendees’. Toggle to No.

Note, in meetings such as these where attendees can’t unmute themselves, the organizer can allow participants to temporarily unmute themselves if they want to say something.

They can signal this by ‘raising their hand’ (clicking the raised hand icon visible to all meeting participants).

Mute An Individual During A Meeting

During the meeting, click Show participants. This will bring up a sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen with all the participants.

Hover over the participant you want to mute and click the three dots.
Select Mute participant.

Turn On Live Captions In Teams

Microsoft Speech Services can transcribe spoken language during Teams meetings by displaying live captions.

Live captions enable users who are unable to hear the speech to participate more fully in Teams meetings and calls. Members see what’s being said and who’s saying it.

Here is the step-by-step process for turning on live captions during a meeting:

Go to your meeting control panel and select the More actions ellipse (…)
Select the option to turn on Live captions.
To stop using live captions, select More actions in the meeting controls again.
Click to turn off live captions.

During the meeting, live captions will be shown towards the bottom of the call screen and will only be visible to those who turned live captions on.

Can You Mute A Microsoft Teams Chat?

It can be quite annoying when you are presenting or on an important call but the chat notification sound keeps interrupting every time someone texts on the app. In this case, you would want to turn off notifications from a chat conversation.

Here is the step-by-step process for muting or unmuting a Microsoft Teams chat:

Go to the Chat application in Microsoft Teams.
Click on the three dots (…) for More Options.
Select Mute.
To restore notifications or respond to someone in the chat who mentioned you, select Unmute by following the same steps.
On mobile, swipe left on Chat and then tap Mute. If you change your mind, just tap it again to undo it.

Conclusion

Once you know how to mute Microsoft Teams - and how to unmute - you are on your way to a more successful and managed Teams meeting.

Being able to reduce the noise created by multiple attendees, and amplify the voice of the meeting presenters, is essential to control the flow and productivity of all virtual meetings.

How To Share Screen On Microsoft Teams

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Follow this guide to learn how to share screen on Microsoft Teams from different devices and operating systems.

Knowing how to share your screen on Microsoft Teams is one of the most important features on the platform. Whether you’re doing a slideshow presentation, want to share an interactive whiteboard, or need to demonstrate something, then sharing your screen is an easy way to do this.

How To Share Screen On Microsoft Teams
- Windows
- Mac
How To Share Your Screen On Microsoft Teams On Mobile
How To Share Your Screen On Microsoft Teams Chat
- How To Share Screen Control In A Microsoft Teams Meeting?
Other Things To Know About The Screen Sharing Feature
Conclusion

Follow these steps to share your screen on Microsoft Teams.

Windows

Follow these steps to share your screen on Microsoft Teams from a Windows desktop:

1. While you are in a meeting in Microsoft Teams, select the Open share tray button. This has an image of a square with an arrow pointing up through it.
1. Now you get to choose between a few different options for what you want to share. This includes:
Screenshare: Choose to share everything shown on your entire screen.
PowerPoint Live: This is a special option for sharing PowerPoint slideshows - a great option for presentations.
Microsoft Whiteboard and Freehand Invasion: This is a fun feature, where you can share an interactive whiteboard that other meeting participants can draw on. It’s a great tool for brainstorming.
Window: This option lets you choose a specific window or app to share.
1. Once you have chosen which option you want to share, a red border will appear around your screen or the specific part of your screen that you’re sharing.
1. When you are ready to end your presentation, select Stop sharing or click the box with the ‘x’ in it.

Mac

Mac users first have to grant permission to Microsoft Teams in order to record their computer’s screen.

To share your screen on Microsoft Teams from a Mac, follow these steps:

While you are in a meeting in Microsoft Teams, select the Share content button. This has an image of a square with an arrow pointing up through it.
If it is your first time sharing your screen, you will be prompted to grant permission. When the prompt appears, select Open system preferences. If for some reason, you missed out on this prompt, you can grant permission by navigating to the Apple menu > System preferences > Security & Privacy.
There will be an option for screen recording on the prompt. Ensure you select Microsoft Teams here.
Once selected, you can now return to the meeting and continue to share your screen as per the steps above. You will need to select what type of screen share you want to do, and a red line will appear over the area of your screen that you are sharing.
When you are ready to end your presentation, select Stop sharing.

It’s also possible to share your screen on Microsoft Teams if you take a meeting from your mobile device. In this tutorial, we will be using an Android phone. However, the steps are the same on iOS.

When you are in the call, tap on the three dots at the bottom of the screen. A menu will appear. Tap on Share.

Now four options will appear. These are to share a PowerPoint presentation, share a photo, share a video, or share your screen. Tap Share screen.
A prompt might appear asking your device to allow Microsoft Teams to share your screen. If this appear, grant the permission to do this.
Now a box might appear, tap Start broadcast to share your screen. On some devices, the screen share might start immediately.
Participants will now be able to see your screen. They will only be able to see the Microsoft Teams app, but you can switch apps while screen sharing, and they will see this.
When you are ready to stop sharing your screen, go back to the Microsoft Teams app and tap on Stop presenting.

It’s possible to also share your screen if you are on Microsoft Teams Chat. This is how you do it:

Open a chat window in Microsoft Teams.
Select Share content. This button is found in the upper right corner of the window.
Select which desktop or window screen you want to share in the chat
Now your screen will be shared in the Microsoft Teams Chat. The area that you share will be outlined by a red border.
When you are done, select Stop sharing.

When you are sharing your screen during a meeting, you can choose to give control to another participant in that meeting. This puts you both in control of the sharing.

Follow these steps to do this:

Click on give control on the sharing toolbar.
Now you can select the name of the person in the meeting to who you want to give control. Teams will notify this person.
Now screen control is shared. The other person can make edits and selections on the shared screen.
When you are done, select Take back control. Now the screen will only be controlled by you again.

Note: You can also select Request control if someone else is sharing and you want to take control of the screen. They will have to approve your request.

Here are a few extra things to take note of with Microsoft Teams screen sharing:

No notifications that come in will be shown to participants while you share your screen
Linux users will not see the red border when sharing screens
There is an option to include your computer sound when sharing your screen
You can zoom into shared screen content while on Microsoft Teams

Conclusion

There you have it - above are all the different ways that you can share your screen on Microsoft Teams.

This is one of the most important and useful features to know how to use for all kinds of meetings. Luckily, Microsoft Teams offers a few great features, like audio and screen control, to take screen sharing to the next level.

How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Knowing how to change the background on Microsoft Teams is one of the most important things to learn if you use this platform for meetings.

We all know what it’s like to have a background that you need to hide. Maybe you’re in a busy coffee shop that will cause a distraction or maybe your house is particularly messy. Whatever the case, you can change your background to help you look more professional.

You can also create your own background, which is a great way to represent your brand during meetings.

How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams
- How To Change Your Background On Microsoft Teams Before Your Meeting
- How To Change Your Background On Microsoft Teams In Your Meeting
How To Change Your Teams Meeting Background On Mobile
- How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams Before A Meeting (Mobile)
- How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams During A Meeting (Mobile)
How To Add Your Own Background
Things to Note About Changing Your Background On Microsoft Teams
Conclusion

How To Change Background on Microsoft Teams

Changing your background during a virtual meeting can help you look more professional. Here’s how to change background on Microsoft Teams.

How To Change Your Background On Microsoft Teams Before Your Meeting

It’s certainly not ideal to join a meeting with a busy background, only to change your background five minutes into the meeting. The best approach is to join the meeting with the background of your choice.

Follow these steps to change your background on Microsoft Teams before joining a meeting:

When you set up your video and audio preferences before joining a meeting, select the Background filters button. You can find this button below the video preview image.

Now a selection of background options will display on the right-hand side of your screen. Choose the background that works best for you.

*Note: If you aren’t sure which to choose, opting to blur your background is always a good move. This keeps your image in good focus, with your background blurred. It’s not distracting, but it hides whatever is behind you.

Now your chosen background will appear whenever you join a call or meeting in the future.
If you want to remove your background choice, then select the button to turn off background effects. This is the button that depicts a circle with a diagonal line through it.

How To Change Your Background On Microsoft Teams In Your Meeting

In many cases, you will join a meeting and only then find that your background is too distracting. Here are the steps you can take to change your background in Microsoft Teams while you are in a meeting:

Navigate to your meeting controls panel in the meeting and select More actions (the three little dots).
Select Show background effects.
Now you will be presented with a choice of background options that you can pick from. Again, blurring your background is often the most practical in a meeting.
You can select Preview once you have chosen your background. This lets you see what the background will look like before you apply it. Nobody else in the meeting will see this.
When you are happy with your background, select Apply. Now your new background is in action.
When you want to remove your background, select the button to turn off background effects. This is the button that depicts a circle with a diagonal line through it.

How To Change Your Teams Meeting Background On Mobile

Changing your Microsoft Teams background on a mobile device follows the same general process. This won’t change whether you are on an Android or iOS device.

How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams Before A Meeting (Mobile)

Follow these five simple steps for all mobile devices

Select the Settings button while you are getting ready for the meeting.
Tap on Background effects.
A range of background options will appear below your image. Select the option you like the most.
Press Done.
Select the No background option (circle with a diagonal line going through it) button to turn off your background.

How To Change Background On Microsoft Teams During A Meeting (Mobile)

Here’s how to change your background while you’re in a meeting on your mobile device:

Go to your meeting controls buttons and tap on More options (the three dots).
Tap on the Background effects button.
Choose the background you like.
Tap Done. Now your background has been changed.
Select the No background option (circle with a diagonal line going through it) button to turn off your background.

How To Add Your Own Background

If you don’t want to use the generic Microsoft Teams backgrounds, you can always upload your own. This is can be a great way to customize your meetings with your brand colors or logo.

Start by creating your own background image. Save this in a .JPG, .PNG, or .BMP file on your device. Then, when changing your background, navigate to the background effects options and then select Add new.

Now you can choose the background image file from your device and use this as your background. The file will save into your selected background options, so you can use it again if you ever need to change to a custom background.

Things to Note About Changing Your Background On Microsoft Teams

Linux users aren’t able to access the background changing feature on Microsoft Teams. If you’re using Microsoft teams through optimized virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) then you won’t be able to access background effects either.

Some devices don’t have the option to change background effects. You will know this if you do not see the Background filters option in your menu.

It’s always best to test out backgrounds before using them in important meetings. In some cases, parts of a user’s face or hair might get distorted or blurred in the background. If you struggle to find a background that works, using the blur feature is generally the most effective.

Conclusion

Background filters are one of the best features of Microsoft Teams. The great thing is that there are so many different background options that you can choose from. This can make meetings fun, or it can help you to look more professional if your actual background needs to be hidden.

Follow the strategies listed above, and you will be able to change your background on any kind of device. This can help you take your Teams meetings to a whole new level.

How To Blur Background In Microsoft Teams

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Did you know that over 500,000 organizations around the world use Microsoft Teams to collaborate across time zones, locations, and languages? This puts a lot of pressure on the software giant to keep innovating and making Teams meetings better, especially in a remote-working world.

One of their small but significant improvements is allowing users to blur their backgrounds. This helps create a professional environment around the team member, effectively removing their remote or in-office workspace that will normally be visible during a Microsoft Teams meeting.

Knowing how to blur your background in Microsoft Teams is an essential part of hosting and attending a professional virtual meeting. Follow along to learn the basics of blurring your background.

How To Blur Background In Microsoft Teams
- How To Blur Your Background Before A Meeting
- How To Blur Your Background During A Meeting
Quick Steps For Different Devices and Operating Systems
Why Can’t I Blur My Background in Teams?
Conclusion

How To Blur Background In Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Team’s background blurring feature cleverly replaces your background with a blurred-out image when you’re on a video call.

You can blur your background in two ways:

Blur your background before your meeting.
Blur your background during the meeting.

While instructions differ slightly depending on the device you access Microsoft Teams on (see below), the basic functionality is the same and you will quickly learn how to use it.

How To Blur Your Background Before A Meeting

Here is the step-by-step process to blur your background before a meeting:

Open Microsoft Teams
Select the Background filters or Background effects button. This may be to the right, or at the center of your screen, depending on where you are using Teams.
Select Blur to blur your background. Your face will appear clearly, while everything behind you is out of focus.
To turn off background blur or any other background effects, simply toggle off the background effect.

Note, background blur will remain your default setting in all your meetings and calls until you change it - either to no blur or to a custom background - until you change it again.

How To Blur Your Background During A Meeting

If you’re already in a Microsoft Teams meeting or call, you may feel your background is distracting and want to blur it on the go.

Here is the step-by-step process to blur your background during a meeting:

Go to your meeting controls.
Select More actions by clicking on the ellipse (…)
Go to Apply background effects.
Select the Blur option to blur your background.
You can preview it before you apply it by clicking on Preview.
To apply the effect, click Apply.
To turn off the blurring background effect during a meeting, go back to the background effects menu and select the first option (the circle with the line through it) and click Apply.

Quick Steps For Different Devices and Operating Systems

Exactly where the background blur tool is found depends on whether you’re accessing Microsoft Teams on the Web, or using an App on a Mac, Windows, or mobile device. It can also vary depending on the version of the App you’re using, the device model, and your operating system.

With that in mind, you should be able to blur your background in Microsoft Teams on all major devices as follows:

Blur your background on a Windows device:

Open the Microsoft Teams desktop app
Select the team meeting link.
Click on the Background filters option. A pop-up with the Background settings option will appear on the right side of the screen.
Click on the Blur option from the Microsoft Teams background menu. Clicking it will apply it to your camera preview.
Join the meeting.

Blur your background on a Mac:

Open the Microsoft Teams app on your Mac device.
Select the team meeting link.
Click on the three dots to open your meeting options.
Go to the Show background effects option.
Choose Blur from the background tiled image options.
Join the meeting.

Blur your background on an iPhone:

Open the Microsoft Teams mobile app on your iPhone or iPad.
Select the team meeting link or Meet now and start the meeting.
Go to the three dots button at the bottom of the screen.
Tap on Show background effects. A selection of tiles will appear.
Choose the Blur tile to preview what it will look like while in the meeting.
Tap Done and Join the meeting.

Blur your background on an Android device:

Open the Microsoft Teams app.
Select the team meeting link or click Meet now and start the meeting.
Go to your meeting controls and tap the three dots.
Tap Show background effects.
Select the Blur option from the background effects menu.
Tap Done.

Why Can’t I Blur My Background in Teams?

While Microsoft continuously rolls out background blur for all operating systems and devices, there are still some users who cannot use the blur functionality. If you’re one of them, the best would be to ask your IT department for help.

Here are some of the issues users have found when trying to blur their backgrounds:

Background blur and custom backgrounds are not yet available on the Teams web client in any browser.
The hardware needed to perform face recognition - and understand where the background that should be blurred begins and ends - will only work on a Mac or PC that has Advanced Vector Extension 2 (AVX) graphics and has Windows 10 installed.
Some companies ask their admins to set permissions for customizing Teams and could enforce a policy for blur or other background features. They could set this via the VideoFiltersMode to NoFilters, BlurOnly, or BlurAndDefaultBackgrounds or allow AllFilters. So, your Teams administrator may have disabled your ability to blur your background.
Background blur is not available on the Linux operating system.

Conclusion

As remote work becomes the new normal, virtual meetings will take center stage more than ever, and with that comes the need to adapt to a new set of meeting best practices.

Creating a blurred background is an easy first step remote and in-office workers can apply to set the tone. It enables users to better express themselves while avoiding unnecessary interruptions that take the focus off the conversation.

O que é uma Retrospectiva Scrum?

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Grandes equipes estão sempre em crescimento e evolução. No entanto, o crescimento e a evolução constante não podem acontecer sem uma pausa e uma reflexão sobre o trabalho que a equipe já realizou e sobre o trabalho futuro. Essa é toda a motivação para uma Retrospectiva Scrum. Mas o que é uma Retrospectiva Scrum?

O que é uma retrospectia scrum?

Por definição, uma retrospectiva pode ocorrer a qualquer momento, mas a Retrospectiva Scrum é uma ferramenta muito particular que ocorre enquanto um projeto ainda está em andamento. Ela foi elaborada para ocorrer entre a Revisão de Sprint e o próximo Planejamento de Sprint.

Quem deve participar da reunião de Retrospectiva Scrum?

A Retrospectiva Scrum é uma reunião all-hands com toda a equipe do Scrum e qualquer pessoa de fora da equipe que esteja fortemente envolvida ou impactada pelo trabalho da equipe. Isto torna crucial que a Retrospectiva seja eficaz, visto que representa um investimento substancial em horas-pessoa.

Qual deve ser a duração de uma reunião de Retrospectiva Scrum?

A duração de uma Retrospectiva Scrum é determinada com base na duração do sprint em si. Sprints de um mês geralmente requerem uma reunião de três horas e sprints mais curtos requerem sessões mais curtas. Por exemplo, 90 minutos são suficientes para um sprint de duas semanas.

O que é discutido em uma Retrospectiva Scrum?

Embora haja diversos formatos específicos disponíveis, em geral, a Retrospectiva Scrum destina-se a ser uma oportunidade para que a equipe do Scrum dedique um momento à introspecção. É uma chance de refletir sobre processos e comportamentos e corrigir ou modificar qualquer coisa que melhore a eficácia do próximo sprint. Para facilitar isto, a retrospectiva é baseada em três questões:

O que funcionou bem no sprint?
O que não funcionou bem e poderia ser melhorado?
O que nos comprometeremos a fazer de forma diferente no próximo sprint?

Observe que a Retrospectiva Scrum tem componentes do passado e do futuro, e isto é essencial.

Passar um tempo valioso revisando o desempenho passado sem um plano de ação para avançar não vale o custo de tirar uma equipe inteira de seu trabalho por três horas. Da mesma forma, a troca de ideias para melhorar sem uma revisão completa do desempenho passado é apenas um trabalho de adivinhação.

Quais são os benefícios de uma Retrospectiva Scrum?

A Retrospectiva Scrum tira proveito da natureza iterativa do desenvolvimento ágil. Cada nova sprint tem a possibilidade de melhorias em relação à última sprint. Somente dedicando tempo para refletir e planejar o crescimento poderemos ter acesso a toda a gama de benefícios da abordagem Agile. A melhoria constante só vem através de uma autoavaliação constante. As Retrospectivas de Sprint são também uma oportunidade de reforçar a responsabilidade da equipe pelo projeto. Ao dar à equipe um papel na avaliação do progresso, é mais provável que eles apoiem quaisquer mudanças que estejam contidas na próxima iteração.

Em um ambiente Agile, melhorias podem e devem ser consideradas em qualquer estágio do projeto. Entretanto, o processo da Retrospectiva Scrum garante que a equipe intencionalmente dedique um tempo para refletir e planejar como melhorar continuamente.

How To Use Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Teams comes with many different features to enhance meetings and communications. One of these is Breakout Rooms.

Breakout Rooms are a great way to break a big meeting into specific smaller meetings. This can be used to encourage lively conversations and get more participants to engage and collaborate on a specific topic. It’s also great for educators hosting classes online as they can break students up into small groups for project work.

If you’re hosting a meeting on Teams, it’s important to know how to set up Breakout Rooms and how you can use them. We’ll cover everything you need to know about Breakout Rooms in this easy step-by-step guide.

What Are Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms?
How To Create A Breakout Room Before Your Meeting
How To Create A Breakout Room During Your Meeting
How To Appoint Breakout Room Managers
- Before the Meeting
- During the Meeting
How To A Set Time Limit for Breakout Rooms
What Else Can You Do With Breakout Rooms?
Conclusion

What Are Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms?

Breakout Rooms is a feature in Microsoft Teams that lets you streamline and organize meetings more efficiently.

Meeting organizers can use Breakout Rooms to split attendees into various online rooms. Each room can be used for a certain discussion, topic, or collaboration effort. This makes things like brainstorming and engaging in conversations in large meetings a lot easier.

If you have a large organization or host a large meeting, then Breakout Rooms let you divide up your participants in ways that suit the meeting and what is being covered in it. You can create Breakout Rooms based on things like departments or projects.

It’s possible to create 50 Breakout Rooms at a time. When you create these separate rooms, you will need to assign certain users to each one.

Breakout Rooms can only be created by the organizer of a Teams meeting.

How To Create A Breakout Room Before Your Meeting

Follow these steps if you want to create Breakout Rooms before you start a meeting:

Go to your calendar in Microsoft Teams and open the meeting invite.
Go to Breakout rooms and then select Create rooms.
Now you can choose how many rooms you want to create (maximum 50). When you have chosen this, select Add rooms.
Now your Breakout Rooms have been created. However, nobody is part of these rooms yet. To add people, you will need to select Assign participants.
Now you have two choices. You can either get Microsoft Teams to assign people to rooms in even numbers. To do this, select Automatically. Or, you can choose Manually and assign people yourself.
The Breakout Rooms are ready. You can simply open the rooms when the meeting starts

How To Create A Breakout Room During Your Meeting

Sometimes, you will need to create Breakout Rooms while a meeting is in progress. This is how you do it:

Start a meeting as usual
Go to the meeting controls panel and select Breakout rooms
Now you will need to choose between a few options when you create the rooms. To do this, you will need to select: - How many rooms you want to create (maximum 50) - If you want to assign people to the rooms yourself (Manually) or if you want Teams to evenly distribute participants to rooms (Automatically)
Select Create rooms
Now your Breakout Rooms are ready

How To Appoint Breakout Room Managers

As a meeting organizer, it is your job to create and assign the breakout Rooms. However, you can assign participants to manage the Breakout Rooms.

Breakout Room managers will be able to do things like:

Add more rooms or delete rooms
Open and close rooms
Assign participants to certain rooms
Send announcements in the meeting
Create time limits for sessions on rooms
Recreate rooms

Room managers also have the ability to join any room in the meeting. Just remember that only one person can manage a meeting’s Breakout Rooms at any given time.

To appoint Breakout Room managers, follow these steps:

Before the Meeting

Go to your calendar in Microsoft Teams and open the meeting invite
Choose Breakout rooms and select Room settings
Turn on the toggle for Assign presenters to manage rooms
Select Search for presenters
Now you can choose your room managers

During the Meeting

Go to the meeting controls and select Breakout rooms
Click on Room settings
Turn on the toggle for Assign presenters to manage rooms
If there are already designated presenters in the meeting, then they will be assigned as room managers. If there are no presenters yet, select Go to Meeting options to add presenters and select your room manager. There will be a dropdown menu where you can choose people from
Once you have chosen the room manager, select the back (<) button. This will save our changes

How To A Set Time Limit for Breakout Rooms

You can set time limits for each Breakout room session. When you do this, a timer will appear in the room, displaying how much time is left in the session. Once the timer has finished, the room will close and all participants will return to the main meeting.

Follow these steps to set a timer:

Go to the meeting controls and select Breakout rooms
Select Room settings
Choose Set a time limit and add in your timer length
Select the back button (<) and your timer changes will be saved

What Else Can You Do With Breakout Rooms?

Breakout Rooms can be used in various ways. As a meeting organizer, you can do the following with Breakout Rooms:

Broadcast an announcement to all Breakout Rooms
Join chats. Each Breakout Room has its own dedicated chat
Close Breakout Rooms individually or at the same time. Doing this will return participants back to the main meeting
Move participants to different Breakout Rooms
Delete and recreate Breakout Rooms during meetings
Rename Breakout Rooms

Conclusion

beneficial. It’s more engaging for participants and it can help you figure out specific answers and projects faster.

If regular video calls are not helping you communicate effectively, then consider creating Breakout Rooms in your next meeting. It’s a fun and effective way to improve the way you manage conversations.

Guide To Backlog Grooming Vs. Sprint Planning

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Agile helps development teams build better products by breaking down the development process into small, manageable chunks. But with so many different things to do, it’s easy to lose track of what teams should be doing and when.

Two Agile practices often confused with each other are backlog grooming and sprint planning. So today, we’re going to look at both activities to see how they are different and how each helps agile teams perform better during sprints.

What is backlog grooming?
What is sprint planning?
- What happens during sprint planning?
- Why is sprint planning important?
Backlog grooming vs sprint planning, what is the difference?

What is backlog grooming?

What is a backlog?

A backlog is a list of tasks required to support a larger strategic plan. In Agile, there are three forms of backlogs:

Product backlog - Features you want to implement but have not yet prioritized for release.
Release backlog - Features that need to be implemented for a particular release.
Sprint backlog - User stories that need to be completed during a specific period of time.

A backlog needs to serve as a single source of truth for the team’s planning work. They should be able to easily identify what they need to work on next and how they should prioritize their work. This makes it easier to assign work and create discussions around what needs to be done.

What happens during backlog grooming?

Backlog grooming sessions are essential to ensure projects run smoothly. During the grooming session, the team will get together to ensure user stories in the product backlog are prepared for sprint planning.

Backlog grooming sessions should be held regularly so the right stories are correctly prioritized, and the product backlog doesn’t become a place ideas go to die.

During backlog grooming, there are three key objectives:

Break down large user stories into smaller, more manageable tasks
Hold group discussions for user stories, and answer any questions to ensure everyone is in alignment
Check upcoming user stories against the team’s “definition of ready” by adding key contextual information and acceptance criteria.

By the end of the backlog grooming session, the team should have a prioritized list of user stories ready for the next sprint.

Why is this an important step in the sprint process?

Backlog grooming ensures that the product backlog is refined and prioritized, which is why it’s so important to perform regularly.

The session helps teams stay aligned and updated on everything they need to know to do their jobs well. It ensures that the product backlog is always relevant and healthy by refining it to match customer expectations, even with changing requirements. A well-refined backlog will help teams increase efficiency because they can easily identify what needs to happen and when.

What is sprint planning?

Sprint planning is an agile event that gets a sprint underway. It defines what can be achieved during the sprint and how the team will work together to produce any defined deliverables.

What happens during sprint planning?

The sprint planning meeting is just what the name suggests. Teams get together to plan the upcoming sprint by defining how long the timebox will be, the sprint goal, and where to start. By clearly laying out the sprint’s agenda and focus, teams can empower themselves and achieve success by keeping them motivated throughout the sprint.

There are five key things involved in a sprint planning meeting:

The What: The product owner will describe the sprint goal and define which backlog items contribute to that goal. The team will then discuss what can be achieved during the sprint and what actions they will perform to achieve them.
The How: The development team will plan the work required to achieve the sprint goal.
The Who: The entire development team and the product owner need to attend the sprint planning meeting.
The Inputs: The team needs to identify what items from the product backlog will be involved in the sprint.
The Outputs: The team should come out of the planning meeting with a clear picture of the goal of the sprint and how it will start working toward that goal.

Why is sprint planning important?

Sprint planning sets the scene for the upcoming sprint entirely transparently. It ensures that the entire team is aligned with the sprint goals, and everyone knows what they need to do to achieve those goals.

By breaking up the project into more manageable pieces, teams spend less time figuring out what they need to do and more time achieving targets. This helps boost morale because the satisfaction that comes with completing a job is more frequent and rewarding.

Backlog grooming vs. sprint planning, what is the difference?

Backlog grooming and sprint planning are often confused with each other, especially with teams that are new to agile.

Both activities ensure that teams have a shared understanding of the tasks they need to perform. Both require everyone to participate, and both can achieve better outcomes if someone in the meeting acts as the “Voice of the Customer.”

Yet, despite their similarities, backlog grooming and sprint planning have distinct purposes.

Sprint planning focuses on the near future, only discussing what will happen within the next sprint. Backlog grooming sessions look at the entire project to help prioritization.
Backlog grooming needs to happen before sprint planning so teams can be certain they’re planning sprints around the most critical items in the backlog.
Sprint planning meetings must be attended by the entire team, including product owners, whereas backlog grooming needs just a few team members.
Sprint planning always happens at the beginning of a sprint, but backlog grooming sessions can happen at any stage in the product development process.

For teams to receive all the benefits of agile, they should groom their backlogs at a regular pace and hold sprint planning meetings, rather than trying to combine the two activities into one meeting.

To learn more about Agile, Scrum, and anything else you need to know about product management, EasyRetro is here to help. Check out our blog to learn more about sprint methodology, sprint velocity, sprint burndown charts, and much more!

And try EasyRetro to revolutionize your team’s collaboration process.

Get started for FREE today!

Timeboxes In Scrum

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

For a methodology that teaches us to avoid setting firm deadlines, there sure are a bunch of different time frames we need to use. The truth is, while there is no room for fixed deadlines in scrum and agile, we need to set time limits on activities to avoid getting off track.

Timeboxes in scrum differs from traditional product management timelines because it focuses on scope flexibility rather than time flexibility. Instead of working and extending deadlines as needed, timeboxes help teams to produce deliverables that build upon the last to iteratively create a new product.

By timeboxing activities, we can ensure teams stay focused on a specific task without the impending doom of a deadline. With that in mind, let’s dive deep into the world of timeboxes and how we use them for different scrum activities.

Why are timeboxes important in scrum?
Timebox for a sprint
Timebox for the daily scrum
Timebox for sprint planning meeting
Timebox for sprint reviews
Timebox for sprint retrospectives
Deadlines are dead, timeboxes are the future

Why are timeboxes important in scrum?

Timeboxing is the practice of assigning a fixed, maximum unit of time for an activity. Time boxes are a common feature of many project management methodologies. They help to keep the team focused by defining a time frame for activities to be completed.

Timeboxes create urgency, encouraging teams to get to work immediately. This helps guide prioritization. Activities are assessed with a focus on what can be delivered within that limited time frame, resulting in critical features being developed early in the project life cycle. These prioritization benefits also help to keep projects efficient and cost-effective.

Using timeboxes in scrum helps create a development rhythm that keeps projects moving at a consistent pace. That rhythm also helps you gather metrics at regular intervals. You can then use these metrics to plan future projects with accurate benchmarks.

Timebox for a sprint

The timebox for a sprint is usually between 1 and 4 weeks, depending on how your team operates.

For sprints, the timebox defines how long the sprint will run. This helps drive performance and encourages teams to get to work instead of leaving their tasks until the last possible minute. By timeboxing sprints, teams are more aware of timelines and how the project progresses.

Timebox for the daily scrum

The timebox for the daily scrum (aka the daily stand-up) should be just 15 minutes per 24 hour period.

The daily scrum is a quick and simple planning meeting designed to keep everyone in the loop with how other team members are getting on. It ensures that team members are fully aligned with each other and on track to hit the sprint goal.

By giving this meeting a small timebox, teams know to keep their updates short and to the point to avoid the meeting running into productivity time.

Timebox for sprint planning meeting

The timebox for a sprint planning meeting is two hours for each week in a sprint. For teams using a four-week sprint, this would be an eight-hour timebox on the sprint planning meeting.

Timeboxing the sprint planning meeting helps to keep the timebox of the sprint itself in mind. Knowing that there’s only a limited amount of time to discuss items that need to be included in the sprint means that the team cannot schedule more work than is possible to achieve during the sprint.

It can help to set an agenda for sprint planning meetings. This ensures that everything that needs to be discussed can be fully explored within the sprint planning meeting timebox. An agenda for a timeboxed sprint planning meeting could look something like this:

Quickly recap the current sprint, closing off what was completed
Review and re-prioritize what wasn’t finished, re-estimating story points and the team capacity
Agree and finalize goals of the upcoming sprint
Discuss risks and confidence levels

Timebox for sprint reviews

The timebox for sprint reviews is four hours or less for one-month sprints.

During this timebox, teams will look at the work performed during the sprint. Deliverables are demonstrated and inspected to determine which features are finished and which need more work. We do this to identify the usability of the features built during the sprint.

Sprint reviews also serve as a chance to look at and adapt the product backlog based on any uncovered findings during the sprint. Any work removed from the sprint will also be placed back into the backlog during the sprint review.

Most importantly, the sprint review helps us identify what work is actually important to the product. By timeboxing this activity, teams save time and resources by quickly identifying the work’s importance, allowing us to ignore anything that doesn’t have value.

Timebox for sprint retrospectives

The timebox for sprint retrospectives is three hours or less for a one-month sprint. The general rule of thumb for sprint retrospective timeboxes is 45 minutes for each week the of the sprint. So for a two-week sprint, you only need a timebox of 90 minutes for your retrospective.

During the sprint retrospective timebox, teams will look over everything that happened during the sprint to identify what went well, what went wrong, and what can be improved for the next sprint.

By timeboxing our retrospectives, we can make sure that the meeting stays focused on ways to improve our processes going forward.

Deadlines are dead, timeboxes are the future

Using timeboxes and scrum allows you to be sure your teams are working to the best of their ability. This helps businesses to reduce time and resource wastage while still consistently producing high-quality products.

Timeboxes help teams stay aligned with the project goals, and EasyRetro makes it even easier. With EasyRetro, you can easily visualize how your team is performing and display timeboxes with plenty of context to keep your team running smoothly.

Get started for free today!

How To Create A Team In Microsoft Teams

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Teams is one of the most convenient communications solutions for organizations - especially remote organizations. If you use this platform, then the first thing you will need to know is how to create a team in Microsoft Teams.

A team is when you bring together a group of people on the platform to discuss a certain topic or project. If you have 200 people in your organization, imagine them all trying to communicate with each other on the same channel? That would be a nightmare.

Instead, you can create an organized space, called a team, to keep things organized. You can organize things even more within this Team by creating dedicated channels within the team.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to create a team in Microsoft Teams.

How To Create A New Team In Microsoft Teams
- Creating A Team In Microsoft Teams on Desktop
- Creating A Team In Microsoft Teams on Mobile
Who Can Create Teams?
What Are Channels in Microsoft Teams?
- How To Create A Channel In Microsoft Teams

How To Create A New Team In Microsoft Teams

Here is the step-by-step process to follow in order to create a Team in Microsoft Teams.

Creating A Team In Microsoft Teams On Desktop

Step 1: Select the Teams icon. This is found on the left side column of the app.

Step 2: Select Join or create a team. This is found at the bottom of your teams list.

Step 3: Hold your pointer over the Create a team card. Then select the option Create team.

Step 4: You can now choose whether you want to create a team from an existing group or team, or from scratch. For creating a new team, select From scratch.

Step 5: Now you need to choose what type of team you will be creating.

You will have three options here:

Private: People will need special permission to join this type of team. This will limit the conversations and content shared within the team to a select group of people.
Public: Anyone within the organization can join this team. The conversation and content are made visible to everyone.
Org-wide: Everyone within the organization automatically joins this team once you create it.

Step 5: Now give your team a name. You can also add an optional description to let people know what the team is about.

Step 6: Finally, select Create, and you’re all done. Your team is created!

You are now the owner of the team. Once you have created the team, you can send out invites to join the team. You can also create channels.

All members of the team have a role and certain permissions. There are owners, members, and guests.

Owners have the most permissions. Among other things, they can set team permissions, change the team picture, and add or remove people from the team.

Creating A Team In Microsoft Teams On Mobile

Step 1: Tap on the Teams icon on the bottom bar of the app.

Step 2: Tap on the three dots in the top right corner.

Step 3: Tap on Create new team.

Step 4: Now you can add in your team name and an optional description explaining what your team is about.

Step 5: Tap the tick icon and your team is created. You can now invite people to join the team.

Who Can Create Teams?

Any member of Microsoft Teams has the ability to create a new team. This makes it easy for different departments and collaborators to set up their own communication channels.

However, it is possible to restrict team creation. This could be helpful for large organizations that struggle with many different teams popping up all the time that get in the way of the main teams that the organization uses.

Whoever creates a team becomes the team owner. It is their responsibility to invite members to the team.

What Are Channels In Microsoft Teams?

Within a team, you can have various channels. These are like subsections of the team, with each channel focused on a specific topic.

Depending on the purpose of the team, channels could be used for different projects, conversations, and disciplines.

For example, your organization might have a marketing team. Within this, you could have a channel for social media discussions, a channel for email marketing discussions, and a channel for paid ads discussions.

Members of a team can adjust their notification settings for each channel. So, if a member of the marketing department is only focused on social media, they could stop notifications from all other marketing channels.

Channels improve organization within a team, making it a lot easier for team members to find the information they need and keep conversations directed to the relevant people only.

How To Create A Channel In Microsoft Teams

When creating a channel in Microsoft Teams, you can make it private (restricted to certain people) or standard (accessible to everyone).

Here are the steps you need to take to do this:

Step 1: Select your team in the team list and click on the three dots next to the team name. A list of options will appear. Select Add channel.

*Note: after selecting the three dots, you could also select Manage team and then add a new channel in the Channels tab.

Step 2: Now you add in all of your channel information. Just like creating a team, this involves naming the channel and adding a description.

This is also where you select your privacy settings. You can restrict the channel and make it private or you can make it standard so that everyone on the team has access to it.

Step 3: Click Add and your channel will be created. You can now invite members of the team to join the channel.

Conclusion

Microsoft Teams offers loads of opportunities for communication. It’s an excellent platform to organize conversations, projects, and file sharing within your organization.

Follow the steps above on how to create a team in Microsoft Teams, and you will be able to use the platform to streamline the way your business communicates.

Once you know how to add teams, you can start to make use of the platform’s chat and video functions, file sharing, integrations, and more!

EasyRetro doesn’t just make product management simple — we make it fun and engaging with a wide range of templates and fully customizable boards. Get started for free today!

25+ Funniest Remote Work Memes

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 20:20:13 +0000

It’s unclear how long COVID-19 will be an external factor for people to continue to work remotely. Whether it’s a few more weeks or a few more months, one thing is for certain: remote work is on the rise and will continue to grow.

Since remote work is a reality, Companies will need to find new ways to keep remote employees engaged. Creating a happy workplace is a great way to help boost productivity and ensure the well-being of employees. So why not include some humor in your work environment?

25+ Funniest Remote Work Memes

Humor plays a critical role in organizational communication, assisting in the socialization of new workers, developing a sense of belonging, providing a means to exert power, and relieving tension. Workplace humor produces numerous benefits such as enhanced work performance and general wellbeing, decreased stress, and improved group cohesion.

We looked on the internet and collected 25+ funny remote work memes you can share with your co-workers. These memes will help you bring some humor to your next online meeting.

Here are the 25+ funny remote work memes we found.

If you would like to use EasyRetro to help you bring fun into your work environment. Consider checking out our 6+ Most Popular Retrospective Games. Click here to check!

25+ Funniest Agile Memes

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 19:14:39 +0000

Humor creates an atmosphere of levity and a sense of perspective that can dissolve tension and, in turn, protect us from stress at work and even benefit our health. Research suggests that people who engage in more conversational humor with colleagues feel happier and have higher job satisfaction.

25+ Funniest Agile Memes

With that being said, why not incorporate some humor in your day-to-day work using memes. People on the internet are obsessed with memes; you probably are too. They’re funny, witty, and most of all – they’re relatable.

We looked on the internet and collected 25+ Agile Memes you can use with your team during a Sprint. For example, after running a sprint session, you can ask team members to summarize how the Sprint went by sharing a meme.

Note: The meme doesn’t have to be agile-related. It can be a meme that they love and reflect their feelings about the Sprint.

Here are the 25+ Funny Agile Memes we found. Plus, we added some captions to make them even funnier.

Mordor ain’t got nothing! ☄️

We’ve all been there! 😱

On to the next one! 💪🏼✅

Send this to an AWESOME Scrum Master! 🥂

Did anyone get the mid-sprint feels? 💥🔥

I’m so proud of you all! 😭

Hello? Is there anyone out there? 👀

Who am I anymore! 😅

Can someone help me here? 🔬

You can’t blame agile if it wasn’t agile! 🤪

Imagine if you open the window and it’s a bit windy! 🌬🙃

Here we go! 😂🤣

The struggle is real folks! 🧐🔍

Some sprints are tougher than others! 💀

Nice try! 😉

I wonder if anyone will notice…. 😬🔥

So many times Lol! 😂

So it’s not just about daily scrums and sprint reviews?? 🤯

All the feels! 🤗

What else would you add? ☕

Say it ain’t so! 😕

We’ve all been there! 😄

We are so agile! We can change anything, anytime (told the CEO). 🦸

Everyone has a colleague who is an “agile expert“! 😉

Who else wants a treat? 😹

Do you know what I mean?? 😁

Did you hear that? 👂👂

Could you answer my questions please? 😺

The war is coming! ⚔️

I want to join this Retro ASAP! 🤣

Ready to incorporate some humor in your next sprint? Let us help you!

Click here to check our 200+ Sprint Retrospective Ideas and techniques you can use in your next sprint.

20 Retrospective Tools To Try in 2023

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Whether in person or remote, sprint retrospectives help improve your product development process by reviewing your team’s synergy levels during the sprint.

These 30-minute to three-hour-long sessions serve as an opportunity for the scrum team to carefully inspect itself and craft a plan to enhance their collaboration and efficiency in the next sprint.

So a well-carried-out sprint retrospective empowers your product team to brainstorm practicable solutions to the challenges that arise during the development process.

But to facilitate a fruitful and engaging retrospective that actually improves your scrum team’s operations, you need to pick the right tool for the job (especially when your team is distributed or hybrid).

Retrospective tool #1: EasyRetro
Retrospective tool #2: Retrium
Retrospective tool #3: TeamRetro
Retrospective tool #4: Parabol
Retrospective tool #5: Reetro
Retrospective tool #6: Metro Retro
Retrospective tool #7: ScatterSpoke
Retrospective tool #8: goReflect
Retrospective tool #9: Retros.work
Retrospective tool #10: Neatro
Retrospective tool #11: Geekbot
Retrospective tool #12: Sprintlio
Retrospective tool #13: TeamMood
Retrospective tool #14: RetroTool
Retrospective tool #15: Team O’clock
Retrospective tool #16: IdeaBoardz
Retrospective tool #17: Retro Rabbit
Retrospective tool #18: SprintBoards
Retrospective tool #19: Retrospect.team
Retrospective tool #20: GroupMap
Rev up your retrospective today

20 Retrospective Tools To Try in 2023

In this post, we’ll share the top 20 handpicked retrospective tools — with their brief overview, pricing plans, and compelling features — so you can make an informed decision in accordance with your team’s unique requirements.

Retrospective tool #1: EasyRetro

What EasyRetro’s retrospective board looks like:

By far the most easy-to-use and customizable retrospective board available today, EasyRetro lets you instantly create private and public boards with more than 100 beautiful templates. You can organize your past retros in a dashboard, sort and filter cards, and integrate the tool with Microsoft Teams, Confluence, Jira and your team’s Slack workspace.

Members can add comments to cards, vote on them, create action items, choose between various retrospective ideas, and even run surveys during retrospectives.

It also lets you export your boards in various formats such as PDF, CSV, PNG, Excel and DOCX.

Website: easyretro.io

Pricing:

EasyRetro is one of the most affordable retrospective tools at just $25 per month per team (unlimited members). What’s more, it’s free if you only wish to create public boards!

Why choose it:

The sheer level of customization you can do to your retrospective boards, the super-intuitive interface, and the ability to invite unlimited team members to join your collaborative board.

Retrospective tool #2: Retrium

What Retrium’s retrospective board looks like:

A retrospective tool more suited to enterprises, Retrium allows your Scrum Master to host retrospectives using a variety of techniques, such as:

You get plenty of scrum and agile team templates that help with different purposes such as goal evaluation, team morale measurement, etc. It lets you generate action plans and walks your team through an engaging retrospective, thus leading to effective conversations in the session.

Retrium integrates with your Jira workflow so your team can set due dates and ensure that the ideas and action items discussed in the retrospective are put into practice.

Website: www.retrium.com

Pricing:

The Team plan costs $39 per team room per month for unlimited retrospectives and users. The Business plan costs $59 per team room per month and includes more goodies such as SSO implementation, priority support, and an hour-long training session.

Why choose it:

Retrium encourages your team to share feedback openly in the form of anonymous comments, ensuring psychological safety. Moreover, it makes it easy to review previous meeting details and completed retrospectives.

Retrospective tool #3: TeamRetro

What TeamRetro’s retrospective board looks like:

Another one tailored to remote enterprise teams, TeamRetro is a user-friendly online retrospective tool that lets you run retros with guided facilitation techniques. The Scrum Master can use private aliases to avoid groupthink and easily keep things on track with a timer.

It is fully customizable, cross-device-friendly, and plays well with your existing tech stacks such as Microsoft Teams, Atlassian Jira Cloud, Jira Server, Asana, Basecamp, Trello, and GitHub.

TeamRetro checks all the boxes for enterprise-grade security with features such as 256-bit SSL encryption, SOC2-certified infrastructure, 99.9% uptime SLA, role-based access control, and SSO via SAM. You can access reporting and health data programmatically via its Enterprise API.

Website: www.teamretro.com

Pricing:

The price starts at $25 per month for one team to $90 per month for six teams. The Enterprise plan is suitable for organizations with 15+ teams that require SSO, SLAs, security reviews, priority support, etc. You can try it free for 30 days.

Why choose it:

The Team Radars and Health Checks is its standout feature that gives insight into everyone’s performance and morale via self-reported health scores. Also, its dashboards let you track action plan delivery, meeting cadence, and team sentiment over time with downloadable reports.

Retrospective tool #4: Parabol

What Parabol’s retrospective board looks like:

Get your team talking and improving at the end of each sprint with Parabol, a tool to run more effective agile meetings.

You can easily check in with your teammates to uncover issues and review accomplishments. Other key features include multiplayer drag-and-drop cards, live task editing, a timer, dynamic agenda items, emoji reactions, discussion threads, 40+ popular retrospective formats, and 200+ built-in icebreaker questions.

Parabol automatically generates a meeting summary at the end of every retro and delivers it to the attendees via email or Slack, making it easy for everyone to review the main points and work on the next steps. It integrates with your usual tools such as Atlassian Jira, GitHub, and Slack.

It also offers enterprise-level security for larger organizations, similar to TeamRetro.

Website: www.parabol.co

Pricing:

Free for up to 2 teams. The Pro plan costs $6 per active user per month and includes unlimited teams, priority support, and enhanced security.

Why choose it:

Parabol’s Sprint Poker allows you to estimate effort using an interactive card deck — sync issues from your backlog and collaborate on project estimation with a fun digital deck. Also, its anonymous voting feature prevents anchoring and bias.

Retrospective tool #5: Reetro

What Reetro’s retrospective board looks like:

Reetro is a highly versatile and easy-to-use online retrospective tool for agile teams. It nails all the basic features you’d want, such as:

A fully customizable public board or private retrospective boards
User role-setting
Swiss timer to timebox your retros
Votes, comments, and action items
Anonymous feedback collection
Action tracker to manage action items
Email summaries

Get insights into your team’s behavior with periodic team health checks, along with a happiness index.

It plugs into your existing stack (Jira, Trello, Confluence, Azure, and Slack) and even offers enterprise-level features like SSO, 2FA, 99.9% uptime, and role-based access control — for free.

Website: reetro.io

Pricing:

As incredible as it may sound, this online retro tool is 100% free — all features, any team size!

Why choose it:

Reetro has nearly every feature you’ll ever need as a Scrum Master, and it’s completely free.

Retrospective tool #6: Metro Retro

What Metro Retro’s retrospective board looks like:

Metro Retro is an online retrospective whiteboard that’s great for real-time collaboration with remote or co-located teams. Here are a few cool things you can do in Metro Retro:

Create sticky notes in real-time with your team
Pinpoint themes and group stickies together with the Group Tool
Show your feelings using emojis with the Reaction Tool
Vote on stickies or groups with a voting round

The tool packs a good collection of illustrated templates (for icebreakers, strategy, etc.) to help you run engaging and productive retrospectives.

Website: metroretro.io

Pricing:

The free plan lets you create up to 3000 board objects and use the template library. The Team plan costs $6 per team member per month, allowing your team to create unlimited objects, invite external guests, have priority support, set access and permission controls, and more. There’s also an enterprise plan (contact sales for quote) for large-scale collaboration.

Why choose it:

A neat whiteboard format to host engaging retrospectives. The ability to vote on sticky notes with smileys and celebrate with a confetti cannon makes it a fun little tool.

Retrospective tool #7: ScatterSpoke

What ScatterSpoke’s retrospective board looks like:

With ScatterSpoke, it’s all about leveraging data to improve your development process. It uses AI to derive actionable meaning out of the retro data you’re collecting in your meetings, thus giving you insight into team sentiment, bottlenecks, conflicts, and routes to resolution.

Your team can submit, group, and vote on action items, and the Scrum Master can gather anonymous feedback.

ScatterSpoke’s Team Pulse Report shares trends, patterns, and opportunities so you can keep everyone on the same page about what to do next. It integrates with Jira, Confluence, Miro, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Trello.

Website: www.scatterspoke.com

Pricing:

Free for up to 15 team members — unlimited retros and teams. The Business plan costs $6 per user per month and includes SSO with premium support. There’s a custom enterprise plan with a personalized onboarding and a dedicated account manager.

Why choose it:

This retro tool enables you to have a data-driven approach to identify the right improvements for your team. It eliminates the need to send employee satisfaction/feedback surveys, and you get valuable employee insights (participation, action items resolved, etc.) with an overall improvement rating in the Team Pulse Report.

Retrospective tool #8: goReflect

What goReflect’s retrospective board looks like:

If you want a simple and clean online retrospective tool that keeps the mood light with GIFs, memes, and images, then you’re looking at goReflect.

This tool helps your team build an everyday awareness of improvement opportunities by encouraging them to share topics on the retro board anytime. It helps avoid groupthink by masking the cards to hide their content until the retro session. You can set action items and get a dashboard to track the team’s commitments and improvements easily.

Website: www.goreflect.com

Pricing:

goReflect is free for 100 days and $2.67 per user per month after that.

Why choose it:

Besides its simplicity, the tool enables teammates to contribute topics before the retro. This means they can take their time to come up with thoughtful ideas before the meeting and can reduce stress in the retrospective. Plus, anonymous posts empower introverts to contribute to the retro.

Retrospective tool #9: Retros.work

What Retros.work’s retrospective board looks like:

Another online retrospective tool with a simple and neat interface, Retros.work lets you set up an online remote retrospective in a matter of clicks.

Put simply, if you’re seeking a straightforward, secure tool to invite your remote team to a retro, create custom question models (such as 4Ls, Plus/Minus, etc.), vote on action items, capture feedback, and analyze trends (mood, energy, etc.), then Retros.work is a good option to consider.

Website: retros.work

Pricing:

With a freemium pricing model, you can try the tool’s free version with unlimited retrospectives and users, albeit with limited features. The Premium plan costs €2.69 per month per user and includes custom question models, trends, and archives.

Why choose it:

Retros.work lets you track emotion and energy trends as the sprints go by. Plus, it works well on mobile.

Retrospective tool #10: Neatro

What Neatro’s retrospective board looks like:

Continuous improvement and growth is the philosophy behind Neatro, a responsive online retrospective tool for distributed agile teams.

This tool puts the fun back in retros with an impressive collection of retrospective templates. It splits your retrospective into four steps — Collect, Group, Vote, and Action Plan — to make your session more efficient, giving your team a clear action plan on how to improve until the next one.

Easily create and assign action items, and export them to Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana, or IceScrum. Add your action plan to the next sprint and keep your teammates accountable for your team’s continuous improvement with action item reminders.

Website: www.neatro.io

Pricing:

You can start a 30-day free trial, after which you need to opt for the Premium plan that costs $20 per month per team (it gets discounted as you add more teams). The Enterprise plan is custom-built as per your needs and gets you a dedicated account manager, SSO with SAML, training, and security audits.

Why choose it:

Neatro’s team health check feature is neat, letting you gauge your team’s strengths, areas of improvement, and how your team feels in terms of the project speed, collaboration, roles, etc. Moreover, it automatically generates reports with valuable insights on action items and their lifecycle, comments organized by votes, and the list of the members who joined a retrospective.

Retrospective tool #11: Geekbot

What Geekbot’s retrospective board looks like:

If you’re using Slack or Microsoft Teams and want to integrate your retros within your teams’ channels, then Geekbot is an app you can consider.

Essentially, it’s built to automate standups, surveys, and daily reports right inside your Slack or Teams channel. For each team member, it keeps a log of what’s going well, what’s not going well, their learnings, and roadblocks. You can easily plan your retros and set automatic reminders for the team.

Geekbot also evaluates engagement, happiness, and productivity levels with its AI language analysis that reveals the thought process behind the responses.

Website: geekbot.com

Pricing:

Geekbot offers a free Start-up plan for up to ten participants. The Standard plan costs just $2.5 per participant per month.

Why choose it:

The blend of standup, surveys, and retros — all within your existing Slack channels. Plus, for developers, Geekbot’s public API allows building custom features to create your own workflows.

Retrospective tool #12: Sprintlio

What Sprintlio’s retrospective board looks like:

A tool for larger enterprises, Sprintlio is all about making retros more than digital sticky notes — with custom meeting formats, facilitation features (such as grouping, voting, commenting, etc.), and in-depth meeting analytics.

It automates recaps and ensures accountability for your scrum team members. If you’re using Jira, your retrospective’s action items, owners, and due dates are automatically exported with your backlog. Furthermore, Sprintlio seamlessly syncs with Slack as well.

Website: sprintlio.com

Pricing:

Targeted at bigger companies, the Sprintlio Pro plan costs $50 per month, starting with a 30-day free trial. Along with priority customer support, it includes unlimited users, teams, meetings, action items, history, analytics, integrations, recaps, reminders, storage, and team health.

Why choose it:

Sprintlio has a special focus on action items, enabling an easy view of open action items, completion rate, and assigned action items, all directly in Jira or Slack.

Retrospective tool #13: TeamMood

What TeamMood’s retrospective board looks like:

Concerned about your scrum team’s morale and wellness? TeamMood is here to help!

This easy-to-use tool is less about retrospectives and more about maintaining a strong team synergy with proactive wellness management. It’s a great tool to get insights into your individual team member’s daily moods. It takes less than two minutes to respond, and it’s anonymous so that members are likely to answer truthfully and you can really assess how they are feeling.

You can then use your team mood analytics as a basis to open up helpful discussions in your retrospectives.

Website: www.teammood.com

Pricing:

After a 30-day free trial, TeamMood’s Business plan costs $2 per user per month. It includes daily notifications, anonymous feedback, analytics, integrations, and all the core features except for a few additional ones such as custom branding and SSO that are available on the custom-made Enterprise plan.

Why choose it:

TeamMood is an ideal tool to gauge your team’s engagement levels and emotions, allowing you to take better care of their needs and get anonymous (honest) feedback for continuous improvement.

Retrospective tool #14: RetroTool

What RetroTool’s retrospective board looks like:

If you’re looking for a quick and easy online retro tool to get started right away, then RetroTool is your answer.

Without even having to sign up, you can quickly create a retro board (using templates or from scratch) and share the link with your team members. Features include card sorting and voting, Private Sections to get people’s thoughts, the ability to group similar post-its, and a timer to keep the session on track.

All in all, RetroTool is a simple and straightforward tool to brainstorm with your remote team.

Website: retrotool.io

Pricing:

RetroTool offers a free Anonymous plan wherein you can get started without signing up. Alternatively, you can go for the Registered plan (free) to store your three months of retrospectives in a dashboard and get customization options. The Premium plan costs $20 per month and lets you create private, invite-only retrospectives with premium support.

Why choose it:

If you have the need for speed — you can get started and create unlimited retrospectives without having to sign up, and creating and sharing retros is a matter of a few quick clicks.

Retrospective tool #15: Team O’clock

What Team O’clock’s retrospective board looks like:

Combine your sprint retrospectives with daily standups using Team O’clock. This online retro tool provides you with a digital board to create notes, discuss and prioritize action items, and plan your project with virtual poker cards.

Team O’clock helps remove bias by letting you collect private feedback, implement various retrospective techniques, and improve your team’s accountability and focus with easy daily check-ins.

It integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and Asana, so you can run your retros and get tasks in your existing tech stack.

Website: www.teamoclock.com

Pricing:

There’s a free plan for up to five team members and limited features. The Starter plan costs $29 per month for up to 20 members. The Standard plan (with a one-month free trial) costs $69 per month for up to 50 members and includes team metrics with meeting customizations. There’s also an Enterprise plan (contact for quote) for even bigger teams.

Why choose it:

With Team O’clock, you can unite your standup meetings and sprint retrospectives in a single, easy-to-use tool that plays well with your usual communication and project management tools.

Retrospective tool #16: IdeaBoardz

What IdeaBoardz’s retrospective board looks like:

As the name suggests, IdeaBoardz is an online brainstorming tool for geographically distributed teams.

With it, you can easily gather your scrum teams’ inputs, reflect and retrospect over a digital board with color-coded cards. The Scrum Master can collect inputs over a period of days and then hold a retro meeting to discuss them.

Overall, it’s a bare-bones team collaboration tool that neatly serves the purpose it’s built for.

Website: ideaboardz.com

Pricing:

No paid plans, IdeaBoardz is a free tool.

Why choose it:

No feature overload and a simple layout. Plus, it’s free!

Retrospective tool #17: Retro Rabbit

What Retro Rabbit’s retrospective board looks like:

If your teams live and breathe inside Slack and you wish to integrate your retrospectives within Slack channels, then hop into Retro Rabbit.

Without disrupting your usual Slack workflow, you can easily add retro notes (by typing “/retro”) during the sprint, join a real-time synced retro board for that channel, create and assign action items, and export a PDF or XLSX summary. Features like voting, grouping, and discussion timers can help make your retro more productive.

Run seamless retros right inside your Slack workspace. No need to create and remember new accounts or passwords — that’s what Retro Rabbit is about.

Website: retrorabbit.io

Pricing:

You pay for channels you use Retro Rabbit in. The Pro plan costs $20 per team per month and includes all the features with unlimited users and retros. The Enterprise plan is custom built and includes a dedicated account manager, more integrations, and team training. A 14-day free trial is available.

Why choose it:

Your team can add notes ahead of time (during the sprint) so the retro meeting becomes more focused and actionable. Also, it supports all custom Slackmojis, making for fun retros.

Retrospective tool #18: SprintBoards

What Sprint Boards’ retrospective board looks like:

An online retro tool designed for agile developers, Sprint Boards lets you create a variety of retro board types such as Mad-Sad-Glad, 4Ls, Starfish, What Went Well, etc.

With this tool, you get some nifty features like:

Keyboard shortcuts for common tasks like adding, editing, and saving cards.
Duplicates merging with simple drag-and-drop.
Lock and delete boards after a retro.
View and manage board history and action items.
Easy Slack sharing along with Trello, Jira, and Excel export.

Put simply, Sprint Boards is a great choice for agile teams that move fast and focus on execution.

Website: sprintboards.io

Pricing:

Create unlimited mobile-friendly boards at $7.99 per month per team or $79.99 per year per team. A 7-day free trial is available.

Why choose it:

The card masking feature helps the Scrum Master prevent team members from influencing each other by masking each others’ cards until the end of the retro.

Retrospective tool #19: Retrospect.team

What Retrospect.team’s retrospective board looks like:

Trusted by companies like Nike and Penske, Retrospect.team is an online retrospective and task planner tool built for simplicity and speed.

Pick from six templates to kickstart your scrum team’s collaboration in an intuitive, card-based format. Easily create a retrospective space for each project, and the details are automatically saved from sprint to sprint so you can review your progress against your goals.

Website: retrospect.team

Pricing:

You can start with a basic free version of the tool with limited features and ads. If it fits your needs, you can upgrade to the Unlimited Pro plan, which costs $16 per year with all features and no ads. There’s also a Lifetime plan with a one-time cost of $384.

Why choose it:

Whether it’s a sprint retro or an idea brainstorming session, Retrospect.team is one of the simplest online tools you can use to hit the ground running.

Retrospective tool #20: GroupMap

What GroupMap’s retrospective board looks like:

The last one on the list is GroupMap — an online group brainstorming and decision-making tool that also works well for hosting agile retrospectives.

With easy-to-use templates, GroupMap lets you customize your workflow, group common themes, prioritize the key action areas, assign tasks with time frames to members, and share the outcomes (as PDF report, CSV, or XLS) of the session with a clear action plan.

Website: www.groupmap.com

Pricing:

The Basic plan for up to 10 participants costs $20 per month and includes basic process design, facilitator controls, reporting, and email support. The Professional plan costs $60 per month for up to 50 participants and includes advanced process design, facilitator controls, reporting, and priority support. You can try the Professional plan with a 14-day free trial.

Why choose it:

GroupMap works well on all devices — desktops, tablets, and smartphones — so your team can collaborate in real-time on any browser, anywhere. It is enterprise-ready with SSO via SAML, and you can choose between hosting your GroupMap account and data in the US or the EU. You can also have your corporate branding and leverage concierge support and training.

Rev up your retrospective today!

Building a successful product is a marathon, not a sprint.

But, this marathon is better run as short bursts of energetic sprints that you can review and revise — for which, having the right pair of trainers is key.

A good sprint retrospective tool such as EasyRetro makes it effortless to run fun, collaborative, and productive retrospective sessions with your remote teams. You get a beautiful, intuitive, and fully customizable retrospective board that also integrates with Slack.

So, what are you waiting for? See first-hand why EasyRetro is the perfect retrospective tool for your team with a 7-day free trial!

20 Ferramentas de Retrospectivas de Sprint para Experimentar em 2023

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Seja pessoalmente ou à distância, as retrospectivas de sprint ajudam a melhorar o processo de desenvolvimento do seu produto através da revisão dos níveis de sinergia da sua equipe durante a sprint.

Estas sessões de 30 minutos a três horas servem como uma oportunidade para a equipe de scrum analisar cuidadosamente e elaborar um plano para melhorar a sua colaboração e eficiência na próxima sprint.

Assim, uma retrospectiva de sprint bem realizada capacita a sua equipe de produto a pensar em soluções viáveis para os desafios que surgem durante o processo de desenvolvimento.

Mas para facilitar uma retrospectiva frutífera e envolvente que realmente melhore as operações de sua equipe de scrum, você precisa escolher a ferramenta certa para o trabalho (especialmente quando sua equipe é distribuída ou híbrida).

Neste post, compartilharemos as 20 melhores ferramentas de retrospectivas de sprint escolhidas a dedo - com sua breve visão geral, planos de preços e características convincentes - para que você possa tomar uma decisão informada de acordo com as exigências exclusivas de sua equipe.

Índice

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #1: EasyRetro
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #2: Retrium
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #3: TeamRetro
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #4: Parabol
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #5: Reetro
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #6: Metro Retro
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #7: ScatterSpoke
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #8: goReflect
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #9: Retros.work
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #10: Neatro
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #11: Geekbot
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #12: Sprintlio
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #13: TeamMood
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #14: RetroTool
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #15: Team O’clock
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #16: IdeaBoardz
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #17: Retro Rabbit
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #18: SprintBoards
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #19: Retrospect.team
Ferramenta de retrospectiva #20: GroupMap
Revise hoje sua retrospectiva!

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #1: EasyRetro

Como é o board de retrospectiva do EasyRetro:

De longe o board de retrospectiva mais fácil de usar e personalizável disponível hoje em dia, o EasyRetro permite criar instantaneamente boards privados e públicos com mais de 100 lindos modelos. Você pode organizar suas retrospectivas passadas em um painel de controle, classificar e filtrar post-its e integrar a ferramenta com o Conlfunce, Jira ou Slack de sua equipe.

Os membros podem adicionar comentários aos post-its, votar neles, escolher entre vários formatos de retrospectivas e até mesmo executar pesquisas durante as retrospectivas.

Também permite exportar seus boards em vários formatos como PDF, CSV, PNG e DOCX.

Site: easyretro.io

Preço:

O EasyRetro é uma das ferramentas de retrospectiva mais acessíveis a apenas R$ 35 por mês por equipe (membros ilimitados). Além disso, é gratuito se você deseja apenas criar boards públicos!

Por que escolhê-la?

O nível absoluto de personalização que você pode fazer com seus boards de retrospectiva, a interface super-intuitiva e a capacidade de convidar membros ilimitados da equipe para participar de seu board de colaboração.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #2: Retrium

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Retrium:

Uma ferramenta de retrospectiva mais adequada às empresas, Retrium permite que seu Scrum Master hospede retrospectivas usando uma variedade de técnicas, como por exemplo:

Iniciar, Parar, Continuar
O que correu bem
Mad, Sad, Glad
4Ls

Você obtém muitos modelos de scrum e de equipe ágil que ajudam em diferentes propósitos, como avaliação de metas, medição do moral da equipe, etc. Ele permite que você gere planos de ação e acompanhe sua equipe através de uma retrospectiva envolvente, levando assim a conversas efetivas na sessão.

Retrium se integra ao seu fluxo de trabalho no Jira para que sua equipe possa definir datas de vencimento e garantir que as ideias e itens de ação discutidos na retrospectiva sejam colocados em prática.

Site: www.retrium.com

Preço:

O plano da equipe custa US$ 39 por sala de equipe por mês para retrospectivas e usuários ilimitados. O plano de negócios custa US$ 59 por sala de equipe por mês e inclui mais coisas boas, como implementação de SSO, suporte prioritário e uma sessão de treinamento de uma hora.

Por que escolhê-la?

Retrium encoraja sua equipe a compartilhar abertamente o feedback na forma de comentários anônimos, garantindo a segurança psicológica. Além disso, facilita a revisão de detalhes de reuniões anteriores e retrospectivas completas.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #3: TeamRetro

Como é o board de retrospectiva da TeamRetro:

Outra ferramenta adaptada para equipes empresariais remotas, o TeamRetro é uma ferramenta de retrospectiva on-line de fácil utilização que permite executar retrospectivas com técnicas de facilitação guiadas. O Scrum Master pode usar pseudônimos privados para evitar pensamentos de grupo e facilmente manter as coisas no rumo certo com um cronômetro.

Ela é totalmente personalizável, é amigável, e joga bem com suas pilhas de tecnologia existentes, tais como Microsoft Teams, Atlassian Jira Cloud, Jira Server, Asana, Basecamp, Trello e GitHub.

O TeamRetro verifica todas as caixas para segurança de nível empresarial com recursos como criptografia SSL de 256 bits, infra-estrutura certificada SOC2, SLA de 99,9% de uptime, controle de acesso baseado em funções, e SSO via SAM. Você pode acessar relatórios e dados de saúde programaticamente através de seu Enterprise API.

Site: www.teamretro.com

Preço:

O preço começa em US$ 25 por mês para uma equipe até US$ 90 por mês para seis equipes. O plano Enterprise é adequado para organizações com mais de 15 equipes que requerem SSO, SLAs, revisões de segurança, suporte prioritário, etc. Você pode experimentá-lo gratuitamente por 30 dias.

Por que escolhê-la?

O Team Radars e Health Checks é sua característica de destaque que dá uma visão do desempenho e da moral de todos através de resultados de saúde auto-reportados. Além disso, seus painéis de controle permitem +acompanhar a entrega do plano de ação, a cadência das reuniões e o sentimento da equipe ao longo do tempo com relatórios para download.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #4: Parabol

Como é o board de retrospectiva da Parabol:

Faça sua equipe falar e melhorar ao final de cada sprint com Parabol, uma ferramenta para realizar reuniões mais eficazes e ágeis.

Você pode facilmente verificar com seus colegas de equipe para descobrir problemas e revisar as realizações. Outras características-chave incluem cartões multiplayer drag-and-drop, edição de tarefas ao vivo, um cronômetro, itens dinâmicos da agenda, reações emoji, tópicos de discussão, mais de 40 formatos populares de retrospectiva e mais de 200 perguntas integradas de quebra-gelo.

Parabol gera automaticamente um resumo da reunião no final de cada retro e o entrega aos participantes via e-mail ou Slack, facilitando a todos a revisão dos pontos principais e o trabalho nos próximos passos. Integra-se com suas ferramentas habituais, como Atlassian Jira, GitHub e Slack.

Também oferece segurança de nível empresarial para organizações maiores, semelhante ao TeamRetro.

Site: www.parabol.co

Preço:

Grátis para até 2 equipes. O plano Pro custa US$ 6 por usuário ativo por mês e inclui equipes ilimitadas, suporte prioritário e maior segurança.

Por que escolhê-la?

O Sprint Poker do Parabol permite a você estimar o esforço usando um baralho de cartas interativo - sincronize problemas de seu backlog e colabore na estimativa do projeto com um divertido baralho digital. Além disso, seu recurso de votação anônima evita a ancoragem e o viés.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #5: Reetro

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Reetro:

O Reetro é uma ferramenta de retrospectiva on-line altamente versátil e fácil de usar para equipes ágeis. Ele prega todas as características básicas que você gostaria, como por exemplo:

Um board público totalmente personalizável ou boards de retrospectiva privados
Definição de funções do usuário
Temporizador suíço para cronometrar suas retrospectivas
Votos, comentários e itens de ação
Coleta anônima de feedback
Rastreador de ações para gerenciar itens de ação
Resumos de e-mail

Obtenha insights sobre o comportamento de sua equipe com verificações periódicas da saúde da equipe, juntamente com um índice de felicidade.

Ele se conecta à sua pilha existente (Jira, Trello, Confluence, Azure e Slack) e até oferece características de nível empresarial como SSO, 2FA, 99,9% de tempo de atividade e controle de acesso baseado em funções - de graça.

Site: reetro.io

Preço:

Por incrível que pareça, esta ferramenta retro online é 100% gratuita - todas as características, qualquer tamanho de equipe!

Por que escolhê-la?

O Reetro tem quase todas as características que você precisará como um Scrum Master, e é completamente gratuito.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #6: Metro Retro

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Metro Retro:

Metro Retro é um board branco de retrospectiva on-line que é ótimo para colaboração em tempo real com equipes remotas ou co-localizadas. Aqui estão algumas coisas legais que você pode fazer no Metro Retro:

Crie notas adesivas em tempo real com sua equipe
Identificar os temas e os grupos de trabalho com a ferramenta Grupo
Mostre seus sentimentos usando emojis com a Ferramenta de Reação
Votar em adesivos ou grupos com rodada de votação

A ferramenta contém uma boa coleção de modelos ilustrados (para quebra-gelos, estratégia, etc.) para ajudar você a fazer retrospectivas envolventes e produtivas.

Site: metroretro.io

Preço:

O plano gratuito permite criar até 3000 objetos de board e usar a biblioteca de modelos. O plano de equipe custa US$ 6 por membro da equipe por mês, permitindo que sua equipe crie objetos ilimitados, convide convidados externos, tenha suporte prioritário, estabeleça controles de acesso e permissão, e muito mais. Há também um plano empresarial (contato de vendas para orçamento) para colaboração em larga escala.

Por que escolhê-la?

Um formato de board branco elegante para hospedar retrospectivas envolventes. A capacidade de votar em notas pegajosas com smileys e celebrar com um canhão de confetes faz dele uma pequena ferramenta divertida.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #7: ScatterSpoke

Como é o board de retrospectiva do ScatterSpoke:

Com o ScatterSpoke, tudo se resume a aproveitar os dados para melhorar seu processo de desenvolvimento. Ele usa IA para obter um significado acionável a partir dos dados retroativos que você está coletando em suas reuniões, dando-lhe assim uma visão do sentimento de equipe, gargalos, conflitos e rotas para a resolução.

Sua equipe pode submeter, agrupar e votar em itens de ação, e o Scrum Master pode coletar feedback anônimo.

O ScatterSpoke’s Team Pulse Report compartilha tendências, padrões e oportunidades para que você possa manter todos na mesma página sobre o que fazer a seguir. Integra-se com Jira, Confluence, Miro, Slack, Microsoft Teams, e Trello.

Site: www.scatterspoke.com

Preço:

Livre para até 15 membros da equipe - retros e equipes ilimitadas. O plano de negócios custa US$ 6 por usuário por mês e inclui SSO com suporte premium. Há um plano empresarial personalizado, com um onboarding personalizado e um gerente de conta dedicado.

Por que escolhê-la?

Esta ferramenta de retrospectiva permite que você tenha uma abordagem orientada por dados para identificar as melhorias corretas para sua equipe. Ela elimina a necessidade de enviar pesquisas de satisfação/feedback dos funcionários, e você obtém valiosas percepções dos funcionários (participação, itens de ação resolvidos, etc.) com uma classificação de melhoria geral no Relatório de Pulso da Equipe.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #8: goReflect

Como é o board de retrospectiva do goReflect:

Se você quiser uma ferramenta simples e limpa de retrospectiva on-line que mantenha humor leve com GIFs, memes e imagens, então você está olhando para goReflect.

Esta ferramenta ajuda sua equipe a construir uma consciência diária das oportunidades de melhoria, encorajando-os a compartilhar tópicos no board de retrospectiva a qualquer momento. Ela ajuda a evitar pensamentos de grupo, mascarando os cartões para esconder seu conteúdo até a sessão da retrospectiva. Você pode definir itens de ação e obter um painel de controle para acompanhar facilmente os compromissos e melhorias da equipe.

Site: www.goreflect.com

Preço:

goReflect é gratuito por 100 dias e $2,67 por usuário por mês depois disso.

Por que escolhê-la?

Além de sua simplicidade, a ferramenta permite que os colegas de equipe contribuam com tópicos antes do retro. Isto significa que eles podem dedicar seu tempo para apresentar ideias pensativas antes da reunião e podem reduzir o estresse na retrospectiva. Além disso, posts anônimos capacitam os introvertidos a contribuir com o retro.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #9: Retros.work

Como é o board de retrospectiva da Retros.work:

Outra ferramenta de retrospectiva on-line com uma interface simples e limpa, Retros.work permite que você configure uma retrospectiva remota on-line em questão de cliques.

Simplificando, se você estiver procurando uma ferramenta simples e segura para convidar sua equipe remota para uma retrospectiva, criar modelos de perguntas personalizadas (como 4Ls, Plus/Minus, etc.), votar em itens de ação, capturar feedback e analisar tendências (humor, energia, etc.), então o Retros.work é uma boa opção a ser considerada.

Site: retros.work

Preço:

Com um modelo de preço freemium, você pode experimentar a versão gratuita da ferramenta com retrospectivas ilimitadas e usuários, embora com características limitadas. O plano Premium custa 2,69 euros por mês por usuário e inclui modelos de perguntas, tendências e arquivos personalizados.

Por que escolhê-la?

Retros.work permite acompanhar as tendências emocionais e energéticas à medida que os sprints passam. Além disso, ele funciona bem em mobile.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #10: Neatro

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Neatro:

A melhoria contínua e o crescimento são as filosofias por trás do Neatro, uma ferramenta de retrospectiva online responsiva para equipes ágeis distribuídas.

Esta ferramenta coloca a diversão de volta nas retrospectivas com uma impressionante coleção de modelos de retrospectivas. Ela divide sua retrospectiva em quatro etapas - Coleta, Grupo, Votação e Plano de Ação - para tornar sua sessão mais eficiente, dando à sua equipe um plano de ação claro sobre como melhorar até a próxima.

Crie e atribua facilmente itens de ação e os exporte para Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana, ou IceScrum. Adicione seu plano de ação ao próximo sprint e mantenha seus colegas de equipe responsáveis pela melhoria contínua de sua equipe com lembretes de itens de ação.

Site: www.neatro.io

Preço:

Você pode começar um teste gratuito de 30 dias, após o qual você precisa optar pelo plano Premium que custa $20 por mês por equipe (ele é descontado à medida que você adiciona mais equipes). O plano Enterprise é personalizado de acordo com suas necessidades e lhe dá um gerente de conta dedicado, SSO com SAML, treinamento e auditorias de segurança.

Por que escolhê-la?

O recurso de verificação da saúde da equipe Neatro é limpo, permitindo avaliar os pontos fortes de sua equipe, áreas de melhoria e como sua equipe se sente em termos de velocidade do projeto, colaboração, funções, etc. Além disso, gera automaticamente relatórios com informações valiosas sobre os itens de ação e seu ciclo de vida, comentários organizados por votação e a lista dos membros que aderiram a uma retrospectiva.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #11: Geekbot

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Geekbot:

Se você estiver usando Slack ou Microsoft Teams e quiser integrar seus retros nos canais de suas equipes, então o Geekbot é um aplicativo que você pode considerar.

Essencialmente, ele é construído para automatizar standups, pesquisas e relatórios diários dentro de seu canal Slack ou Teams. Para cada membro da equipe, ele mantém um registro do que está indo bem, do que não está indo bem, de seus aprendizados e roadblocks. Você pode facilmente planejar suas retrospectivas e definir lembretes automáticos para a equipe.

O Geekbot também avalia os níveis de engajamento, felicidade e produtividade com sua análise da linguagem AI que revela o processo de pensamento por trás das respostas.

Site: geekbot.com

Preço:

A Geekbot oferece um plano de Start-up gratuito para até dez participantes. O plano Standard custa apenas US$ 2,5 por participante por mês.

Por que escolhê-la?

A mistura de standup, pesquisas e retrospectivas - tudo dentro de seus canais Slack existentes. Além disso, para os desenvolvedores, a API pública do Geekbot permite construir recursos personalizados para criar seus próprios fluxos de trabalho.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #12: Sprintlio

Como é o board de retrospectiva da Sprintlio:

Uma ferramenta para empresas maiores, a Sprintlio tem tudo a ver com fazer retrospectivas mais do que notas adesivas digitais - com formatos de reunião personalizados, recursos de facilitação (como agrupamento, votação, comentários, etc.), e análise profunda da reunião.

Ele automatiza as recapitulações e garante a responsabilidade dos membros de sua equipe de scrum. Se você estiver usando Jira, os itens de ação de sua retrospectiva, proprietários e datas de vencimento são automaticamente exportados com seu backlog. Além disso, a Sprintlio também sincroniza perfeitamente com a Slack.

Site: sprintlio.com

Preço:

Destinado a empresas maiores, o plano Sprintlio Pro custa $50 por mês, começando com um teste gratuito de 30 dias. Junto com o suporte prioritário ao cliente, inclui usuários ilimitados, equipes, reuniões, itens de ação, histórico, análises, integrações, recapitulativos, lembretes, armazenamento e saúde da equipe.

Por que escolhê-la?

A Sprintlio tem um foco especial nos itens de ação, permitindo uma visão fácil dos itens de ação abertos, taxa de conclusão e itens de ação atribuídos, tudo diretamente em Jira ou Slack.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #13: TeamMood

Como é o board de retrospectiva da TeamMood:

Preocupado com a moral e o bem-estar de sua equipe de scrum? A TeamMood está aqui para ajudar!

Esta ferramenta fácil de usar tem menos a ver com retrospectivas e mais com a manutenção de uma forte sinergia de equipe com a gestão proativa do bem-estar. É uma ótima ferramenta para obter insights sobre o humor diário de cada membro de sua equipe. Leva menos de dois minutos para responder, e é anônima para que os membros possam responder com veracidade e você possa realmente avaliar como eles estão se sentindo.

Você pode então usar a análise do humor de sua equipe como base para abrir discussões úteis em suas retrospectivas.

Site: www.teammood.com

Preço:

Após um período experimental gratuito de 30 dias, o plano de negócios da TeamMood custa US$ 2 por usuário por mês. Ele inclui notificações diárias, feedback anônimo, análises, integrações e todos os recursos principais, exceto alguns adicionais, como marca personalizada e SSO, que estão disponíveis no plano Enterprise personalizado.

Por que escolhê-la?

TeamMood é uma ferramenta ideal para medir os níveis de engajamento e as emoções de sua equipe, permitindo que você cuide melhor de suas necessidades e obtenha um feedback anônimo (honesto) para uma melhoria contínua.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #14: RetroTool

Como é o board de retrospectiva da RetroTool:

Se você está procurando uma ferramenta retro rápida e fácil on-line para começar imediatamente, então o RetroTool é sua resposta.

Sem mesmo ter que se inscrever, você pode criar rapidamente um board de retrospectiva (usando modelos ou do zero) e compartilhar o link com os membros de sua equipe. As características incluem classificação de cartões e votação, Seções Privadas para obter os pensamentos das pessoas, a capacidade de agrupar post-its similares e um cronômetro para manter a sessão no rumo certo.

Em resumo, o RetroTool é uma ferramenta simples e direta para fazer um brainstorming com sua equipe remota.

Site: retrotool.io

Preço:

A RetroTool oferece um plano Anônimo gratuito no qual você pode começar sem se inscrever. Alternativamente, você pode optar pelo plano Registrado (gratuito) para armazenar seus três meses de retrospectivas em um painel de controle e obter opções de personalização. O plano Premium custa US$ 20 por mês e permite que você crie retrospectivas privadas, apenas por convite, com suporte Premium.

Por que escolhê-la?

Se você tem a necessidade de velocidade - você pode começar e criar retrospectivas ilimitadas sem ter que se inscrever, e criar e compartilhar retros é uma questão de alguns cliques rápidos.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #15: Team O’clock

Como é o board de retrospectiva da Equipe O’clock:

Combine suas retrospectivas de sprint com os standups diários usando o Team O’clock. Esta ferramenta on-line de retrospectiva fornece um board digital para criar notas, discutir e priorizar itens de ação e planejar seu projeto com cartas de pôquer virtuais.

O Team O’clock ajuda a remover preconceitos, permitindo que você colete feedback privado, implemente várias técnicas retrospectivas e melhore a responsabilidade e o foco de sua equipe com fáceis check-ins diários.

Ele se integra com Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira e Asana, para que você possa executar suas retrospectivas e obter tarefas em sua pilha de tecnologia existente.

Site: www.teamoclock.com

Preço:

Há um plano gratuito para até cinco membros da equipe e recursos limitados. O plano Starter custa US$ 29 por mês para até 20 membros. O plano Standard (com um mês de teste gratuito) custa $69 por mês para até 50 membros e inclui métricas de equipe com personalizações de reunião. Há também um plano Enterprise (contato para orçamento) para equipes ainda maiores.

Por que escolhê-la?

Com o Team O’clock, você pode unir suas reuniões de standup e retrospectivas de sprint em uma única ferramenta fácil de usar que joga bem com suas ferramentas habituais de comunicação e gerenciamento de projetos.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #16: IdeaBoardz

Como é o board de retrospectiva da IdeaBoardz:

Como o nome sugere, o IdeaBoardz é uma ferramenta de brainstorming online para equipes geograficamente distribuídas.

Com ele, você pode facilmente reunir os inputs de suas equipes de scrum, refletir e fazer uma retrospectiva sobre um board digital com cartões codificados por cores. O Scrum Master pode coletar os inputs ao longo de um período de dias e depois realizar uma reunião retro para discuti-las.

No geral, é uma ferramenta de colaboração de equipes de scrum que serve perfeitamente ao propósito para o qual foi construída.

Site: ideaboardz.com

Preço:

Sem planos pagos, o IdeaBoardz é uma ferramenta gratuita.

Por que escolhê-la?

Sem sobrecarga de recursos e com um layout simples. Além disso, é gratuito!

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #17: Retro Rabbit

Como é o board de retrospectiva da Retro Rabbit:

Se suas equipes vivem e respiram dentro da Slack e você deseja integrar suas retrospectivas dentro dos canais Slack, então salte para a Retro Rabbit.

Sem perturbar seu habitual fluxo de trabalho Slack, você pode facilmente adicionar notas de retrospectiva (digitando “/retro”) durante o sprint, juntar um board de retrospectiva sincronizado em tempo real para aquele canal, criar e atribuir itens de ação e exportar um resumo em PDF ou XLSX. Recursos como votação, agrupamento e temporizadores de discussão podem ajudar a tornar seu retro mais produtivo.

Execute retro sem problemas dentro de seu espaço de trabalho Slack. Não há necessidade de criar e lembrar novas contas ou senhas - é disso que se trata o Retro Rabbit.

Site: retrorabbit.io

Preço:

Você paga pelos canais em que utiliza o Retro Rabbit. O plano Pro custa US$ 20 por equipe por mês e inclui todos os recursos com usuários ilimitados e retros. O plano Enterprise é personalizado e inclui um gerente de conta dedicado, mais integrações e treinamento da equipe. Um teste gratuito por 14 dias está disponível.

Por que escolhê-la?

Sua equipe pode adicionar notas antes do tempo (durante o sprint) para que a reunião retro se torne mais focada e acionável. Além disso, ele suporta todos os Slackmojis personalizados, fazendo com que os retros.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #18: SprintBoards

Como é o board de retrospectiva do Sprint Boards:

Uma ferramenta on-line retro projetada para desenvolvedores ágeis, os boards Sprint Boards permitem criar uma variedade de tipos de boards de retrospectiva como Mad-Sad-Glad, 4Ls, Starfish, O que correu bem, etc.

Com esta ferramenta, você obtém algumas características interessantes, como por exemplo:

Atalhos do teclado para tarefas comuns como adicionar, editar e salvar cartões.
Duplica a fusão com o simples drag-and-drop.
Travar e excluir boards após uma retrospectiva.
Visualizar e gerenciar o histórico e itens de ação dos boards.
Fácil compartilhamento com Trello, Jira e exportação Excel.

Em termos simples, o Sprint Boards é uma grande escolha para equipes ágeis que se movem rapidamente e se concentram na execução.

Site: sprintboards.io

Preço:

Criar boards móveis amigáveis ilimitados a $7,99 por mês por equipe ou $79,99 por ano por equipe. Um teste gratuito de 7 dias está disponível.

Por que escolhê-la?

O recurso de máscara de cartão ajuda o Scrum Master a evitar que os membros da equipe influenciem uns aos outros, mascarando os cartões uns dos outros até o final do retro.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #19: Retrospect.team

Como é o board de retrospectiva da equipe Retrospect.team:

Confiada por empresas como Nike e Penske, a Retrospect.team é uma ferramenta de planejamento de tarefas e retrospectiva on-line construída para simplicidade e rapidez.

Escolha entre seis modelos para dar início à colaboração de sua equipe de scrum em um formato intuitivo, baseado em cartões. Crie facilmente um espaço de retrospectiva para cada projeto, e os detalhes são salvos automaticamente de sprint a sprint para que você possa rever seu progresso em relação a seus objetivos.

Site: retrospect.team

Preço:

Você pode começar com uma versão básica gratuita da ferramenta com características e anúncios limitados. Se ela se adaptar às suas necessidades, você pode atualizar para o plano Unlimited Pro, que custa $16 por ano com todas as características e sem anúncios. Há também um plano Lifetime com um custo único de $384.

Por que escolhê-la?

Seja uma sessão de sprint retro ou de brainstorming de ideias, a Retrospect.team é uma das ferramentas online mais simples que você pode usar para bater o pé no chão.

Ferramenta de retrospectiva #20: GroupMap

Como é o board de retrospectiva do GroupMap:

O último da lista é o GroupMap - uma ferramenta online de brainstorming e tomada de decisão de grupo que também funciona bem para hospedar retrospectivas ágeis.

Com modelos fáceis de usar, o GroupMap permite personalizar seu fluxo de trabalho, agrupar temas comuns, priorizar as principais áreas de ação, atribuir tarefas com prazos aos membros e compartilhar os resultados (como relatório PDF, CSV ou XLS) da sessão com um plano de ação claro.

Site: www.groupmap.com

Preço:

O plano básico para até 10 participantes custa $20 por mês e inclui a concepção básica do processo, controlos de facilitadores, relatórios e apoio por correio electrónico. O plano Profissional custa $60 por mês para até 50 participantes e inclui concepção avançada de processos, controlos de facilitadores, relatórios, e apoio prioritário. Pode experimentar o plano Profissional com um teste gratuito de 14 dias.

Por que escolhê-la?

O GroupMap funciona bem em todos os dispositivos - computadores, tablets e smartphones - para que a sua equipe possa colaborar em tempo real em qualquer navegador, em qualquer lugar. O GroupMap está preparado para empresas com SSO via SAML, e pode escolher entre alojar a sua conta GroupMap e dados nos EUA ou na UE. Também pode ter a sua marca empresarial e alavancar o apoio e formação de concierge.

Revise hoje sua retrospectiva!

Construir um produto de sucesso é uma maratona, não um sprint.

Mas é melhor correr esta maratona com pequenas explosões de sprints energéticas que pode rever e revisar - para os quais, ter o par certo de treinadores é fundamental.

Uma boa ferramenta de retrospectiva de sprint como o EasyRetro faz com que seja fácil correr sessões retrospectivas divertidas, colaborativas, e produtivas com as suas equipes remotas. Crie um board de retrospectiva bonito, intuitivo, e totalmente personalizável que também se integra com o Slack.

Então, o que você está esperando? Veja em primeira mão porque é que o EasyRetro é a ferramenta de retrospectiva perfeita para a sua equipe com um teste gratuito de 7 dias!

Why Retrospectives are Important in Agile

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:00:00 +0000

The sprint retrospective is a tried and true way to evaluate progress. It helps us better understand our processes and realigns the team with the product goal. Despite its advantages, some teams are moving away from retrospectives. Some say the meetings are too time-consuming. Others believe they have no value.

We strongly disagree.

At EasyRetro, we love a retrospective. Whether you’re performing one at the end of your sprint or hosting a release retrospective, they are an important event for agile teams. That’s why today’s blog will serve as a refresher to help you remember why retrospectives are important agile — and why we think you should keep running them.

10 reasons why retrospectives are so important in agile
Put the fun back into retrospectives

10 reasons why retrospectives are so important in agile

While we could probably come up with hundreds of reasons why retrospectives are important in agile, here are 10 to help us prove our point.

Retrospectives allow time for self-reflection

Retrospectives allow us to take a step back and take a holistic look at the work we’ve done so far. It’s a time to look at yourself as an individual and identify ways you could improve. It also allows you to take some time to congratulate yourself when something goes well.

Retrospectives create shared understanding within the team

Sometimes we need a little time to look at a project from a different perspective. This helps us gather a clear picture of the product we’re building and the reason we’re building it.

During a retrospective, the team has a chance to discuss the next steps. This is a perfect opportunity to check in with each team member and ensure they’re all aligned before continuing work.

Retrospectives help set action items

Managing a project is difficult if you don’t receive regular updates. If a product manager is out of the loop, they risk planning sprints and next steps that have already been completed. This wastes everyone’s time and confuses the entire process, resulting in low-quality work and a poor final product.

Retrospectives help teams identify and resolve conflict

Conflict can brew within a team without anyone “in charge” realizing it. Personal conflict can often be withheld from the team to avoid disrupting workflow. Unfortunately, hidden conflict can be just as disruptive as a full-on argument.

The retrospective offers an excellent opportunity for team members to speak up about their concerns. Even if they don’t address them directly in the retrospective, they can be noted down for later discussion.

Retrospectives helps keep the project on track

Agile frameworks break down big projects into smaller, manageable sprints. This helps keep the project running smoothly and, crucially, stops the project from being derailed by a lack of planning.

Teams are bound to find new challenges and ideas during any development process. But we risk losing track of where we should be if we just jump straight into these new tasks. Teams that run regular retrospectives can table an idea or issue for a later sprint. This means they can continue with the assigned tasks and focus on building value into the product rather than worrying about a new task.

Retrospectives create transparency

With each retrospective, the team extensively documents how the product came together. This makes it incredibly easy to keep stakeholders and other interested parties in the loop, even if check-ins are sporadic.

Retrospectives also encourage teams to be more open with each other. A project can’t progress if team members are afraid to speak up about mistakes or issues. A retro meeting gives the team an open and safe platform to ask for help when needed.

Retrospectives help agile teams continually improve

The main questions in a retrospective are:

What went well?
What went badly?
What can we do to improve?

Essentially, the entire agile event is a practice in self-improvement. Using a supportive peer network, you can assess your strengths as a team and as individuals. Most importantly, you’re in a safe position to discuss ways to improve constructively and helpfully.

Retrospectives encourage participation and ownership from the whole team

There’s no room for heroes and villains in the world of agile. Each team member is equally responsible for the product and its development.

Collective ownership is an agile philosophy that states “every” team member has a duty to make changes to the product if required. It encourages the whole team to speak up and contribute new ideas to all aspects of the project, be it a new feature idea or a way to improve workflow.

Retrospectives provide the perfect opportunity for those ideas to flow. As we discuss the next steps, it can be extremely helpful for team members to speak up with new ideas, even if they don’t work out.

Retrospectives help build collaboration, communication, and trust within the team

The best products are made by teams that trust each other and work as a symbiotic unit. Retrospectives give teams the chance to remember that.

They may have spent the entire sprint working alone, especially with distributed teams. Getting the entire team together to discuss their progress helps team members realize they are a team — not a collectivion of individual workers.

Retrospectives help you identify and avoid past mistakes

History has a habit of repeating itself. Unfortunately, that applies to mistakes too. However, retrospectives give you a chance to avoid those mistakes.

As we mentioned earlier, each retrospective produces lots of documentation to learn from. That documentation lays out processes or ideas that didn’t work out and why they failed.

By looking over this information, you can gauge whether these ideas were just too ambitious for that project or should never be tried again. This helps you avoid making the same mistake twice and results in better products.

Put the fun back into retrospectives

If you’re feeling like retrospectives are getting a little dull, don’t give up on them! Instead, try something a little more fun to revitalize your team.

EasyRetro doesn’t just make product management simple — we make it fun and engaging with a wide range of templates and fully customizable boards. Get started for free today!

Sprint Review vs. Sprint Retrospective (2025 Guide)

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:00:00 +0000

After endless cups of coffee, you’re finally reaching the end of your first scrum cycle.

You made your product backlog, honed your to-do list into a sprint backlog, and worked hard to bring your ideas to life. Now you’re done, right? Not quite. The scrum sprint isn’t over until you’ve held your sprint review and sprint retrospective.

To those new to agile development, “sprint reviews” and “sprint retrospectives” may seem identical, but there are important differences between them. We’ll cover those details in this article.

What is a sprint review?
What is a sprint retrospective?
Sprint reviews vs. sprint retrospectives
How to make sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives interesting
Make your sprint fun with EasyRetro

What is a sprint review?

A sprint review is a meeting you hold straight after a sprint to analyze everything you accomplished during it.

Everyone on your scrum team should attend the sprint review, including your Scrum Master and the Product Owner. If anyone outside your team participated in the sprint (like a web designer from the marketing department, for example), you should invite them too.

What is the purpose of a sprint review?

Sprint reviews have three main goals:

Review the team's progress. The scrum team analyzes the work they completed and highlights what is working, what isn't, and what they need to work on going forward.
Give developers extended business context. Many developers get stuck viewing their product through a microscope. The sprint review puts their work in context so they can see how each functionality impacts the product as a whole.
Motivate the scrum team. Sprint reviews provide a space for people to give each other professional feedback. Feedback helps motivate people for the next sprint.

What topics should be discussed in a sprint review?

Typically, you will present each completed functionality, and the team will discuss it. As these discussions occur, the Product Owner will update the product backlog.

During a sprint review, the team will also discuss:

Any questions about product team members have.
Which tasks to focus on next.
Any problems people encountered and how they solved them.
Potential dates and times for the next sprint planning session.

How often are sprint reviews held?

Sprint reviews are held once at the end of each scrum cycle — so about every three to four weeks.

Each sprint review session lasts up to four hours (with breaks). Each hour focuses on a different week of the sprint. If your meeting runs longer than four hours, it’s the Scrum Master’s responsibility to intervene.

What is a sprint retrospective?

Once you’ve finished your sprint review, you move on to your sprint retrospective straight away. A sprint retrospective is a meeting you hold to review the development process.

Only the sprint team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner should attend your sprint retrospective.

What is the purpose of a sprint retrospective?

Sprint retrospectives aim to answer questions like:

What did we learn from our last sprint?
What went well during our last sprint?
What could we improve for our next sprint?
What steps can we take to improve our efficiency?
How can we support each other better as a team?

What topics should be discussed in a sprint retrospective?

Sprint retrospectives are not an avenue for venting or complaining but a space for members of your development team to brainstorm realistic and actionable ways to address challenges that come up during the development process.

To make these discussions fun, structured and productive, here are some retrospective ideas templates you can use.

Typically, people will list issues they faced, and your team will come up with potential solutions to try during the next sprint. By the end of the session, you should have a list of problem-solving strategies and ways to implement them.

Common topics covered include:

Self-reflection on how each team member felt they worked
Communication problems
Documentation problems
Technical problems (like lack of access to a dev tool, for example)
Logistical challenges

One common problem that occurs in sprint retrospectives is that it devolves into finger-pointing. It’s the Scrum Master’s job to stop this from happening and keep discussions on track.

How often are sprint retrospectives held?

Like sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives are held once every sprint cycle.

If you’re trying to pencil your sprint reviews and retrospectives into the calendar, you’re probably wondering, “how long is a sprint review compared to a retrospective?” Sprint retrospectives are slightly shorter — typically three hours or less.

Sprint reviews vs. sprint retrospectives

So, a sprint review focuses on what your team is developing, while a sprint retrospective focuses on how your team will get there.

Here’s a table of the other differences between these two types of scrum meetings:

Difference	Sprint Review	Sprint Retrospective
Focus	The product	The team
Purpose	Establish what was accomplished during the last sprint.	Improve the development process.
Timing	Held straight after the sprint is finished.	Held straight after the sprint review.
Length	30 mins - 4 hours	30 mins - 3 hours

How to make sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives interesting

Now, sprint reviews and retrospectives are long, especially when you schedule them back-to-back, as many teams do. So, how do you keep your team’s energy high? Try these strategies:

Schedule a team lunch so people can bond
Provide snacks and refreshments so people don’t get hungry
Schedule a fun, five-minute activity in between sections (popular games include charades, Simon Says, Red Light, Green Light, paper airplanes, and quizzes)
Hold your meeting in a room with comfortable seating and plenty of natural light
Get people moving with stretches, short walks around the block, and yoga

You should also tell people exactly what to expect and create a schedule for the day. People will find it easier to focus when they know when their next break is.

When it comes to keeping the content itself engaging, try letting everyone present their own work, keep your demos conversational and lighthearted, ask your Scrum Master or Product Owner to be the emcee, and celebrate wins.

Make your sprint fun with EasyRetro

Sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives are both meetings held at the end of a sprint cycle. You discuss your product in your sprint review and reflect on your progress as a dev team in your sprint retrospective.

One thing sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives have in common is that they are long. Naturally, it’s often difficult to keep people on track and focused.

That’s where EasyRetro comes in. EasyRetro gives you a board for everyone to collaborate on. Your board is fully customizable — you can change colors and create and name columns. EasyRetro even integrates with Slack.

What are you waiting for?

See what EasyRetro can do for your team with a 7-day free trial.

100+ Best Scrum Team Names

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Key components of good scrum team names
A rundown of 120 of the best scrum team names
Still unsure of what to call your team?

The world of Scrum is a little boring sometimes. While breaking projects up into sprints helps make the work seem more manageable, it can feel like you’re stuck in a time loop performing the same functions over and over again. That’s why it’s important to add a little bit of fun into the workday wherever we can.

Simply giving your scrum team a cool, fun name can help to boost morale and create a real sense of community. Even the meeting to decide on a team name can help your teams grow and connect.

Today, we’re looking at what makes a great scrum team name, some of the best scrum team names, and what to do if you’re looking for a unique agile team name.

Key components of good scrum team names

The A-Team. The Red Team. The Team of Extraordinary Developers. It’s all been done before. Agile team names need to be something special, something unique, something that unites the entire team, not just a generic joke name.

Let’s look at factors that make up the best scrum team names.

Short

This is an agile world we’re working in. We’re supposed to break things down and throw out the fluff, so why would we choose a long, bloated team name?

Keep the name short and snappy. That way it can be…

Memorable

There’s little point in coming up with a team name if no one will remember it! A great agile team name should stick in everyone’s head.

Having a memorable team name helps improve morale by making it easier to recognize good work. The higher-ups may not know your individual names, but give them a great piece of work finished by a team with a great name, and they’ll remember you!

Easy to pronounce

Acronyms are nice, but they become impossible to say at a certain point, and pretty soon, you’ll stop using them altogether. The same goes for complicated words and combinations of letters. We’re not trying to make a secure password, so put down the hexadecimal chart and stick to simple English, so everyone can easily get their tongue around your team name, even if they’re not native speakers.

Unique

As we mentioned earlier, generic agile team names are out. If you think of some funny scrum team names within seconds, there’s a large chance it’s been done before. This becomes an even bigger problem when your organization has multiple teams that could all come up with the same idea.

All of the best agile team names are something unique to that particular team, and they do that by creating scum team names that are…

Meaningful

The best scrum team names are the ones that have a meaning to the entire team. It’s a banner to fly above the team that unites them.

Finding a meaningful team name for every team member may take a little time. However, the time spent is well worth it when you consider the positives.

By working together to find a great name, team members build real connections and get to know each other on a deeper level. This helps boost collaboration, instills a larger sense of pride in the team’s work, and makes the workplace enjoyable.

A rundown of 120 of the best scrum team names

Let’s take a look at some great examples of scrum and agile team names to help inspire you.

Funny scrum team names

Bit By Bit
Design Divas
Easy Scrum Easy Go
Epic Engineers
Feature Freaks
Ideation Station
KPI Kings
Masters of Scrum
RAD Rebels
Retro Rangers
Scrum At Me Bro
Scrum and Coke
Surprisingly Smart
Tabs vs. Spaces
The Best Team
The Caffeine Addicts
The MVPs
The Standup Squad
Workday Warriors
Value Validators

One word Agile team names

Advocates
Avengers
Collective
Dominators
Elites
Epics
Everest
Innovators
Optimizers
SCRUMPtious
Scrumbelievable
Sprinters
Streamliners
Strategists
Taskmasters
Trailblazers
Titans
Unstoppables
Vindicators
Visionaries

TV team names

Arrested DEVolpment
Breaking Devs
Beta Call Saul
Dragon Bug Z
Dev Lasso
Friday Night Sprints
It’s Always Scrummy in Philidelphia
Only Fools and Agile
Parks and Retrospectives
Peaky Coders
Pride and Prioritization
Scrumfeld
Scrumdercats
Two and a Half Sprints
The Agile Zone
The Big Scrum Theory
The Brainy Bunch
The Dev-Files
The Scrum Place
The Scrumpranos

Film scrum names

Avengers: Age of Agile
Backlog to the Future
Devs of the Lost Ark
Dr. Sprint
Forrest Scrump
Good Will Scrumming
Inglorious Developers
Lords of the Scrum
Paths of Glory
Pulp Features
Reservoir Devs
Scrum Like It Hot
Scrumbledore’s Army
Scrum and Scrummer
Scrumdog Millionaires
Sprint Club
Sprinterstellar
Sprint Fast Sprint Furious
The Usual Suspects
Top Scrum

Music scrum team names

Black Hole Scrum
Burndown For What?
Coding in the Deep
Dev Side of the Moon
Fortunate Scrum
Good Vibrations
House of the Rising Scrum
Scrum as You Are
Scrum on Eileen
Scrumwhere Over the Rainbow
Smells Like Team Spirit
Smooth Criminals
Sprint Child o’ Mine
Sprint from a Rose
To Code a Butterfly
Tiny Dancers
Walking on Scrumshine
When Devs Cry
Whole Lotta Scrum
99 Problems

Punny scrum team names

Air Conditionals
Bug Squashers
Byte Me
cOverlords
Federal Beaurau of Sprintvestigation
Federal Beaurau of Iteration
Fragile Management
Gantt Touch This
Gin Scrummy
Go Scrum Yourself
HTMLelephants
Pace Makers
Runtime Terrors
Scrum of the Earth
Scrummin’ It
Scrummy Bears
Sprint Chocolate Chip
Two Scrums Up
Victorious Secret
UXpect Us To Do That?

Still unsure of what to call your team?

Are you still struggling to come up with a great scrum team name? Can’t seem to agree on a name that ticks all the boxes?

Try the EasyRetro Scrum Team Name Generator! By answering a few questions about your team, our generator will come up with a short, memorable, easy-to-pronounce team name.

For all your other scrum and agile needs, head over to the EasyRetro blog!

How to Run a Successful Remote Retrospective

Mon, 16 May 2022 10:00:00 +0000

A sprint retrospective is an Agile/Scrum event held at the end of every sprint. It’s an all-hands-on-deck event that requires everyone involved in the development process to attend. While this takes up time out of the team’s day, the three hours you spend in a retrospective meeting could improve how effectively your team works going forward.

Retrospectives allow teams to look back upon their last project to find the answer to three main questions, “What went right?” “What went wrong?” and “What will we do differently during the next sprint?”

It’s important to look at the past and the future during your retrospectives. Looking at the past and transferring what we learn to how we work in the future can help teams improve every aspect of their work.

By investing time into your teams and asking them to assess their work, you can create groups that guide themselves along the path to improvement. The more retrospectives you hold, the better your team will work, resulting in great products that can take your business to the next level.

Remote retrospectives vs. in-person retrospectives

With the recent and substantial shift to hybrid working, performing a retrospective event is sometimes trickier. Depending on how your team operates, you have two options: In-person retrospectives and remote retrospectives.

As you can probably guess, the difference between in-person and remote retrospectives is where you and your team are during the event. In-person retrospectives involve everyone in the same room, and remote retrospectives use video conferencing software and cloud-based product management platforms (like EasyRetro!)

Running a remote retrospective event can present more obstacles than an in-person event. Agile and sprint methodologies weren’t created with remote working in mind, and we’re only just starting to learn what helps make agile work at a distributed level. Some of these obstacles are easy to get around, while others present permanent challenges for teams.

Communication is a major issue for remote teams. It’s much more challenging to establish a real connection between team members online, which can cause problems when running a retrospective.

Decision-making processes are also a little more complicated. Even a simple decision-making framework such as Dot Voting can be harder to run remotely.

Of course, we can solve most remote retrospective challenges with a little more preparation. Before starting the retro, test your video conferencing software to make sure everyone can hear each other. If any issues occur during testing, you have time to fix problems so the retrospective runs without a hitch.

And using a great cloud-based product management platform, like EasyRetro, helps too! See how using EasyRetro can help teams work better remotely on our blog.

How to run a remote retrospective: 6 tips

Although the thought of running a remote retrospective with a distributed team may have given you nightmares in the past, we hope that this article has changed your mind. Running a retrospective with a distributed team can be fun, so keep experimenting to keep your team engaged and energized. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Figure out the logistics before hosting a remote retrospective

Working with agile methodologies requires a sense of connection and shared ownership among team members. Unfortunately, that can be difficult to maintain when working remotely.

Before heading into a remote retrospective, you need to consider how the meeting will run. Obviously, you’ll need a way of communicating with teammates, but it’s equally important to have a way to record all the ideas you share. During an in-person retrospective, you would typically use a whiteboard, but you need some kind of digital equivalent in a virtual retrospective.

EasyRetro is the perfect platform to run remote retrospectives. It’s a collaborative, cloud-based platform, meaning you can access it anywhere globally, and everyone can share updates. Teams can look back at the sprint and use a range of decision-making frameworks within the platform. Having a product management platform that can help you do what you need to do is one of the best ways to make remote retrospectives work.

When interacting with each other, teams can use a video conferencing tool, but just be sure you test everything to make sure everybody can be seen and heard.

We tend to communicate more effectively when we can see each other’s faces. That’s why it’s a good idea to encourage team members to turn on their cameras. They can be muted when they don’t have anything to say, but leaving their webcam on can make the experience better for everyone. People feel more at ease when they can read facial expressions that help give context to what people are saying. This is especially helpful during a remote retrospective because discussions can get intense.

Agenda

Remote retrospectives tend to offer a different vibe to in-person retros. Performing a retrospective in-person helps increase engagement and makes it easier for whoever is running the meeting to identify anyone that may not be engaging as much as they should be.

Team members sometimes feel like they can’t get their point of view across and stay silent throughout the meeting out of a desire to respect their teammates. This can lead to losing focus on the retrospective.

So, it can help to create an agenda for the retrospective meeting. This helps keep the retrospective flowing because the host has a schedule to follow. It can also help reinforce why team members need to be involved in the retrospective process.

While the general idea is to identify what went right, what went wrong, and how the team will adjust going into the next sprint, you can break the plan down into smaller sections to keep the meeting snappy. Retro facilitators can also pick a theme from our large range of retrospective templates to keep things feeling fresh.

Create an environment of psychological safety

Retrospectives require everyone to get involved and have an equal say. This is a little more difficult when working remotely. Some team members may be working on different schedules due to different time zones or extracurricular commitments. Other team members may not be as outspoken as others and might find it difficult to contribute their point of view. Everyone involved in the project needs to have a voice, especially about future work.

To help facilitate an open conversation, you need to make sure that everyone involved in the remote retrospective feels comfortable sharing honest opinions without the fear of being judged or punished. This all comes down to psychological safety.

It can be helpful to call on individual team members for their opinions. Don’t force everyone to speak if they have nothing to say, but make sure you open up the conversation to everyone. Go around the virtual room and let everyone say what they need to say.

Retrospectives need to be an honest, open discussion that addresses everything required to improve the team’s workflow. At the same time, the retrospective should be blameless when addressing things that went wrong or need improving. Agile is about sharing responsibility, even when things don’t go as planned.

Review the recent past

As you know, how often you run a retrospective depends on how long your sprints are. Most teams tend to have retrospectives bi-weekly or monthly, with a post-mortem or release retrospective at the end of a full project. Some teams will even perform a retrospective on their retrospectives!

You might wonder why some businesses undertake so many reflective meetings. The idea is to offer teams plenty of chances to learn from their actions and build self-organizing teams that are continuously improving the way they work.

Of course, it can be difficult to discuss what happened during a sprint when the team is working remotely. Each team member is less aware of what others are working on, and collaboration is harder. Thankfully, this is an easy obstacle to tackle.

When starting a remote retrospective, dedicate the first part of the meeting to recapping everyone’s work during the sprint. This helps refresh everyone’s memory, keeps everyone in the loop (especially if they’ve missed any daily stand-ups), and gets everyone involved and engaged in the conversation.

It can be helpful to throw out some themes or categories of events to help create some level of continuity from session to session. For example, if bottlenecks are a persistent pain point, check-in on how well the team managed dependencies. This helps prevent future problems and gives the team a chance to feel some positive momentum when they see an area improving over time.

Decide what you’ll take action on before the next retrospective

Retrospectives would be pointless if we looked at what we did and didn’t adjust before heading into the next sprint. Remember, we’re looking to answer those three key questions, including, “What will we do next?”

Throughout the retrospective, the team should be identifying processes that didn’t work well, but simply making a mistake isn’t enough to learn from it. As a team, you need to determine what needs to change going forward.

Try to create goals and a way to measure success. This way, your team has something to work towards and a way to show they have achieved their goals.

Try to avoid being too ambitious here. Small achievable goals work better and are more sustainable over longer periods of time. Ideally, you’ll land on one or two items and give them a lot of attention over the coming weeks.

Reflect on your retrospective

Before the meeting ends, it’s a good idea to have a brief conversation about how everyone thinks the retrospective went. This is one of the main learning tools your team will use, so it can hamper their progress if issues occur during retrospectives.

Remote retrospective anti-patterns to watch for

We have discussed anti-patterns within scrum previously on the EasyRetro blog. The question is, “How do those anti-patterns differ when performing a remote retrospective?”

Canceling retrospectives

Remote work can cause us to shift our perspective a little. A remote retrospective can take up a lot of time, which some may think is better spent working on the project.

But just because there is a lot of work to be done doesn’t mean you need to cancel retros. Sure, you may get a little more work done, but you’re removing the chance for your team to learn and make changes to their workflow. The more opportunities a team has to learn, the more efficient they will be. After a while, the hours sunk into retrospectives can result in consistently faster development from project to project.

No follow-through

Once the remote retrospective is over, your team will end the call and likely return to work. This doesn’t allow them to really focus on what they learned during the retro, and those hard-fought lessons can quickly be forgotten.

To avoid a lack of follow-through, make sure to set those goals for moving forward and keep those goals in focus throughout the next sprint.

Let EasyRetro guide your next remote retrospective

You’ve probably picked up by now that we’re all about making retrospectives, well, easier. It’s our name, after all! We have a great collection of tools to help you ace your next remote retrospective. Use our free meeting agenda tool to keep things on track, try out a few of our retrospective templates, or dive deep into all things retro with our Retrospective Academy!

Remote retrospectives are simpler with EasyRetro. Try our platform for free to find out how!

Who collaborates on understanding the work of the sprint?

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Sprints are the very heart of agile work. They are short periods of time where the development team works to achieve a set of predetermined tasks. Working this way allows teams to focus on small goals to add as much value as possible.

A couple of specific roles can be found within agile and scrum teams, including the Scrum Master and Product Owner. Each role has a set of responsibilities and tasks. However, ownership of the project as a whole is shared by every single person involved.

So, the answer to our question, “Who collaborates on understanding the work of the sprint?” is simply “Everyone.” But, there are still some things that need to be performed by specific individuals.

With that in mind, let’s break down the responsibilities of each role during a sprint. See if you can identify where the roles intertwine because understanding the connection between each position is the key to building a symbiotic and efficient team.

Who collaborates on understanding the work of the sprint?

Scrum master

Scrum masters are the facilitators of scrum. Scrum masters act as coaches to the rest of the team and are committed to the scrum foundation and values. However, a good scrum master needs to remain flexible and open to opportunities for the team to improve their workflow.

A great agile/scrum team should be a self-organized powerhouse, but unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. Teams that adopt agile practices tend to lean on the Scrum Master for guidance due to a lack of knowledge. While this is technically what a Scrum Master is for, the role is more about empowering development teams self-organize and guiding them gently.

It’s essential to integrate the Scrum Master into the development team. They don’t need to be a figurehead, and it’s not a supervisor or management role. Scrum Masters should simply be development team members who know the ins and out of agile and can coach others.

The responsibilities of a Scrum Master can include:

Host daily standups (or the daily scrum)
Sprint planning
Sprint reviews
Retrospectives
One-on-one reviews
Reporting

Product owner

As you may have guessed, the Product Owner is responsible for ensuring the team builds as much value into the product as possible. To do this, they need to define user stories and prioritize the product backlog to streamline the development process while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the product.

Product Backlog management involves a range of activities, including (but not limited to):

Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal
Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items
Ordering Product Backlog items
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible, and understood

For most small businesses, or those just moving to agile, the Product Owner role is new and critical. Unlike the Scrum Master role, the Product Owner role typically translates into a full-time job, with each agile team having a Product Owner to support them.

This role has significant relationships and responsibilities outside the local team, including working with customers and stakeholders. They provide the bridge between the development team and outside parties to ensure everyone is aligned.

Product Owners should understand the business’s goals, perform research on customers and the market, test and analyze competitor products, influence the stakeholders in their business towards a particular strategy, analyze their market, define the product, and more.

Ultimately, the role of the Product Owner is to support the team. To do this, they need to focus on the following:

Working with the implementation team to execute the sprint goals
Participating in sprint planning
Taking part in the daily stand-up
Finding opportunities for growth and improvement during retrospectives
Effectively prioritizing and maintaining the product backlog
Providing needed documentation and resources for team members
Working with their product manager to clarify requests
Communicating progress to their company
Addressing any issues that arise with their team during the development process

Development Team

The Development Team is made up of individuals with responsibilities that include (but are not limited to) product development. These people make product visions a reality and form the core of any agile team.

The team takes cross-functional responsibilities necessary to transform an idea or a requirement into a tangible product for the end-users. The required skills might be wrapped up in one or more development team members, which can include a range of talents, including:

Product designer
Writer
Programmer
Tester
UX specialist

Not every member needs to be an engineer, as long as their skills can help the project proceed at the required pace and can add value to the product.

As we mentioned earlier, the ideal development team will be a self-organized powerhouse that can perfectly balance efficiency with quality. This may not be possible at the beginning of your Agile journey, but with time and coaching from the Scrum Master, the team will grow into a collaborative, competent team that shows continuous improvement with each project.

While the main responsibility of the development team is to finish the product, there are several other responsibilities they need to be aware of to maintain agile working:

Ensure transparency by participating in daily stand-up meetings
Collaborate within the team to achieve the best possible result
Take responsibility for any issues by alerting the product owner ASAP
Product and feature testing
Participating in sprint planning
Getting involved in sprint reviews
Taking part in the daily stand-up
Finding opportunities for growth and improvement during retrospectives

Each agile role needs to be clearly defined and respected. But, ultimately, for a great agile team to achieve its goals, each member needs to work together in a transparent, collaborative environment. To that end, it may be worth removing the idea of an individual team member from your mind, as individuals don’t perform agile projects. Teams do.

Ready to rule the world of agile? EasyRetro can help! Contact us today to see how easy it can be to run agile projects.

What do all agile frameworks have in common?

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean, RAD, SAFe… The list of agile frameworks is long and diverse, and we spend a lot of time focusing on the differences between each. Today, we’re going to look at what links each framework.

7 things all agile frameworks have in common

For a framework to be “agile,” it needs to follow the core principles of agile. So while the different frameworks can seem quite…well… different, you’ll be surprised how much they have in common!

All agile frameworks have a fixed iteration rate

In an agile project, an iteration represents a specific amount of time in which development takes place. You will often hear these iterations referred to as sprints.

Depending on the project, iterations are usually between 1 and 4 weeks but will always be a fixed length. These fixed lengths are important as they offer a steadfast metric to measure productivity.

It’s important to remember that teams shouldn’t rush to finish everything just because there is a finite amount of time per iteration. It’s simply a tool used to plan, review processes, and estimate delivery dates.

All agile frameworks are lightweight approaches that let self-organized teams better respond to the requirements of their business

Agile methodologies are designed to empower your teams. It takes the focus away from micromanagement and encourages teams to take charge of their workflow.

Agile frameworks emphasize self-reflection with retrospectives and other methods to assess the work performed during an iteration. This allows development teams and management to understand both sides of product creation. By using an agile framework, management can better understand how the team works, and the team can better understand the requirements of the business.

The lightweight approach of agile also means that teams can be incredibly flexible. This allows teams to respond to the ever-changing requirements of the business and its market.

Agile is about iterative and incremental development

Project management is full of unknowns, and it’s impossible to plan for every single possibility. This is why planning the development process will be broken down into small, easy-to-manage chunks, no matter which agile framework you choose. This is one of many ways agile methodologies allow teams to move quickly and easily, even in the face of last-minute changes.

Each increment also represents an opportunity for growth. At the end of each iteration, teams get together to review their work to discover what went well, what needs improvement, and what should not happen again.

All frameworks aim to provide value to customers

For a long time, innovation and product development centered around bringing something unique to market and little else. This was wonderful for bringing new technology and ideas to life, but it did little to boost customer satisfaction. Each new idea simply brought a new set of customer pain points while ignoring existing pain points.

Agile frameworks flip the first-to-market mentality and place the focus back on customers. In fact, the first principle and highest priority of the Agile Manifesto is to provide customer satisfaction through continuous delivery of the product.

Agile understands that the customer is at the core of every business, so the customer should also be the core of all development processes. This way, teams can create new products that offer real value to the customer.

All frameworks focus on continuous improvement

The ideal agile team will be self-organized, motivated, and flexible. Each of those characteristics can be difficult to perfect. To avoid burnout and overzealousness, teams need to be aware that they represent goals rather than defining characteristics.

Agile offers teams a way to self-assess their work and look at ways to improve. Because you work in regular iterations, it offers more opportunities to grow than traditional methods. It also helps identify opportunities for streamlining work and reducing waste.

If you’re managing an agile team, it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t be micromanaging them. Growth can only happen by empowering and supporting your team. If you trust your team, they will learn and grow much more than they would if you try to control their processes.

Agile frameworks make sure everyone is aligned with the project goal

One of the issues with traditional project management frameworks is that stakeholders, businesses, and development teams are often out of sync. Stakeholders have little understanding of the development process, the business goals are misaligned with stakeholders’ product goals, and collaboration is almost impossible. Everyone essentially works in their own little silo, and sends the occasional memo to keep everyone vaguely updated on the project’s progress.

Agile frameworks encourage everyone to get involved in all stages of the project. This helps create a valuable feedback loop that helps to align everyone with the same goals. It also allows teams to feel more comfortable with bringing up any concerns or suggestions they may have, as the stakeholders will seem more accessible.

Agile promotes steady workflows with an emphasis on quality

You will rarely find a solid deadline when working with agile. Instead, you’ll see rough timeframes and repeatable, iterative patterns that allow for sustainable development at a consistent pace. This prevents teams from taking on too much work at once, which leads to crunch periods and burnout.

Setting a comfortable working pace also helps improve the quality of your product. Rather than rushing to get everything done before a specific date, teams can take the time to perform quality work, test that work, and improve if needed. You can do all this before the product reaches the customer, ensuring that they receive the best possible product experience from day one.

When you think Agile, think EasyRetro

No matter which you choose, agile frameworks will create solid and self-organized teams and exceptional products that offer real value to your customers. That’s why at EasyRetro, we focus on all aspects of agile. Let our platform help you forge your own path. Get started today for free!

What to do when a scrum master encounters resistance & 8 ways to overcome it

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

While Agile places responsibility on the entire team, someone has to take charge to make sure the project runs smoothly. In the world of Scrum, this falls to the Scrum Master.

The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring the team sticks to the Scrum framework. They are Scrum experts, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they’re free from pushback, especially from higher-ups outside the development team.

It’s important to stand your ground when you encounter resistance. Keeping the team working within the Scrum framework is crucial to maintaining product quality. So, let’s check out some ways to counter any pushback and keep the project on track.

Actions to take when a scrum master encounters resistance

The key to resolving any resistance is to avoid escalating the situation. Simply telling someone they’re wrong can lead to conflict, which could derail the entire project. As a Scrum Master, it’s your job to explain why their suggestion would not work and why the team needs to work in a particular way.

A Scrum Master should look to introduce and implement Scrum throughout the business. This will help those outside the development team understand the why and the how. To do this, you should work with the other Scrum Masters within your business to help increase the effectiveness of Scrum throughout the organization, not just the development teams.

Switching an entire organization to a Scrum framework is a challenging and lengthy process. You may still receive pushback from some who don’t quite understand how Scrum works during that process. In that situation, you should look to methodically break down why they object and why they prefer their solution.

Identify the type of resistance you’re facing

There are many different ways someone could push back on how you need the team to work. To resolve the situation and convince them to come to your side, you must understand why the person is pushing back. This process is similar to how you would identify the root cause of a customer’s issue, even when they don’t know what that is!

One of the most common forms of resistance comes from someone who has “already tried this, and it didn’t work.” While this is a frustrating attitude, it is a perfectly valid response based on previous experience.

Personal experiences and anecdotal evidence create a strong connection that can be tough to combat. Someone has put a fair share of effort into the idea and come up short, making them unwilling to try the same idea again. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

The thing is, the project they had and the project you currently have could be entirely different. You’re not trying to achieve the same goals as they were, so there are plenty of reasons to work the way you want to, the Scrum way.

Some resistance can come from senior management who don’t fully understand how Agile and Scrum works. They think working Agile means training your development team to trim the fat and improve efficiency. As Scrum Master, it’s down to you to convince them otherwise. You need to help them understand that Agile isn’t about working a certain way. It’s a methodology that can benefit the entire organization if implemented correctly.

Ask questions

Once you identify someone’s objection, you should probe and find out why they feel this way.

If their objection is due to previous experience, ask them why it didn’t work last time. Look at the steps that led to the failure, and you can understand why the project fell apart. The real answer may have nothing to do with working with Scrum!

If they simply don’t believe in Agile and Scrum or are hesitant to make the change, have an open discussion about why they feel this way. It may be that they don’t fully understand the methodology. Use this resistance to your advantage by turning it into an opportunity to educate.

Other issues scrum masters face and how to overcome them

Convincing people to embrace Scrum and Agile isn’t the only issue a Scrum Master will have. As the de facto leader of your Scrum team, you will face a range of issues that need to be tackled so you can keep projects on track.

Scope creep

The project scope refers to all work items that need to be completed to create a new product. Scope creep occurs when people make changes to a project without considering the time and effort those changes will take. This leads to overworked staff, increased resource use, and often means a project goes over budget.

To avoid scope creep, a Scrum Master should work closely with the Product Owner to collect daily feedback and keep track of the team.

Trouble managing timebox activities

While working Agile, we tend not to focus on specific deadlines. But it’s still important to respect timeboxed activities. When working with timeboxed activities, you should create daily agendas and ensure they are clear enough for everyone on the team to understand.

Try to keep the off-topic discussion to a minimum while working with timeboxed activities. These things can be discussed another time, like lunch or after work.

Scrum Master takes on too many admin tasks

Even though you’re the Scrum Master, you shouldn’t be responsible for every administration task. You’re not a team leader, and you’re not management. You’re a member of the team, and teams work together. If you start to feel overwhelmed with the number of tasks you’re performing, it doesn’t hurt to remind the team they’re responsible for managing things like booking meetings and scheduling events. Help facilitate, but don’t take over.

Lack of training for team members

Making the change from traditional methodologies to Scrum and Agile can be difficult, especially for tenured workers who will have spent their entire career using something like Waterfall. Many Agile concepts can be easy to grasp but tricky to follow, especially without training.

Take the time to coach your team and fully understand the framework. As Scrum Master, you need to ensure your team understands how Agile works and why you’re using it.

You don’t need to coddle them or overload them with all the information at once. Just gently guide your team and give everyone what they need to succeed.

Senior management is skeptical about Agile

Senior management is often made up of stalwarts. They’ve been with the company a long time and have likely worked the same way for longer than they can remember. This can understandably lead to skepticism regarding new ways of working. They’ve probably seen many other fads that have claimed to be the “new way of working” and ultimately offered no extra value to the company.

The best way to convince the skeptics is to demonstrate how Agile and Scrum actually work. Look for problems they want to solve and solve them using Agile methods. Once they see how Agile works and the value it can bring, they’ll soon change their tune.

Demonstrate the power of Agile and Scrum with EasyRetro

There’s no better way to prove the power of Agile than showing it in action. It’s even easier when using a truly Agile platform. Get started with EasyRetro for FREE today.

What is a SAFe agile release train? Here's what you need to know

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Agile frameworks typically deal with bite-size chunks of work performed by small teams to gradually build a product piece by piece. As the business grows, so will your workload. At a certain point, regular Agile practices can fall short.

The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) offers a way for teams to stay agile while working with bigger teams and heavier workloads. The framework includes structured guidance on roles and responsibilities, planning and managing the work, and values to uphold.

One of the key features of SAFe® is the Agile Release Train (ART). ARTs bring Agile teams together and align them to a singular goal to maximize value.

What is a SAFe agile release train?

Agile release trains are a SAFe practice that brings together multiple agile teams and relevant stakeholders. ARTs are typically made up of 50 - 125 individuals who form a united virtual organization responsible for planning, developing, committing, and deployment.

Forming an ART requires careful consideration. Because SAFe deals with larger projects and larger teams, you need to ensure that everyone involved in the ART can coordinate with other groups and perform their work to a high standard.

ARTs should be built up of a wide range of expertise. The individual Agile teams should complement each other and create a highly capable, cross-functional super-team. Think of it like the Avengers! Each Avenger has unique skills that come together to form the ultimate team. Each Agile team in an ART covers different aspects of product development to create the ultimate product.

Key Principles of a SAFe Agile Release Train

As with any other Agile methodology, SAFe ARTs follow a specific set of principles designed to facilitate collaboration, improve focus and consistently deliver high-value products.

Fixed schedules: program increment (PI)

Unlike standard Agile frameworks, which use rough timeframes, ARTs plan and deliver work on a fixed schedule. The schedule is dictated by the Product Increment (PI) cadence. Each PI tends to last around 8-12 weeks and follows strict workflows decided during the planning stage.

If the need for a new project or feature is established during a PI, it should be shelved until completing the current PI. This allows teams to focus on the task at hand and add value to whatever they’re currently working on.

ARTs operate in 2-week cycles called system increments

As ARTs deal with larger projects, the SAFe Agile Release Train framework looks to decrease the chance of burnout by breaking the project down into tiny, manageable chunks, much like sprints. We call these chunks system increments (SI).

ARTs should be delivering a new system increment every two weeks, and each team involved should be aligned to the same SI. The deliverable is added to the System Demo, which integrates each increment from across all teams. The System Demo is then used to evaluate the work and track how the project progresses.

The “train” has a set speed based on past work and how much work can be delivered in a PI

During the planning stages, ARTs use data from previous work to estimate how much work can they can deliver during a single PI.

Develop on cadence, release on demand

While ARTs work on fixed timeframes, the release date isn’t decided until the project is complete. This ensures the teams can focus on including as much value as possible in the project. It can also help the brand’s reputation as they aren’t rushing to hit a set release date or constantly announcing delays to the product launch.

Components and events

Agile Release Trains require careful planning and regular reviews to maintain a high level of quality. These events are a crucial part of the ART framework as they can quickly identify any issues and adjust strategy accordingly.

Innovation and Planning (IP)

At the end of every Program Increment, Agile Release Trains hold an Innovation and Planning Iteration, or IP. These sessions offer teams a chance to breathe between PIs while providing a dedicated time for PI planning, innovation, continued education, and infrastructure work.

Inspect and Adapt (I&A)

Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events also come at the end of a product increment. During the I&A event, teams will evaluate how the project is progressing. Teams and management use this time as a structured problem-solving workshop to identify improvement backlog items.

Roles

As with other Agile methodologies (and real trains), ART has specific roles required to keep things rolling down the tracks.

Scrum Master

Scrum Masters in ART work just like they do in any other Agile methodology. They are responsible for supporting and promoting the framework and helping the team achieve its objectives by mitigating risk and identifying ways to improve.

Product Owner

The product owner is responsible for maximizing value. They will look to prioritize the product backlog and streamline the execution of each system increment. They will also ensure that everyone involved in the ART stays aligned with the key concepts and product goals.

Team member

Team members are the heart of the SAFe Agile Release Train. They are cross-functional experts who provide value to the product by focusing on collaboration and incremental delivery.

Release Train Engineers (RTEs)

Release Train Engineers help facilitate smooth workflows. They look to reduce distractions or roadblocks that could get in the way of the development process.

Product Manager

The Product Manager oversees the entire project. They own the product vision and strategy. The PM will communicate with internal and external stakeholders to define and fulfill customer needs.

System Architects/Engineers

System Architects define and design the architecture of the system. They oversee development to ensure significant elements and interfaces work together to make a coherent, seamless system.

Business Owners

The Business Owners are key internal stakeholders responsible for delivering the predetermined business outcomes of the ART.

Top tips for a successful SAFe Agile Release Train

Handling larger projects and coordinating multiple teams to work as one can be daunting. But if you’re already an Agile expert, you just need to make a few simple tweaks to how you work.

Make sure teams and leadership have enough training

Jumping headfirst into an ART is fairly similar to jumping headfirst towards a real train. There will be a brief period of complete chaos followed by a sudden halt while everyone involved tries to figure out what just happened.

You need to make sure that everyone involved understands what they’re signing up for, the benefit of ART, and how to pull it off. Every team member (including leadership) should fully understand the framework before getting started.

Identify your value streams

The SAFe framework has two types of value streams: operational and development.

An operational value stream focuses on delivering value to the customer. A Development value stream focuses on developing the solution.

Say you have a customer who is looking to purchase a product online. The development value stream would be a business solution that looks to build an eCommerce website that allows that customer to directly purchase the product from your business. The operational value will be fulfilling that order and leaving the customer satisfied with the experience.

Identifying value streams in the early stages of the project is vital, as these values will dictate which individuals and teams will be brought onto the ART.

Refine your backlog

Before you start a PI planning event, the program backlog needs to be refined to help prioritize workflow.

The refinement process works in the same way as any other backlog refinement. Each item will be assessed to identify the value it will bring the product and how long the team will need to complete it.

Pick an Agile methodology that works for your ART

While the SAFe Agile Release Train is a framework of its own, it allows teams to use whichever methodology works best for them. As long as they can achieve continuous value delivery, the teams can use Scrum, Kanban, or any other framework they feel comfortable with.

Unite the entire ART with flexible technology

The key to a successful ART project is collaboration. Even if teams are working in slightly different ways, everything needs to connect at the ART level to ensure maximum value.

Incorporating your existing development tools into the ART processes can help teams adapt to the new framework while still being able to use familiar tools.

As complicated as the whole process may seem, keeping track of an ART project is surprisingly simple. A shared Kanban board can be all you need to track progress and keep each team aligned with the product goals.

Your project may be complex, but managing it doesn’t have to be. Get started with EasyRetro today and see how our simple but powerful platform can help your Agile Release Train arrive at the station on schedule.

Which scrum master certification is best for you? 5 courses to consider

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development,” which outlines Agile methodologies’ central values and principles. Few could have predicted the impact this document would have, especially over such a short time.

Agile adoption rates skyrocketed even further in 2021, spurred by the need to find more efficient working methods as remote and hybrid work models became commonplace. In the 15th State of Agile Report, researchers found that a staggering 86% of software development teams adopted Agile methodologies in 2021. That’s a 51% increase from 2020!

With such a substantial increase in teams using Agile, the demand for Scrum Masters is at an all-time high. This may seem like an awesome thing for Scrum Masters looking for work. But, many applicants are fighting to secure every job posting.

So how can you stand out from the crowd? Is there a way to show you can go above and beyond as a true Agile expert? That’s where a Scrum Master Certification comes in.

This brief guide will explain what a Scrum Master Certification is, why you should get one, and how to make sure you get a certification that accurately represents you.

What do you learn on a Scrum Master certification course?

A common question we hear when talking about Scrum Master certifications is, “Why should anyone get one?” The answer is pretty simple. If you want to be the best you can be, you need to take every opportunity to improve your skillset.

Even if you already consider yourself a Scrum expert, the journey to becoming a Certified Scrum Master will teach you new ways to approach problems and tips you may never have considered.

The course will teach you everything you need to know about the Scrum framework, giving you a strong understanding of team accountabilities, events, and artifacts. Not only that, it will teach you practical ways to apply Scrum to your teams and throughout your organization, opening up further opportunities for career progression.

Which Scrum Master certification is best? Comparing 5 options

Adding a Certified Scrum Master qualification to your resume is a sure-fire way to stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of recruiters. However, it can be tough to determine which certification and which course is the best option.

Truthfully, there is no “best” option as most certifications are generally accepted across the board. That said, one course may be a better fit for you as an individual. It’s down to you to research and decide which course is right for you.

Let’s take a brief look at the five most popular certifications.

Scrum Alliance

Scrum Alliance was founded in 2001 by Ken Schwaber, one of Scrum’s co-creators. Over the past two decades, it has become the largest professional organization in the Agile community.

Scrum Alliance offers in-person and virtual training sessions over 2 to 3 days, leading to a structured exam. To become certified, participants must attend all sessions before being offered the examination.

There are several courses suited to different roles — Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developer — and each role offers three levels of certification. This allows you to continue down the path of self-improvement and demonstrate a level of dedication to Scrum that many don’t have.

Scrum.org

Just eight years after founding Scrum Alliance, Ken Schwaber moved on and created a new resource for Scrum professionals, scrum.org. Schwaber created an alternative to the Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master qualification when he switched to a new platform, which he dubbed the Professional Scrum Master.

The journey to becoming a Professional Scrum Master is slightly different from the CSM. While Scrum Alliance emphasizes the learning process, Scrum.org’s certification focuses on the examination. Becoming a PSM is less about how you gain knowledge and more about the knowledge itself.

Like Scrum Alliance, Scrum.org offers three levels of certification, though it doesn’t offer role-specific courses.

Scrum Inc.

Scrum Inc. offers an almost polar opposite approach to Scrum.org. They offer dynamic, hands-on learning that helps you get a real, contextual experience.

Scrum Inc.’s training program combines lectures with games and exercises that give attendees a first-hand experience of being a Scrum Master. Participants break into teams and learn how to create and organize product backlogs, manage burndown charts, and look at case studies to gain a comprehensive knowledge of what Scrum is and how to get the most out of it.

Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute serves almost 3 million professionals across the globe and is a recognized leader of product management certifications. They offer 17 Agile and Scrum certifications, with several tailored specifically to Scrum Masters.

The most popular PMI certification for Scrum Masters is the Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). This covers a range of other Agile practices, including Kanban, XP, and Lean. Choosing this type of certification can show potential employers that you have extensive knowledge of key aspects of several Agile methodologies.

Unlike the certifications we have already mentioned, PMI-ACP has some prerequisites. It requires a minimum level of experience with Agile and is therefore not suitable for newcomers to Scrum.

Scaled Agile

Scaled Agile is one of the newer sources of Scrum certification and specializes in Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

Like the PMI certification, Scaled Agile is better suited to someone more experienced with Agile because SAFe is intended to scale Agile, Lean, and DevOps practices for enterprises. Scaled Agile’s SAFe Scrum Master certification looks at the fundamentals of team-level Scrum and how to build high-performing Agile teams to deliver the maximum business value at scale.

Choosing a certification that’s right for you

As you can see, there are plenty of options available to someone looking to become a certified Scrum Master. Each has a different set of criteria, and some will be more suitable for you than others. To make sure you pick the certification that’s right for you, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Remote or in-person?

Over the last couple of years, we have been forced to adapt to remote ways of doing things. However, not everyone is comfortable with remote learning. While in-person certification is less available than it previously was, you can still find in-person certification courses if you prefer.

How much are you willing to pay?

Some certifications are available for free, but many valuable certifications can be pricey. A free certification service will still help make you a more attractive candidate, but you may lose out against a candidate who paid for a better service.

Are you qualified enough?

Many certifications are suitable for newcomers looking for a way into the world of Agile. These courses will include the basics of Scrum and Agile to give you a good understanding of the practices and processes involved.

However, some more advanced certifications will have specific prerequisites, such as an experience cap, or require you to undertake another course they offer.

No matter which certification you choose, EasyRetro is here for you

At EasyRetro, it’s our mission to guide everyone in the Agile ecosystem, no matter how qualified they are. It doesn’t matter if you’re a level 3 certified expert or just starting on your Agile journey. The EasyRetro blog is here to give you top tips and valuable insights.

Scrum of Scrums 101: What is it and how do you make it happen?

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Scaling a business and its processes can be difficult if not handled correctly. Simply increasing the number of people on a project can lead to a messy, chaotic process, even for the creators of Scrum!

While working on a massive project which required multiple businesses to coordinate and synchronize development teams, Scrum pioneers Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber tried a new way to scale Scrum teams. Enter the Scrum of Scrums.

Scrum of Scrums (also known as “meta scrum” or abbreviated to SoS) is a scaled agile technique that enables multiple teams to collaborate and produce complex solutions. What is the purpose of the Scrum of Scrums?

What is the purpose of the Scrum of Scrums?

Scrum of Scrums unites several individual teams to create a singular “virtual” team. The aim is to increase clarity between teams by reducing available communication paths. Using this framework improves transparency and enables organizations to scale Agile easily.

An SoS team should be near-identical to a regular scrum team and follow the same set of values. They will participate in the same events, and team members will have the same role as they would in a regular Scrum team.

The Scrum of Scrums framework is usually a stepping stone used by organizations looking to scale agile and organize the delivery of bigger or complex projects. Teams using SoS to collaborate can better coordinate a fully integrated product delivery at the end of every sprint.

How do you run a Scrum of Scrums?

A Scrum of Scrums team consists of delegates from each team. Each representative will be a key part of the development team with in-depth knowledge of how the team is working, their process, and great communication skills. The delegate doesn’t need to be the same person throughout the project, but they need to be given the same responsibilities as a product owner.

The delegate role isn’t the only new role in SoS. As you may have guessed, this new style of Scrum requires a new type of Scrum Master: The Scrum of Scrum Master. Whoever receives this role will facilitate prioritization, ensure teams are focused on progress, and work to continuously improve the framework’s effectiveness.

The Scrum of Scrums Master will host daily stand-up meetings that offer the team delegates a chance to align, improve, and address any issues they may be facing. Each delegate will discuss their team’s progress, including any struggles. This helps the overall project because other teams can assist with any issues and remove any risks of falling short of the sprint goal.

During these meetings, each member should look to answer the following questions:

What has your team done since we last met?
What will your team do before we meet next?
Is anything slowing your team down or getting in their way?
Are you going to put something in another team’s way?

The final question is crucial for coordination efforts. Teams should not be handing off work to another team without declaring it to the other teams and SoS Master, especially if it gets in the way of their assigned work. Organizations will only feel the benefits of SoS if they openly communicate and work together towards the goal.

These meetings are crucial to maintaining the transparency needed to collaborate effectively. Some believe daily meetings are unnecessary. Instead, they hold two or three meetings throughout the week. The frequency of SoS meetings should ultimately be determined by how much value the team feels they offer. If you find the daily stand-up taking more time than it should, you can reduce the number of meetings until you feel an appropriate ratio of time to value.

Tips to making the most of your Scrum of Scrums

Switching to Scrum of Scrums will be an uphill battle as with any new framework. While many of the principles are the same as regular Scrum, a few differences can easily catch out even the most practiced Scrum experts. Scrum of Scrums is one of the best ways to scale scrum within an organization, so handling the implementation of SoS is crucial to the project and the company as a whole.

If your organization needs to implement SoS, here are some tips to help get the maximum value out of the framework.

Alternate delegates

Each team needs a representative to attend SoS meetings. This person should be well versed in how scrum works and have a strong knowledge of what their team is doing. However, the delegate doesn’t need to be the same person every meeting.

Say the regular delegate struggles with their work and cannot make a meeting. Rather than putting the project on hold, another team member can attend the meeting in their place. This helps maintain productivity and ensures the SoS team stays aligned.

Switching delegates also offers a great representation of the whole team. Everyone on the team will have a slightly different perception of how the project progresses. Having different representatives will provide a deeper, all-encompassing view of the team’s progress.

Set a timebox based on your needs

As with all agile methodologies, SoS teams should avoid setting stringent deadlines and look to set looser timeboxes to complete tasks.

Scheduling these timeboxes will be a little more complex than regular Scrum. You need to consider every team involved in the project, rather than just your team. Assess the needs of each team and set time frames based on the combined needs of every team. This will avoid the negative aspects of deadlines (like burnout) while ensuring the project runs on schedule.

Don’t just identify issues. Solve them

If teams are struggling to work together under Scrum of Scrums, you need to address the issues as soon as possible. The longer the teams struggle to work with the framework, the more problems it can create.

When scheduling SoS meetings, make sure to leave enough time to look at any issues raised. Having representatives of each team involved with this process will allow other groups to understand how their colleagues work. This can help build trust between the teams and help everyone work together.

Transparency is the key to success with Scrum of Scrums. Multiple teams coordinating can only work well if they stay aligned throughout the project. To do this, refer back to the four questions we mentioned earlier. Each question is designed to explain where each team is, what they need to do next, and any issues they’re facing.

As a Scrum of Scrums Master, you are responsible for ensuring each delegate knows these questions and can prepare their responses appropriately. Any decisions made by a team should be communicated to the other teams as soon as possible to avoid confusion.

Scrum of Scrums meetings are not status meetings

Those familiar with traditional Waterfall methodology will be well aware of status meetings. Everyone involved in development must attend and report their progress to the project manager. These are incredibly tedious meetings that offer little value to the project and detract from productivity.

Imagine that meeting, but it involves multiple teams focusing on individual task completion. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?

SoS meetings are not supposed to be status meetings. They are a discussion that focuses on the overall project goal and how teams can achieve it together.

Create a comfortable environment that facilitates conversation

Regular meetings can quickly turn from interesting to dull, time-wasting affairs. As time goes on, a disdain for meetings can lead to less conversation, as everyone just waits for the meeting to end. This inevitably leads to poor communication and a lack of transparency that hinders the project.

Avoid falling into a productivity-sucking hole by making meetings more engaging. Start with a quick ice-breaker game or use fun props as a physical identifier of who’s turn it is to speak. Pick a room with an open feel and comfortable seating. This can help participants relax.

Use software that helps keep teams aligned

Collaboration has never been easier thanks to the recent advances in technology. Cloud-based software, like EasyRetro, allows every team member to work together, share progress updates, and seek assistance without constant emails or USB drives.

EasyRetro offers cloud-based Scrum boards, burndown charts, brainstorming tools, and anything else you could possibly need to collaborate while working with the Scrum of Scrums framework. Get started for FREE today.

What is a release retrospective and how do you run one?

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 13:00:00 +0000

If you search “agile retrospective,” you’re instantly bombarded with information on sprint retrospectives and little else. Even at EasyRetro, we’re a little guilty of placing all the focus on sprint retrospectives!

The retrospective format is a great way to evaluate your team’s performance to determine what went well and what can be improved. You can host a retrospective at any time, so it makes sense to have one at the very end of your project, right?

Release retrospectives are rarely performed, as they aren’t technically a part of Scrum. But maybe they should be!

What is a release retrospective?

Like a sprint retrospective, a release retrospective is a tool that helps to monitor and improve how a team is performing. The comprehensive retrospective offers a higher-level view of how the team works and is helpful for the team, stakeholders, and higher-ups.

As the name suggests, a release retrospective is performed at the very end of a release and before starting work on a new release. A release comprises many sprints and can include months or even a year’s worth of work.

Because there is so much work to assess, release retrospectives can take one or two days. Teams should have a well-arranged schedule going into the release retrospective, with all participants heading into the meeting with a complete understanding of the purpose of the retrospective so they can make the necessary preparations. Because release retrospectives are for higher-level analysis of how the team works, it should involve product managers, development managers, product owners, stakeholders, and any other senior-level staff involved in the release.

Release retrospective vs. sprint retrospective: what’s the difference?

While the core goal of a release retrospective is the same as a sprint retrospective — identifying what went well and what needs improvement — the two events are more different than you may expect.

Unlike the almost laid-back, flexible approach used during sprint retrospectives, a release retrospective should be a structured and organized event. This will involve a certain amount of preparation, including agendas, schedules, and gathering relevant data.

Sprint retrospectives are designed to include the development team and focus on minor adjustments to improve processes. Release retrospectives have a broader scope and include senior management and stakeholders, essentially acting as an executive overview of the entire project.

Release retrospectives rely on anonymous data collection and voting. This allows the participants to objectively view the project’s processes, people, and product aspects.

7 tips for release retrospectives

With such a focus on sprint retrospectives, you may be tempted to try and approach a release retrospective in the same way. But because the two retrospective formats are significantly different, they require different approaches.

When preparing your release retrospective, keep these tips in mind to ensure you get the maximum value from the exercise.

Chose a suitable location

Release retrospectives can be a long ordeal. They consider the entire project, which could mean looking through and analyzing months of data. With that in mind, it’s important to consider where you’re going to host the retrospective.

Make sure to pick an ample workspace that allows the participants plenty of breathing space and offers comfortable seating. You will also need audio-visual equipment and a whiteboard for presentations or post-it notes.

Recognize your team’s achievements

We all know how drained you can feel at the end of a long project, so why not use a release retrospective as an opportunity to acknowledge your development team?

The team will have built up a pretty substantial EasyKudos Board throughout the project. Open up the retrospective by looking through each kudos card and discussing the team’s achievements. This will boost morale, bring your team closer together, and give the higher-ups an insight into the team.

Click here to learn more about how EasyKudos can boost your team’s spirits!

Identify key participants

A release retrospective should be a high-level event that includes senior management, stakeholders, product owners, and in some cases, customers.

Unlike sprint retrospectives, release retrospectives don’t need to involve the entire development team. However, you should include individuals who were integral to the project. They can help provide context to the discussion and clarify why the development team made certain decisions.

Gather meaningful data

Release retrospectives require a fair amount of preparation. After all, the retrospective results could uncover critical changes to make going forward and change how the business or team works.

Participants should gather key data such as timelines, key feedback from sprint retrospectives, and scope before the retrospective. If any features were removed or added during development, you should also record the reasons for those decisions.

Plan your session to match the project timeline

This may seem obvious, but your release retrospective plan should reflect the project’s timeline. This ensures that every aspect of the project is analyzed. It also allows the participants who were not directly involved in development a chance to experience how the release came together.

Emotional seismograph

Great management involves taking into account how your team feels, not just how they work.

By building an emotional seismograph, you can see how your team felt during each stage of development. As you build the graph, the team’s representatives can explain what was happening and how they were feeling at each stage.

Discuss what’s next

The final stages of a release retrospective should naturally focus on what’s next. Find out what the team would do differently, discuss ways to improve, and ask the group what advice they would give to themselves if they started the project again.

By the end of the release retrospective, everyone should clearly understand how the release came together and how the team will approach the next project.

Make sure to keep up-to-date with the EasyRetro blog for more great tips and tricks!

9 challenges your work-from-home product team may face (and how EasyRetro can help!)

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 12:00:00 +0000

The forced period of remote working has opened our eyes to an entirely new way of working. We learned that remote teams could be just as, if not more productive than workers in a traditional office setting. This has led to a work-from-home revolution seeing workers staying home as businesses move to hybrid or fully remote work schedules.

Despite the wide adoption and improvements to work-from-home technology, remote work still has a range of challenges that you and your team will need to overcome. That’s why in today’s post, we’re going to look at the challenges work-from-home product teams still face and how EasyRetro can help.

9 challenges of working from home your product team might run into:

Communication

One of the main concerns people have about remote work is that communication becomes much more difficult.

The pandemic left us with the words “I think you’re muted” and “Sorry, you cut out there” ringing in our heads. The idea of that becoming the new normal might be a little too much for some.

Remote communication will never be as efficient as in-person communication, but that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult.

EasyRetro boards allow users to leave comments and vote on cards, allowing your team to talk about a task while directly linking to that task. No more confusion about what the main point of discussion is!

EasyRetro also offers a range of integrations such as Slack and Confluence, meaning you can share what you’re working on and have in-depth conversations with ease.

And everything you do on EasyRetro is saved to the cloud so you can create and edit boards in real-time, without the need for low-quality screen sharing!

Building meaningful team relationships

Many team leaders worry about building rapport with remote workers. And yes, it can be tough to make real connections with a physical barrier between team leaders and their team, but it’s not impossible.

Comradery and meaningful interaction are some of the most commonly mentioned benefits to working in an office, but you can still have both with distributed teams.

Try taking a little time away from business every so often. Monthly hang-out sessions give your team a chance to unwind and engage with each other without having to worry about work.

You could even play games remotely, like EasyRetro’s work-from-home bingo, to turn the usual frustrations into fun talking points that boost morale and build meaningful team relationships.

Keeping track of tasks and projects remotely

Project managers who are new to remote working tend to worry about making sure their team is on track.

Keeping track of tasks and projects can be tough while working remotely, but it has become far more manageable over the past couple of years. Project managers just need to choose one of the many product management software platforms that are available to them.

EasyRetro offers simple but powerful project tracking with a range of project management tools. Our free burndown chat generator gives you an easy way to show your team’s progress throughout a sprint. Meanwhile, the team can use one of our boards to see which tasks are to do, which are in progress, and which are completed.

Virtual standups are another great way of keeping track of the team’s progress.

Virtual standups can be performed two different ways, depending on how your remote team operates.

Teams working on the same schedule can simply use video calling at the same time each day to give updates, reinforce priorities, and answer any questions the group may have.

Teams working asynchronously can still benefit from standups, though they’ll be staggered throughout the day. In this case, it makes sense to use a Slack channel to keep updates, handoffs, and questions in one place rather than making multiple scheduled video calls.

Decision Making

Making decisions as a team is a tough ask, even with everyone in the same room!

Decision-making is a real test of your team’s ability to communicate, collaborate, and compromise. Add in the stress of doing that remotely, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The literal physical barrier can make it difficult for teams to have meaningful discussions that help guide the decision-making process, so it can be helpful to rely on solid facts.

With a tool like EasyRetro’s Moving Motivators, your team can prioritize customer motivations when discussing feature requests. And our brainstorming tool will help them narrow down which tasks should take priority.

A decline in productivity, motivation, or engagement

A key concern from higher-ups is how remote working affects productivity. Many assume that the physical distance will translate into lower productivity because team members can’t tap into the office’s collective energy.

One of the lessons we learned during the pandemic and forced periods of remote working is that, if implemented correctly, remote and hybrid working models can boost productivity. Team members can manage their schedule in a way that suits them, allowing them to work during greater times of productivity, and walk away before reaching the point of burnout.

It’s easy to forget to give your team members a thumbs up for good work when working remotely, resulting in a lack of motivation. Try EasyRetro’s Easy Kudos to combat this, which allows team leaders to give their colleagues a little appreciation with just one click. It may seem like a small, trivial act, but it can make all the difference for your team members who may be struggling to stay motivated.

Keeping everyone’s schedules aligned

Asynchronous working is extremely tough to manage, especially when working to deadlines. Remote workers may choose to operate on a slightly different schedule to other team members, while some may not even be in the same time zone.

Rather than forcing everyone onto the same schedule, project managers should look to use broader time frames when planning deadlines. Allowing your team to submit work within 24 hours of a deadline means they can work to a schedule that works for them while the project stays on a stable time frame.

Tracking project progress through the EasyRetro sprint burndown chart or a Kanban board showing what is to do, what is in progress, and what is completed means a project manager can spend less time worrying about scheduling and more time managing the project.

Working in the office means you have a wealth of knowledge surrounding you. Team members can often find the answer to any problems they’re having by turning to the desk next to them. Obviously, this isn’t possible while working remotely, so teams need to find an alternative way to share their knowledge.

Of course, any steps you have already taken to improve communication will help solve this issue. EasyRetro’s Slack integration makes it easy for team members to help with a particular task. Anyone struggling can post a note on the task card. Other team members can start up a dialogue instantly and share their knowledge, meaning no one is left behind.

A lack of insight into each team members working process

The office brings a range of different working styles that feed off each other. This allows workers to share tricks and tips to help working strategies.

Similar to the above point regarding shared knowledge, improving your methods of communication can help teams understand how their counterparts work. Meanwhile, project managers can keep tabs on individual team members’ workflow with EasyRetro’s range of project tracking tools.

Hiring the right people

The hiring process is already tricky, but now that we’re doing it all remotely, it can be almost impossible to hire the right person for the job.

It’s difficult to build the same kind of rapport with interviewees via digital means. While video calling offers a way of talking face-to-face with your candidates, it doesn’t give you the kind of picture you would get if you met them in person.

Collaborative hiring could be key to securing the right person for the job.

Collaborative hiring brings the entire team into the hiring process. Try having your team review each candidate as a group. The team will assess, evaluate, and get to know potential hires to ensure they hire someone who fits the team’s needs.

Once the interviewing process is over, the team can use EasyRetro’s guide to dot voting to democratically choose the best person for the job.

Struggling to manage your agile remote team? EasyRetro has the answers

At EasyRetro, we believe that managing your agile team should be easy, whether you’re in the office or at home. If you’re struggling to manage your remote product team, the EasyRetro blog has all the answers you could need.

The best part? It’s all free!

So, what are you waiting for? Elevate your leadership skills with the EasyRetro blog!

5 conflict resolution techniques for agile teams

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

We all want our agile teams to work together with minimal friction, but no matter how hard we try, issues pop up occasionally. We can’t all share the same mind (and it would be boring if we did), making conflict within a team inevitable.

As Scrum Master, you’re responsible for guiding the team’s direction and keeping watch for any potential conflicts or issues that may arise. The way you handle a conflict will dictate how that conflict affects the entire team, so you need to be prepared to handle the situation quickly and effectively.

Let’s dive right in and check out some great agile conflict resolution techniques you can use with your team.

5 conflict resolution techniques to use in your agile team

The key to conflict resolution is to look less towards solutions and more towards tackling the root cause. Not every workplace conflict is based on work issues, and not every disagreement is a conflict. It’s essential to keep that in mind to successfully mediate and resolve conflicts.

Recognize the difference between conflicts and disputes

Some see conflicts and disputes as interchangeable phrases, but they represent two different levels of discourse.

Disputes
Disputes are short-term disagreements that you can generally resolve. They are usually caused by issues that are negotiable and can sometimes play themselves out without intervention.

It can be helpful to have an objective party involved to help guide the decision-making process and resolve a dispute. This could involve a brainstorming session, pro and con sessions, or another decision-making tool you feel is appropriate.

Conflicts
Conflicts are more severe and require a more thought-out approach. Conflicts tend to stem from differences in personal values or worldviews and often involve non-negotiable issues.

As conflicts can become highly disruptive and cause other team members to feel uncomfortable, the most straightforward course of action can be to separate whoever is involved in the conflict. Keeping the conflicting parties in close proximity will only serve to increase tension and can harm the entire project.

There are a series of questions you can ask to help identify if you’re dealing with a conflict or a dispute:

Is the disagreement over a particular outcome or approach?
Is there a personal investment involved on either side when it comes to the results of the conflict?
Is the language they are using objective, or are their personal beliefs involved?
Is there a conflict on a personal level involved?
Is there a power struggle or a mismatch between goals at the root of the conflict?

The answers to these questions will help you understand the issue and decide if intervention is required.

Personal Coaching

As Scrum Master, part of your role is to coach your team and build up their skillset. A substantial part of the coaching process is listening to and understanding the thoughts and feelings of your team members and incorporating them into their development.

This can also help when resolving conflicts.

Not every conflict stems from work, though a work issue may be the trigger point for a conflict to arise. If you notice conflict starting to develop, it’s always a good idea to take those involved to one side for a one-on-one coaching session.

During the session, you can speak to the individual employee on a personal level and try to identify the root cause of the issue. You can then use what you learned in the coaching session to help avoid further conflict.

It’s imperative to keep your personal beliefs in check when running these coaching sessions. There may still be outside factors which the individual does not wish to share with you, and ignoring that possibility may lead to further conflict.

Use “I” Statements

The statement “I think I speak for everyone” has never been true, yet there’s always someone in a group who feels they need to say it.

If you’re bringing the team together to try and resolve a conflict, you need to make sure everyone in the team gets their say. These situations aren’t about picking a winner and a loser. It’s about making sure the entire team gets a result that works for them.

It’s important to remember that everyone wants to feel heard, especially in difficult situations. Trying to resolve issues by using language that speaks for everyone only serves to hamper other team members’ opinions, which can lead to further conflict. Using “I” statements can help promote an atmosphere that facilitates conversation instead of soapboxing.

But remember, some people on the team might not feel confident speaking their minds. This can be something to address within one-on-one coaching sessions, but you must offer a safe, open space for everyone in the short term.

Re-frame the conflict

Now that you’ve set the tone and everyone is communicating with each other, it can be helpful to look at the conflict in a different light. After all, any conflict between team members can be used as an educational tool to further their personal development.

Instead of viewing the conflict as an issue for individual team members, try to frame it as a common issue shared between the team. This can help remove any bias towards the individuals involved and allow everyone to look at the problem holistically.

During re-framing, neither party should feel like their thoughts and feelings are being minimized. Everyone’s opinion is perfectly valid, and you need to reinforce that point during mediation. Re-framing the conflict is simply a tool to help everyone on the team take an objective stance and understand the root cause of the problem.

It’s important to note that re-framing the conflict isn’t a method that looks for solutions. It’s purely about finding new ways to think about the issue.

Start looking at solutions

Now you have identified the root cause of an issue and re-framed it for the entire team to understand. It’s time to start looking at resolving the conflict. Try to treat the solution stage as you would any other decision, rather than an issue.

At this stage, it’s helpful to look at potential solutions from a business perspective, asking questions such as:

Is this solution cost-effective?
Will this solution fit with current time constraints?
How easy will it be to implement the solution?
Will it add value to the overall product?

From here, you can run a brainstorming session or use another ideation tool you like. You could even involve team members or stakeholders to ensure the solution stays objective.

By brainstorming a solution, the conflict is transformed from a potential disruption into a positive experience for everyone. They can learn from it, improve collaboration skills, and build towards a more emphatic outlook that will help diffuse later conflicts.

Brainstorming solutions to conflict also benefits the overall project. The brainstorming session is bound to bring in some unique and creative ideas that you might not have considered. This can lead to great ideas that add meaningful value to the product.

Turn conflict into value

Conflict doesn’t have to be a purely negative experience. A great Scrum Master will look at conflict as a potential learning experience and an opportunity to improve the product they’re developing.

Using the above tips and EasyRetro’s great range of ideation tools, like our free online brainstorming tool, you can effectively diffuse conflict and turn it into real value!

The essential guide to sprint methodology

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Regular readers of the EasyRetro blog will have seen countless entries about every aspect of working with sprints. There’s truly no better place to learn about sprint and agile methodologies than our blog. Still, we had a thought — what if we made it even easier for newcomers to fully understand everything there is to know about sprint methodology?

So, here it is. The essential guide to sprint methodology. You’re about to learn everything you need to know to get started, all in one place!

What is a sprint in Agile methodology?

Sprints are the very core of Scrum and Agile methodologies. Sprints are set periods of time in which the team needs to complete a series of tasks.

A sprint will typically last for a short amount of time, with most guides stating a sprint should last no longer than 4 weeks. They are designed to break a project down into bite-sized, manageable pieces. This ensures that each task gets the correct amount of attention and items in the product backlog are not rushed.

Every sprint should result in a workable version of a deliverable product.

How do you plan a sprint?

How you plan your sprints determines how well a project runs. During the planning stages, you establish what can be delivered by the end of the sprint, how you will achieve the work, and how much time it will take.

Sprint planning meetings require a degree of discipline throughout the team. The product owner needs to come prepared with the product vision, stakeholder feedback, and lessons learned from previous sprints. Without this preparation, product owners will have no way of setting the scene for the upcoming sprint, which can cause confusion when it comes to picking the tasks from the product backlog that offer the most value.

The product backlog should also be wholly refined and up-to-date to provide clarity during the planning session.

To plan a sprint, you need to bring the whole team together to discuss and plot an overarching plan for the sprint. To do this, you need to look at five key points.

The what:

What is the overall goal of the sprint? What can the team do to achieve that goal? What items from the product backlog will contribute to the goal?

The how:

How will they deliver the sprint goal? This conversation will look at how much value each item will bring to the overall product and how much effort it will take to get that value.

The who:

The entire team needs to be involved in planning sprints. The product owner will define the goal based on the value they deem most important, while the development team needs to determine if they can deliver that goal in the set amount of time. If either party is absent from the planning stage, the sprint likely won’t bring much value to the project.

The inputs:

The product backlog is a catalog of tasks that need to be completed to create the final product. This provides the perfect starting point for any sprint planning session, as it offers a predetermined list of tasks that could be part of the current sprint. When planning a subsequent sprint, the team can look at the output of previous sprints to help guide their decision-making.

The outputs:

Setting and understanding the goal of your sprint should be the ultimate focus of your sprint planning session. Everyone should leave the meeting with a complete understanding of what they need to do to achieve that goal and the value of the sprint.

It can be very easy to get caught up in which tasks should come first, who should do it, and how long it will take. This only distracts from the planning process, especially because most of this stage relies on assumptions. Instead of thinking about how you’ll do a task, look at the outcome of each task.

User stories offer a great way of describing the work from the point of view of a customer. User stories allow the development team to relate any issues and improvements to the outcome the customer is looking for, rather than focusing on the problem.

Do’s and Dont’s of Sprints

While the concept of sprints and sprint planning seems pretty simple, it can be a little confusing for newcomers. At EasyRetro, we like to keep things as simple and, well, easy as we can. With that in mind, here are some handy do’s and don’ts to get you started.

Do’s

Do make sure everyone understands the goal of the sprint
Every single member of the team needs to be on the same page. This includes the product owner, as well as everyone on the development team.

A sprint should start when everyone is aligned with the sprint goals to ensure the sprint brings the most value to the overall product.

Do make sure you have a well-organized and prioritized backlog
A well-organized backlog helps to align the product team and clarifies what the most important features are. This is crucial for sprint planning because it gives everyone the information to plan sprints confidently and efficiently.

For an in-depth look at how to effectively calculate sprint velocity, click here!

Do have a good understanding of the time it will take to achieve the goal
One of the core aspects of a sprint is that you complete the sprint within a set time-box. Having a specific length of time to complete each sprint allows the team to work at a comfortable pace and serves to help estimate product completion timeframes.

Do use the sprint planning meeting to dig into specific details
As we mentioned previously, sprint planning meetings should leave everyone on the team on the same page regarding the sprint’s outcome. This means any confusion your team may have should be cleared up during the sprint planning meeting rather than after. This way, everyone leaves the meeting with the same level of understanding.

Do make sure someone captures your sprint plan using a project management or collaboration tool, like EasyRetro
Let’s be blunt here. There’s no point in running an in-depth meeting to plan your sprints if you’re just going to jot down key points on a couple of post-it notes.

It’s only human to forget a few things here and there. By putting your sprint plan into product management tools, you have an easy-to-use, easy-to-read place for everyone to remind themselves of the objective. Using a platform like EasyRetro can also help you keep track of everyone during the sprint and assess how well the sprint is running. You can use all this information in the sprint retrospective to understand how the sprint went and identify any changes needed for upcoming sprints.

Don’ts:

Don’t add too much
The whole point of Agile and Scrum methodologies is to build a product in the most efficient way possible. The team also needs to be able to pivot at short notice if the project requires it. This simply isn’t possible if you try to cram as many tasks into the sprint as possible.

Remember, true value is about quality, not quantity.

Don’t underestimate the time needed
It’s important for teams not to confuse efficiency with speed. Sprints aren’t about getting as much work done as possible in a small amount of time. They’re about how much value you can bring the product and customer during that time-box.

Don’t worry too much about moving quickly. Instead, make sure people are on the same page
Despite the strict sprint time-frames, teams don’t need to focus on completing every single task as quickly as possible.

The main thing to worry about is ensuring that everyone on the team is clear on the product vision. You should make clearing up any confusion a top priority.

Don’t include high-risk work
Any tasks that could cause significant disruption to the sprint should be kept to a minimum. If a single task looks like it could derail a sprint due to its size or complexity, try to break it down into smaller chunks that will be more achievable.

Making sprint planning a breeze with EasyRetro

At EasyRetro, we don’t believe that sprint planning — or any other aspect of the sprint methodology — should be difficult. That’s why the entire EasyRetro platform is built to be accessible for anyone, regardless of skill level.

Using EasyRetro to plan your sprints (with a helping hand from the EasyRetro blog) can help your team plan your sprints and collaborate. Get started for free today!

How often should scrum team membership change? 6 signs it might be time to mix it up

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Scrum teams are a self-organized, multifunctional powerhouse. They live and breathe agile methodologies to get the best result possible from any task or project they undertake.

They are unique because they don’t follow a traditional hierarchy like most development teams and corporate structures would. Instead, everyone on the team shares responsibility equally. Sure, each individual has their strengths and weaknesses, but as a team, they should come together and utilize those strengths to further the project’s progress.

There’s plenty of information out there on how a team should look. We literally wrote the ultimate guide to help you understand the ins and outs of scrum development teams. Still, it can prove tricky to put together the perfect team. Even when you do find a great team, it may not last forever.

How often should scrum team membership change?

Some say that a team shouldn’t change, and others say it should change regularly. These differing opinions make it incredibly tough to give a definitive answer on how often a team should switch things up. However, if a team is performing poorly, that’s a clear sign that something needs to happen.

If a team is performing consistently well, and none of its members plan on moving to a different position, there’s no reason to change anything. After all, changing up your teams presents a risk that may not be worth taking. Switching things up has a guaranteed effect on productivity and quality, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. Unfortunately, there’s no real way of knowing which way it will swing until you’re already feeling the effects, so changing up your team is a move that requires a lot of consideration.

One thing we can definitively say is; don’t change teams during a sprint!

6 signs it might be time to mix it up

Your team has gotten too big

Some believe that there is no limit to how big, or small, your development team can be. However, The Scrum Guide states that a scrum development team should be between three and nine people, depending on the size of the project. That’s not to say teams can’t work outside of those parameters, but too many team members can create chaos and confusion that can easily derail the project.

If there’s conflict within the team

No matter how hard we try, it’s simply impossible to make everyone get along with one another. There’s always hope that a team of like-minded individuals working towards a single goal will work perfectly together. Unfortunately, that’s just not how human beings work. Not everyone will get along, and that’s something the team will have to manage if such a situation arises.

Disputes that come up between team members can be extremely tough to resolve. Teams work in close proximity and rely on constant, clear communication between members. If that link breaks down due to conflict, it’s far more straightforward and quicker to restructure the team.

Creativity has slowed down

We have all run into a creative wall during development, and we all know how damaging it can be to the project’s overall progress. In some situations, you can simply take a break to clear your head and start again. However, given the set time constraints imposed by Scrum, it’s not possible to just walk away from a problem and come back to it later.

In this situation, the answer could be as simple as asking for help. Sometimes, all a project needs is a fresh set of eyes, so bringing in an extra team member can help get the team past that roadblock and back on track to success.

Frequently missed deadlines.

When a team works with Scrum, they must respect the given timeframes. A couple of missed deadlines is to be expected, especially from a new group. However, if missed deadlines become frequent, then you have a problem.

This could simply mean you’re not planning your sprints correctly, in which case it’s time to go back to the drawing board and remind the team how to calculate sprint velocity. That way, you can start planning your sprints and build your product roadmap more effectively.

It could also mean that your team needs a change-up. It could just be one weak link in the chain affecting productivity, in which case you can keep the core team and reassign that person to a different role. In this situation, it’s helpful to have a discussion with that individual about any internal or external issues that are affecting their work.

Of course, the worst-case scenario is a team that has adopted each other’s bad habits, resulting in a massive dip in productivity. In this situation, a total restructuring is necessary. Yes, restructuring will result in a momentary drop in productivity, but allowing a poor team to go unchecked will result in more issues in the long term.

Lack of openness between team members

There’s no harm in being proud of your work. After all, for a project to be a success, everyone must perform at peak capability. Sadly, some people take pride in their work a little too far.

It’s impossible to be perfect 100% of the time, and that’s fine. Mistakes are inevitable, but scrum and agile embrace creative problem solving, so if an error does occur, the team can pool their resources and fix it quickly and efficiently. Scrum also places the responsibility on the group as a whole, which sometimes leads team members to make mistakes and move on. Maybe they think others won’t notice their error or that someone else will fix it along the way. But if group members don’t acknowledge mistakes or communicate openly with their team, that mistake might snowball into a much bigger problem.

The same issues occur when a team member refuses to share their work with others. Agile and Scrum methodologies dictate that everyone is equally responsible for the product under collective ownership. So, say a team member needed a specific piece of code to help their section run smoothly, there should be no issues approaching another team member who already wrote that code.

A team member who refuses to be open and share with their teammates can derail the project. They’re not utilizing the methodology, and you should move them out of the team for someone who will embrace Agile and Scrum.

Not open to discussing all of these issues

Finally, if your team isn’t willing to speak up and attempt to address these issues, you’re not going to make any improvements. If bad habits become the norm, there will be considerable drops in productivity, efficiency, and quality of the work. Plus, conflicts can steadily build into something much more serious.

Like Albert Einstein once said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If your team is having issues, they need to speak up and try to solve them or move on to something else.

Try adding some fun back into the workplace with EasyRetro

The key to an excellent scrum development team is keeping morale high. At EasyRetro, we like to do that by injecting some fun back into the workplace. Want to know how? Get started for FREE today, and we can show you!

What are the 5 Scrum values, and how do you implement them in a team?

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 11:00:00 +0000

It can be challenging to get the best out of agile frameworks if the team doesn’t understand why they’re using them. That’s often down to poor implementation when a company switches to scrum. They focus on the results they hope scrum will bring rather than focusing on why we use scrum methodologies in the first place.

This is why the five scrum values are so important for teaching, implementing, and maintaining scrum. They are the core of the scrum methodology and the key to unlocking scrum’s full potential. Those values are:

Courage
Commitment
Focus
Openness
Respect

These values are often looked at but then completely ignored. For most teams, it’s simply a poster on the wall as they continue to do what they think scrum is. Sure, they may be feeling some benefits from the framework, but by ignoring the central values, they’re missing out on many of the benefits scrum has to offer.

The five Scrum values:

Before we look at how we can implement these values, let’s take a moment to understand what they represent.

Courage

Working with any form of agile methodology is useless if you can’t adapt as you work. Life is unpredictable and can throw you a curveball at any point in a project. Someone working with scrum methodology needs to have the courage to pivot from the original plan if and when the project’s parameters change.

It’s also vital that anyone working on the project has the courage to rise to a tough challenge. Not everything is easy, and not everything has a simple answer. If you’re going to succeed with agile and scrum frameworks, you need to keep that in mind at all times.

Commitment

Scrum isn’t a framework that needs heroes. It’s about working with the entire team to bring value to the product you’re trying to create and not about individuals getting time in the spotlight. Everyone on the team must trust one another to follow through on tasks and deliver to the best of their abilities. This can only be achieved when each team member commits to the team and the project.

Focus

While not strictly exclusive to agile and scrum, focus is crucial to a scrum team’s success. Sprints offer a minimal amount of time to achieve a specific set of goals, which means there is simply no time for teams or individual team members to drift off track. The only things that should matter during the sprint are those tasks. Anything else can wait.

Even if the team is running ahead of schedule and thinks they can squeeze in an extra item from the product backlog into the current sprint, they should focus on the tasks for this sprint. There’s nothing wrong with being too thorough when it comes to creating products with value.

Openness

Feedback is essential when creating a new product. After all, if the product does not address the user’s needs, there’s no reason for anyone to use it. For a product to truly offer value to the end-user, the team needs to involve the end-user in every development step.

The same can be said for addressing stakeholders. As stakeholders tend to be out of the loop regarding how and why a product comes together, they may have unrealistic expectations. By simply opening up to them and keeping them in the loop with developments, they can better understand how their team works and how a product is developed.

Respect

Working in a team means respecting the abilities and contributions of every team member. No one’s work is more valuable than another’s, and every opinion is valid, even if the team chooses to go in a different direction.

How to implement the five scrum values in your team

Implementation can be difficult, but it is imperative to get it right. Like we mentioned earlier, some teams simply put up a poster and move on. That’s not going to help much, so let’s look at some quick but effective ways of implementing the five scrum values.

Implement courage

Your team needs to feel confident enough to speak up about any mistakes, be it their own doing or something they’ve noticed from another team member. They need to feel like they can say no to unrealistic expectations and accept failure. After all, not every sprint can be a success.

This can be difficult for any team member, but it can be even more challenging for some of the more introverted people on your team. As a Scrum Master, you need to create an atmosphere that supports your team when they need to step up and offer their views.

Implement commitment

When planning sprints, try to set realistic goals rather than shooting for the moon. The more your team achieves the set goals, the more confident they will be in their abilities. That will give them the “I can do this” mindset that helps them to commit to the tasks at hand. Occasionally, you’re going to get some pushback from the stakeholders who would prefer you get a product out as quickly as you can. Using courage and turning down their demands can help the team commit to tasks as they know the goals are achievable.

Implement focus

With the ever-changing nature of scrum and agile frameworks, keeping the team focused can be extremely tough. This is why it’s so important to commit to time frames and tasks when undertaking a sprint. One team member going off track is all it takes to derail an entire sprint. Once you have finished planning your sprint, you need to ensure every team member focuses on achieving those tasks in the timeframe given. Anything else that comes up can be added to the product backlog for later sprints.

Implement Openness

Every project has its challenges, and every team makes mistakes. These are just facts of life, so why hide from them? A good scrum master will ensure that team members can approach them if something has gone wrong or if a deadline is unrealistic.

The best way to implement this throughout your team is to lead by example. Be open with details of your progress, mistakes you have made, or any issues you are facing. If the team can see their leader being honest and open, they’ll have no problem adopting that same mentality.

Implement respect

While responsibility is shared across the entire team, as Scrum Master, it’s important to remember that you are the de facto leader of the scrum team. You have a responsibility to set the tone for the team, and your actions will influence how the rest of the team feels like they can act.

Simply remember that every person on your team is an individual with their own opinions, skills, and workflow. Be kind to them, be helpful, and offer an open ear for anyone that needs to speak up.

Keeping up with the five scrum values can be difficult, but it doesn’t need to be. EasyRetro has all the tools to help you get the best out of Scrum. Get started for FREE today!

What is the Futurespective Prime Directive?

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 11:00:00 +0000

By now, we all know the importance of retrospectives and the value they can bring to your team, your product, and even your business as a whole.

But retrospective learning only deals with things that have already happened. Now, that’s great for learning from your mistakes, but it still allows those mistakes to happen. The question is, how do you prepare for and learn from mistakes that haven’t happened yet?

This is where futurespectives come in.

Futurespectives are essentially retrospectives, but instead of looking back, they look ahead to identify potential issues and solidify our goals for the upcoming sprint or project. Futurespectives usually look at a broader range of things as you start to dive into a project rather than examining something that has already happened.

The Futurespective Prime Directive

Everything that happens during a futurespective is bound by the Futurespective Prime Directive described by scrum and agile experts Paulo Caroli and TC Caetano.

‘Hope and confidence come from proper involvement and a willingness to predict the unpredictable. We will fully engage on this opportunity to unite around an inclusive vision, and join hands in constructing a shared future.’

– Paulo Caroli and TC Caetano

Simply put, the prime directive states that a team must work together and try to plan for every possible scenario to ensure they’re not caught short if something unexpected occurs.

Examples of futurespective techniques:

Like retrospectives, there are a bunch of different ways to run a futurespective. So, if you’re aching to try it out, here are a few techniques to get you started.

The Catapult

The catapult takes a simple metaphor and turns it into a fun way to overcome obstacles. This activity allows the team to look at a challenge from three perspectives: the person facing the challenge, the challenge itself, and everyone’s organization to overcome the challenge.

How to run the catapult

Draw a catapult with a person flying and a mountain ahead.
Ask each team member to write notes for each of the three areas:
- The catapult: What you can do to overcome the challenge.
- The person flying: Attributes of the person/team facing the challenge.
- The mountain: The challenge itself.

After mapping out your catapult, discuss notes as a team and try to make links between all three areas.

Success Criteria

The Success Criteria for a team should be brief and concise, with clearly defined intentions, outcomes, and conditions that can validate the results.

How to run the Success Criteria technique

Create a board with the following columns:
- Intention: The idea that you intend to carry out.
- Target: What the team hopes to achieve with the idea.
- Successful if: the indicators that prove you have met the criteria.
- Failure if: the indicators that demonstrate you have not met the criteria.
Write down the intention.
Ask the team to write down the key target outcomes towards the intention on individual sticky notes.
Place notes on the target column.
Organize target outcomes by grouping similar notes, removing notes with little value, etc.
Ask participants to write and place notes for each target outcome for the success and failure indication condition. Place these on the same line as the target outcome.
Have a group conversation about the notes on each line.

Clear success criteria for a team lead to more focused actions. This activity helps the team get on the same page regarding success criteria and track its progress.

Three-horizon

Three-horizon (also called “3Hs”) aims to help a team articulate how to manage current performance while maximizing future growth opportunities. McKinsey’s three-horizon structure provides a vocabulary for the present moment (horizon 1), a near-future (horizon 2), and a more distant future (horizon 3).

This activity is beneficial for teams going through strategic conversations. Many teams have difficulty distinguishing between urgent and just important actions, especially regarding future options.

How to run the three-horizon technique:

Explain the horizons and the intent of the activity.
Describe the horizons:
- What are the things we are/should currently be investing in?
- What are the things we are/should be investing in for the near future?
- What are the things we are/should be investing in for the distant future?
As a team, define what you consider the near future and what you consider the distant future.

Ask your participants to write down their notes for each of the horizons. Once they’ve done this, take a look at how notes line up across the team and group any like notes together. This activity should help you get a sense of what needs to happen and when.

SCOR – Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities, Risks

SCOR helps the team better plan for the future based on the perceived strengths, challenges and opportunities, and risks ahead of them. It is a good activity for visualizing and aligning critical strategic topics.

How to run SCOR:

On your board, create four quadrants and label them “Strengths,” “Challenges,” “Opportunities,” and “Risks.”
Introduce the first two areas:
- Strengths: What are the positive attributes?
- Challenges: What are the challenges or threats?
Ask the team to write down their thoughts on these two areas.
Read each card to the group out loud, but save the discussion for later.
Introduce the other two areas:
- Opportunities: given the strengths, what can we capitalize on and take as a lead to be successful?
- Risks: with those challenges, what are the risks ahead of us, and how to mitigate them?
Give the team time to write notes for those two areas.

Once everyone has had a chance to write their second round of notes, read the new cards out loud. Now’s your chance to discuss everything that you’ve learned in the session.

Strategy DHM

The Strategy DHM technique helps the team frame their strategy by asking three questions:

How will the product delight customers?
What will make the product hard to copy?
What are the business model experiments required to build a profitable business?

The answers to these questions will provide high-level hypotheses for your product strategy.

How to run Strategy DHM:

Split your board into three columns that represent each question
Ask people to add their thoughts and ideas to each column notes
Cluster similar cards
Discuss the cards as a group
Plan the next steps

Strategy DHM essentially runs like any other brainstorming session, so if you need a little help, check out our free online brainstorming tool and guide!

These are just some of the techniques to use in your futurespectives. The main goal when it comes to futurespectives is preparation. Give your team the best possible result by anticipating potential problems before they happen.

Here at EasyRetro, we’ve got all the tools you need. If you’re ready to start looking forward, be sure to take a look at our futurespective template!

What is ESVP? The explorer, shopper, vacationer, prisoner method explained

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0000

It’s no secret that at EasyRetro, we live and breathe retrospectives, but even we get a little tired of them from time to time.

The human attention span is simply not built to perform the same tasks over and over again. So, as your team performs more and more retrospectives, apathy can set in. Factor in outside factors in the team’s personal lives, and before you know it, you’re just performing retrospectives with no real passion or care. It’s almost like the team are prisoners, just waiting for their time to be served so they can move on.

That’s why in today’s post, we’re going to talk about the ESVP method and how it can identify apathy within your team before it becomes a problem.

ESVP stands for Explorer, Shopper, Vacationer, and Prisoner. It’s a tool you can use to identify lower engagement and discover why team members may be apathetic to retrospectives (or any other regular meeting).

The ESVP method helps you understand an individual’s mood or even the team’s mood overall by categorizing them as an Explorer, Shopper, Vacationer, or Prisoner. Each category corresponds to a sliding scale of engagement. If a team member falls into the explorer category, they are fully engaged, keen to participate, and learn. A team member who falls into the prisoner feels forced to participate and simply goes through the motions until the meeting ends.

Using the ESVP method will help measure the team’s motivations and build a plan to improve processes and boost engagement. It’s not a tool exclusive to retrospectives, either. You can apply the ESVP method to any meeting or even a whole project. It’s purely a tool to help management understand when they need to make adjustments.

The ESVP categories

The ESVP categories seem strange at first, so let’s just clarify what each category means.

Explorer

Ideally, we’d love it if every team member was an explorer! Team members categorized as explorers are most likely to be fully engaged in the meeting. They’re keen to hear new ideas or insights that can help them improve. They tend to be excited about the future of the current project and what comes next.

Shopper

Shoppers are invested in the process, but they tend to be invested purely for their own development rather than the project or the team as a whole. Shoppers will be looking to hear new insights that offer value to them directly and are not interested in ideas that only benefit the team or project.

Vacationer

Everyone loves a vacation, but you can’t vacation while you’re still at work! Unfortunately, team members can sometimes use meetings as a mini-break from their work. They’re only interested in what is happening in a meeting because they’re glad to have a distraction from their other work.

Prisoner

Prisoners are simply attending meetings because they are obligated to be there. They’re not interested in the process. They’re not interested in participating. They’re not interested in the results. They’re just there, waiting for the meeting to end.

How do you implement ESVP in your retrospectives?

The quality of your meetings depends on your participants’ investment in the process. Thankfully, integrating ESVP into your retrospectives is an easy task. So if you’re noticing a drop in engagement in your retrospective meetings, here’s how the ESVP method works.

Step one: Set the stage

Rather than diving headfirst into the practice, explain to your team what information you want to collect from them. Let everyone know that this technique isn’t about judging anyone. Nobody will get in trouble. It’s simply a way for the scrum master to understand the team’s mood and motivations.

Step two: Explain the categories

Sometimes, if a team member falls into the vacationer or prisoner categories, they might worry about negative comments getting thrown their way. But that doesn’t have to happen.

By explaining what each category means, you can reassure the team that it’s okay if their mood matches one of the categories that lean towards apathy. The ESVP method isn’t about shaming those who feel disinterested. It’s about creating an opportunity to improve the process and promote engagement.

Step three: Collect feedback

There are a few ways to collect feedback. You can use an online tool, dot voting, or even a ballot-style process. First, the scrum master writes the categories on paper and passes it around the room. Then, team members tick the category they most relate to at that moment.

Anonymously collecting answers can help team members honestly identify their motivation level.

Step four: Analyse the results

Once the team has given their answers, you can look at the results to see how your team feels overall. If the average response is vacationer or prisoner, it’s a sure sign that you need to adjust how you run your sprints.

However, if the results are generally explorer or shopper with a couple of outliers, something outside of work may be affecting those outlying team members.

Step five: Act on the results

There’s no point using the ESVP method if you’re not going to do anything with the information you gather.

If your whole team is feeling apathetic to retrospectives, consider changing up the framework a little. After all, EasyRetro offers over 100 different templates to choose from, so it’s not like you need to look too far for a more exciting way to run your retrospective!

However, if you only have a few outliers, consider one-to-one conversations with your team members to try and establish how they’re feeling. As we mentioned earlier, issues outside of work can affect engagement, which requires a tailored response.

Pros and Cons:

There are, of course, pros and cons to the ESVP method. Here are a few to keep in mind.

Pros:

Help scrum masters understand the general mood of their team.
Help scrum masters to improve how they run meetings and retrospectives in a way that boosts engagement.
Help team members realize their level of engagement, hopefully leading to meaningful discussions and self-improvement.

Cons:

Team members can be wary of being truthful, fearing repercussions or judgment.
Team members may offer incorrect responses.
Team members may see giving a prisoner or vacationer response as an excuse to be let out of a meeting early.

Each item in this cons list is precisely why we recommend keeping the process anonymous.

How to boost engagement in your retrospectives

It’s easy to say you’ll keep your meetings engaging and fun for everyone. But making that happen is another thing altogether! At EasyRetro, we love to put the fun back into fundamental business practices. We pride ourselves on helping scrum masters keep their teams engaged and motivated.

We have everything you need to turn your prisoners into explorers, from exciting retrospective templates to the EasyRetro blog, which is packed full of tricks and tips to get the best out of your teams.

Get started for free today!

47 examples of Scrum & Agile terminology and what they actually mean

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

How often do you sit in a meeting and just nod along to the conversation while not really understanding half the words you’re hearing? Don’t worry. It happens to everyone!

Scrum and Agile may be extremely valuable methodologies to adopt, but they are absolutely jam-packed with buzzwords, jargon, and weird terminologies. That’s why we’ve decided to write up the ultimate guide to all the confusing words and phrases that some people pretend to understand but are too nervous to ask about.

Let’s dive straight in, shall we?

Scrum & agile terminology demystified

Antipattern

Antipatterns are common solutions to problems that feel like they help but distract from the project’s main goal. Click here for more on antipatterns.

Architect

An agile architect creates an environment — through coaching and mentoring — that enables the development team to create software that they can easily modify to support changing requirements.

Backlog refinement (also referred to as backlog grooming) is when the product owner regularly refines the backlog.

Backlog refinement usually involves some or all of the development team.

The aim is to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items and is prioritized correctly, including any items ready to be delivered.

Behavior Driven Development

Behavior Driven Development (BDD) is an agile practice where team members discuss the expected behavior of a system to build a shared understanding of expected functionality.

Burndown Chart

Burndown Chart is the mechanism used to track work-in-progress. It is based on the principle that a meaningful project dashboard must contain a status report showing the current status of all active work tasks.

For more on burndown charts, plus a free burndown chart generator, click here!

Collective Code Ownership

Collective code ownership is the explicit convention that every team member shares a responsibility to make changes to any code file if and when it is required. There is no individual ownership for any of the code within the product, and everyone can make positive changes.

Continuous Deployment

Continuous deployment is a great agile tool that aims to reduce the time between writing a line of code and making that code available to users in production.

You can achieve continuous deployment by relying on an infrastructure that automates and implements the various steps leading up to deployment. This automation means the live application gets updated with new code after each integration successfully meets the release criteria.

Customer Development

Customer development is a framework that offers teams a way to use a more scientific approach to validate assumptions about your product and business. The Customer Development model is made up of four well-defined steps: customer development, customer validation, customer creation, and company building.

Daily Meeting (Stand-up)

The daily meeting (also called the daily stand-up) is one of the most commonly practiced Agile techniques. The short 15-minute meetings present an opportunity for the team to get together, update everyone on developments, and coordinate their activities.

Developer

In the world of Agile, a developer is more than just a code writer. A good agile developer embraces the ways of agile and understands why agile practices lead to better software. They need to take responsibility for estimating, planning, and managing their tasks and reporting their progress.

Emergence

The official Scrum Glossary defines Emergence as “The process of the coming into existence of prominence of new facts or new knowledge of a fact, or knowledge of a fact becoming visible unexpectedly.”

Put a bit more simply; it applies to anything you didn’t plan for that affects the workflow or product.

Epic

An epic is a large user story.

Estimation

In software development, an “estimate” evaluates the effort necessary to carry out a given development task. Many agile teams use story points as the preferred unit to estimate their tasks.

Exploratory Testing

Exploratory testing is commonly described as simultaneous learning, test design, and execution. It is an approach to testing that values the tester as an integral part of the test process. It focuses on discovery and relies on the guidance of the individual tester to uncover defects that other tests might not pick up.

Extreme Programming

Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile software development framework that aims to produce higher quality software and higher quality of life for the development team. XP is the most specific of the agile frameworks regarding appropriate engineering practices for software development.

Facilitator

A facilitator is essentially the leader of whichever event is happening. Their task is to assist the other team members in achieving the set goals. For example, if there is a meeting to identify new features, it’s the role of the facilitator to enable the team to come up with great ideas by ensuring they have everything they need to ideate.

Incremental Development

Incremental development is when each successive version of a product is usable, and each builds upon the previous version by adding functionality that’s visible to the user.

Integration

Integration in agile refers to any effort required for a project team to deliver a product suitable for release as a functional whole.

Iteration

An iteration is simply the period of time during which development takes place.

Kanban

Kanban is a visual workflow management method that uses cards, which represent tasks, to track progress. The word kanban is Japanese and roughly translated means “card you can see.”

Kanban Method

The Kanban Method is a means to design, manage, and improve flow for knowledge work and allows teams to start where they are to drive evolutionary change.

Kanban Board

A Kanban Board is a visual workflow tool consisting of multiple columns. Each column represents a different stage in the workflow process.

Lead Time

Lead Time is the time between a customer order and delivery. In software development, it can also be the time between a requirement made and its fulfillment.

Minimum Marketable Feature

A Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF) is a minor, self-contained feature that can be developed quickly and delivers significant value to the user.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

A Minimum Viable Product is the version of a new product with the fewest features possible while still being functional.

Planning Poker

Planning poker is a fun and valuable tool to use when prioritizing workload. For an in-depth look at planning poker, click here.

Points

Agile teams refer to units of time as “points” or “story points.” Points are simply a measurement that can estimate the overall effort required to fully implement a product backlog.

Product Goal

The product goal describes the complete project and is what every part of development is aiming for.

Product Owner

The product owner is the title given to a team member responsible for maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of features or components. They are also accountable for backlog refinement and maximizing the product’s value.

Retrospective

Retrospectives are meetings that take place after a sprint ends. A retrospective aims to find out what went right and wrong and identify any opportunities for improvement. If you’re a newcomer to agile and scrum, check out our guide to retrospectives.

Scrum

Scrum is a framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining products in a complex environment.

Scrum Master

Scrum master is the name given to the person responsible for ensuring the team adheres to agile values and principles.

Sprint

A sprint is a short, fixed-length time frame for the development team to complete their assigned tasks.

Sprint Planning

Sprint planning is an event that occurs at the beginning of a sprint where the team determines which items from the product backlog they will work on during that sprint.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is a person external to the Scrum Team with a specific interest in and knowledge of a product required for incremental discovery.

Story Mapping

Story mapping consists of ordering user stories along two independent dimensions. The horizontal axis represents a rough order of priority, while the vertical axis represents the level of difficulty involved in implementing that story.

Story Splitting

Story splitting is simply the act of breaking up one user story into smaller ones while still maintaining the value that the user story brings.

Sustainable Pace

A sustainable pace is an ideal that teams should aim for. A sustainable pace is both efficient and productive but is comfortable enough to avoid burnout.

Technical Debt

Technical debt is a concept that reflects the implied cost of additional rework. It is often caused by less than ideal design decisions, contributing to the total cost of ownership.

Test-Driven Development

Test-driven development is a style of programming in which three activities, coding, testing, and design, are tightly interwoven.

Timebox

A timebox is an agreed period of time that the team, or individual, has to complete a goal.

Unit Testing

A unit test is a short program fragment written and maintained by the developers on the product team that exercises some narrow part of the product’s source code and checks the results.

Usability Testing

Usability testing is an empirical, exploratory technique to answer questions such as “how would an end-user respond to our software under realistic conditions?”

User Stories

User stories are short descriptions of a feature, told from the perspective of the user. They often use the User Story Template to offer a clear representation of the feature.

User Story Template

The user story template is one of the most commonly recommended aids to write user stories. “As a [type of user], I want [feature] so that [reason for feature request].

Velocity

Velocity is a metric used to represent the total effort estimates associated with user stories completed during an iteration.

Still have questions? EasyRetro can help

Hopefully, this has cleared up any confusion you may have surrounding Agile buzzwords. If not, check out the EasyRetro blog, which is packed with insights and top tips to help you become an agile master.

For all your other needs, sign up for a free EasyRetro account today and get all the tools you need to succeed on your next project.

Everything you need to know about starbursting

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000

At EasyRetro, we love to inject a little fun back into the workday. Brainstorming sessions are one of the best opportunities to have fun while still making meaningful progress on a project. You’re likely aware of the more common brainstorming practices, such as brainwriting, round-robin and, mind mapping. Each form of brainstorming has its pros and cons, and choosing which to use depends on how your team operates. Today, we’ll talk about a brainstorming technique that tends to pop up a little less often, starbursting.

What is the starbursting technique?

When someone brings a new product or feature to the table, it can be easy to throw random questions out there. The problem is, random questions lead to equally random answers. “Maybe,” “No,” or “Yes, but…”

It’s hard to glean value from a conversation like that. Enter starbursting!

Starbursting is a form of brainstorming that focuses on generating questions rather than answers. It’s an iterative process that can create layers that flesh out the initial question by asking further questions.

In a starburst brainstorming session, your team will start with an idea, question, or challenge at the center and then create a six-point star around it. Each point will represent a question: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Once you generate questions, you can break out into smaller groups and answer the questions you just generated. By the end of the meeting, you’ll have answered the core questions in a way that brings value to the product and sets the stage for the next step in the development process.

When should you use starbursting?

As with any other brainstorming technique, you can use starbursting in most situations. Starbursting shines when your team approaches something completely new, such as a new feature or a brand new product.

In the early stages of development, it’s incredibly helpful to dig to the core of the idea, and starbursting provides an excellent framework to do that. The technique allows you and your team to assess every aspect of an idea, including any potential issues that may arise during the development process.

Pros and cons of starbursting

As with everything in life, starbursting has its pros and cons that you should consider if you’re considering using the technique.

PRO: Time-saving

Because a starbursting session creates more questions rather than answers, it’s a much faster way of brainstorming ideas and features. While the session itself is quicker than standard brainstorming sessions, the team will go away to answer the questions they came up with during the session.

PRO: Exhaustive

The more questions that come out of a starbursting session, the more tracks you will have covered when you start development. Starbursting is great for getting to the very core of an idea and identifying positive aspects as well as potential downfalls.

CON: Starbursting sessions can go off the tracks easily

While starbursting seems like a simple enough concept, the constant questioning can quickly derail the meeting.

Starbursting meetings generate many different questions for each point of the star. This may seem like a lot of work at first, but the more questions you ask, the more answers you get and the more value you can put into the product.

The issue you tend to run into is that team members may start to become too specific which detrimental to the process. Others may switch off after discussing the same core question or idea for a while.

CON: Hypotheticals

As with any other brainstorming session, starbursting can bring hypothetical situations and questions into the mix. While it’s never bad to be over-prepared, it does derail the project when you start planning for unlikely situations. If you find your team gets stuck on hypothetical situations — or even worse, entirely useless ideas that bring no value to the project — consider running a prioritization session before jumping back into the starbursting session.

How to perform a starbursting session

Now that you know the ins and outs of starbursting, it’s time for you and your team to get to work!

As mentioned earlier, if left unchecked, the team can very quickly go off the rails during the starbursting session. So, it’s essential to run a starbursting session with an appointed facilitator. That way, someone is always focused on moving the meeting forward in a meaningful way and maintaining the value that this kind of brainstorming session can bring.

Don’t panic though! It’s not a tough job. Simply follow these four steps, and your team will be starbursting experts in no time!

Step 1

Use a large sheet of paper to draw a six-point star. In the middle of the star, write down your question/idea/project name.

For example, if your team is discussing a new feature that requires the user to register for an account and sign in, the center of the star will be something like, “Should we offer a range of sign-in options?”

Step 2

At each point of the star, write one of the main question groups: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How?

Step 3

Start to brainstorm each question group and write down these questions on the relevant star point.

Remember, starbursting isn’t about answering these questions; it’s about finding questions you need to answer as the development process begins.

Looking again at the scenario we used earlier, here are some questions for each star point.

Who:

Who will benefit from multiple sign-in options?
Who on the team will be in charge of implementing this?
Who else offers multiple sign-in options? (And does it help them?)

What:

What resources do we need?
What will different sign-in options cost us?
What sign-in options will we support?

How:

How will this help onboard new users?
How will we promote it?
How can we integrate it into our existing sign-in process?

Where:

Where will we place the new sign-in options?
Where the new sign-in options be advertised?

When:

When are we looking to introduce this feature?
When will we start developing?
When will the advertising start?

Why:

Why should we offer multiple sign-in options?
Why will this make it easier to attract new users?
Why do some of our competitors offer this feature and others don’t?

Obviously, this is a narrow subject for the sake of this example, but hopefully, this gives you a good idea of what to expect when you perform this step with your team.

Step 4

During the final stage, the team will discuss the answers to each question from the starbursting session. You then collect the responses and put them toward building a solid vision of the product or the idea.

Chances are, you’re going to come out of the session with a lot more questions than you have time to answer in one go. That’s okay! Now you have the questions that need answering, you can always host more sessions down the line.

What next?

After your starbursting session, your team is going to have a lot of questions that need answering. That leaves them with lots of decision making, prioritization, and planning to do. Luckily for you, this is what EasyRetro does best. Join us today and find out how EasyRetro can make product development easy!

Post-mortems vs. retrospectives: What’s the difference?

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0000

The end of a project is always everyone’s favorite part. The hard work has paid off, and the team can enjoy a well-deserved break. That said, there’s a lot you can learn from the last project or sprint you have completed. The question is, what’s the best way to assess your team’s work and learn from it?

Regulars to our blog won’t be surprised to see us recommend a retrospective. We’re also going to talk about post-mortems because they’re another invaluable tool you can use to assess previous work. The two can sometimes be interchangeable as they deal with learning from previous work and looking at what went right and what you can improve. But they are different tools to have in your toolbox for different situations.

Post-mortems vs. retrospectives

Because these two tools are regularly confused, let’s break down the key differences between post-mortems and retrospectives.

Timing

The most obvious distinction between the two is timing. As the name may suggest, a post-mortem takes place once the entire project is complete, hence the name: “after death.”

Retrospectives are much more frequent and can be performed after every sprint to enable the team to make essential changes on a dime.

Amount of work examined:

It won’t surprise anyone to know that you will be looking over more work during a post-mortem than you will during a retrospective. Depending on how long the project has run for, you may end up analyzing a year’s worth of work during a post-mortem. With a retrospective, the workload is much smaller, limited to a few weeks.

Focus

Focus is where post-mortems and retrospectives tend to cross over — both highlight what went well, what went wrong, and what can be improved. The only thing that changes between the two is scale. Post-mortems will focus on significant successes or failures, while retrospectives will identify more minor successes or issues.

Who participates?

As retrospectives are a regular, smaller-scale event, they only need the core development team to participate. Others involved in the project are welcome to join, but not essential.

Post-mortems are a much more inclusive format as they deal with the aftermath of a complete project. Managers and other leads who want to understand whether something went well or not (and why) should attend a post-mortem. Post-mortems allow you to engage a broader array of stakeholders — analysts, senior leaders, support staff, and the team itself — and gain feedback from a wider group.

What happens after?

If we’re honest, the outcome of a post-mortem and a retrospective will be pretty similar. By the end of each meeting, you will have a list of successes and failures you need to act on in the future. That said, what you come out of each type of meeting with, and what you need to do with it, will be different, as we mentioned earlier.

A retrospective will leave you with a shortlist of relatively small tasks your team needs to complete during the next sprint. These can be as simple as a bug fix or a little more complicated, like a product’s UI revamp. The team will walk away with a list of what to change and head straight to work.

A post-mortem will leave you with a list of all the successes and failures during the project. The likelihood is, you won’t use this information again. However, it will offer learning opportunities your team can implement during the next project or even deploy throughout the entire business.

How to choose between a post-mortem and a retrospective

Both formats yield different results, so it may not always be appropriate to run a post-mortem at the end of a project. Sometimes a simple retrospective may be all you need! So to figure out which you need to perform, you should ask yourself a series of questions about what you want to achieve from the meeting.

What do you want to achieve?

To decide between a sprint retrospective and a post-mortem, you need to identify what you hope to achieve from the meeting. What do you want to know? What do you plan to do with the information?

Say something went drastically wrong and derailed the entire project or something significant happened — a big milestone, project, or feature — you probably want to conduct a post-mortem to understand what happened.

If the project ticked along nicely with nothing out of the ordinary occurring, you likely won’t need a post mortem. However, if you believe the team could improve, you can run a sprint retrospective to identify how to improve and which areas need more attention.

How do you want your results to look?

After going through these two different processes, you’ll end up with different results and different outputs. If you want to create a report that explains what happened and why, a post-mortem is likely a better choice. A post-mortem will specifically look at hard evidence and attempt to break down why something occurred. Because it starts with quantitative data gathering, the post-mortem format is perfect if you need a presentation or report.

If you’d rather have a list of actionable items within your team to help them improve, then a retrospective format is probably the move. A sprint retrospective asks the team to take ownership over their processes and improve how they work together. It’s a chance for the development team to develop themselves and head into the next project with the knowledge and power to move forward.

Who’s asking for a debrief, and who should participate?

As we mentioned earlier, post-mortems and retrospectives serve different audiences.

Post-mortems generally serve the needs of managers and other leads who want to understand whether something went well or not and why. Additionally, because feedback is gathered in a survey and then presented to an audience, post-mortems allow you to engage a broader array of stakeholders – analysts, senior leaders, support staff, and the team itself – to give feedback. If you want to include this wider group and create something for managers, then a post-mortem is a better fit.

Retrospectives, on the other hand, primarily engage and serve the team doing the work. Only direct team members are typically involved in sprint retrospectives, and both the discussion and action items coming out of a retrospective serve the teams’ needs. While a more effective team supports the needs of both leaders and other stakeholders, the group itself enjoys the primary benefits of a retrospective.

Because retrospectives focus on the team, asking to run a retro can be a wise move if you’re feeling unsatisfied as a team member. Rather than giving feedback directly to a lead and hoping they act on it, a team member can ask the team to participate in a sprint retrospective process, which often feels like a more straightforward request. From there, they have the space to reflect on what’s working and what’s not.

Ready to run your post-mortem?

So now you know the difference between the two, why not host your post-mortem when your next project comes to an end? For all the information you need to run a successful post-mortem meeting, check out our guide, complete with a free template to get you started!

Lesser-known insights about making decisions as a team

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Collaboration is essential for businesses that want to thrive. The benefits are almost endless, with companies that promote collaboration and employee engagement seeing more than double the rate of success compared to companies that don’t.

Because of this, employees are working in teams more than ever before. However, just because employees are being forced to work together, doesn’t mean they’re good at it. Personal bias can play a huge part in group decision-making and can sometimes cause conflict.

If this rings true for you and your team, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

The challenges of team decision making

Chances are, if you’re working as part of a team you will have experienced at least half of the challenges we’re about to discuss. Instead of marking off your workplace bingo card and attempting to move on, you need to see these challenges as problems that can be resolved.

Hierarchy

Should one person’s opinion be valued more than someone else’s? That’s the tricky line we have to walk in a traditional workplace.

Sure, management can draw a line in the sand and commit to a decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the right choice every time. Personal bias plays a large part in an individual’s decision-making process and a single person will always opt for something that seems familiar, rather than what is objectively the best course of action. Combine that with the ability to overrule anyone else on the team and you could quickly end up on the path to failure.

Group Think

Another issue that can stem from hierarchical decision-making is something called “group think”. This occurs when the team has an unconscious desire to try and fit in with the group’s overall thoughts and feelings.

Group thinking tends to make decision-making a very generic process with little thought going into the actual issue. This means less creative problem solving and more homogeneous product development as teams simply go through the motions.

Distance

We are just at the beginning of the hybrid working revolution. As some return to the office, many employees are seeing the benefits of a more flexible worklife. Obviously, this presents an obstacle when it comes to making decisions.

Even as the technology we use to collaborate and interact as a distributed team improves, it can still be difficult to come to a decision.

Lack of Shared Information

The competition aspect of business means not everyone in the company will be afforded access to the same information. Trade secrets are essential to stay ahead of the competition, but it can hamper the decision-making process as different people have different context to assess the situation.

Five tools for effective team decision-making (that not everyone knows!)

Effective decision-making isn’t something you can just make happen with a snap of your fingers. You need to create a standardized approach to decision-making that is inclusive, reduces group think mentality and still reflects the values of your company. If you’re struggling to do that, here’s a handy list of techniques and tools to help you achieve effective decision-making within your team.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is more commonly used to come up with new features or products, but it can also be a great tool for decision-making.

The main point of these brainstorming meetings is to generate as many suggestions as possible, offering a great way for free-flowing thoughts to be shared with the rest of the team. The more ideas your team comes up with, the more likely you are to find the perfect solution.

Nominal Group Technique

This unique group decision-making strategy takes brainstorming one step further by including a voting process. However, rather than just putting a dot on the board or raising your hand, the nominal group technique allows the voters to give their honest opinions as to why they have voted that way.

Delphi Technique

Even with the best tools and facilitation, the team may still struggle to come to a clear consensus. The Delphi method offers a way to narrow down the options by having the scrum master, product owner or team members with suitable expertise step in.

The Delphi technique takes all the ideas and breaks them down into a smaller number of possibilities. If the team continues to struggle with the reduced options, the designated leader will condense the choices even further until they can make a decision.

Rankings

Ranking options is one of the simplest ways to help come to a consensus, especially in a remote working situation.

This technique can be organized through email, an online communication tool, or in a brief meeting. Team members will be asked to personally rank each option which will then be compared to create an average ranking. The average ranking will give an accurate representation of the team’s overall thoughts and feelings about the issue at hand.

Pros & Cons

Another simple decision-making tool is the classic pros and cons list. Each option will be discussed as a group, with team members offering the positives and negatives for that decision. They can then be weighted up to see which option has the most pros and the least cons. The ratios of each option will make coming to a consensus much easier.

Group decision-making tools you need to be using

Dot Voting

We love dot voting! In fact, we love dot voting so much we wrote a brilliant guide (if we do say so ourselves), containing everything you need to know about this great decision-making tool.

To quickly sum it up, dot voting is exactly what you would expect from the name. The team uses sticky dots to vote on a variety of options. The option with the most dots wins. It’s simple, it’s inclusive and it can be a fun way of making decisions.

The Decision Tree

Something that is often left out of the decision-making process is a forecast of what that decision will lead to. This is where a decision tree can come into play.

A decision tree is a non-linear tool that allows you to take multiple potential decisions and run them through each step of the tree to help you decide whether it’s the right choice or not.

Planning and Priority Poker

Planning Poker is a fantastic way to estimate project length, but did you know it can also be used as a decision-making tool?

Priority Poker is a variation of Planning Poker that can be used to make decisions as a group. It’s an inclusive technique that brings together the whole team in order to come to the best conclusion.

The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule states that 80% of a project’s benefits usually come from 20% of its effort. To discover where this 20% is in order to use that information to better prioritize solutions, we use something called the “Pareto Analysis”.

This process tasks the team with totaling up the number of times each individual issue is reported. It then translates these reports into a percentage and plots them onto a graph. A line is drawn at the 80% mark, showing the 20% of options that require the most attention.

The right mindset makes all the difference

Personal bias is difficult to overcome at times, but for a team to truly collaborate and come to a valuable consensus, members need to be open to new ideas. The goal should always be a unanimous decision, which involves multiple patterns of thought coming together and merging into one effective solution.

Remember, when you work as a team you need to communicate openly and collaborate rather than create conflict.

Unlock your team’s potential with EasyRetro!

The EasyRetro blog is packed full of useful tricks, tips and insights to help your team perform at their peak ability. Take a look and discover new ways to get ahead of the competition!

What is a sprint burndown chart?

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 09:00:00 +0000

The world of Agile methodology is a confusing one. There are so many “cool” names for things, jargon and buzzwords to get your head around that it can seem a little overwhelming when making the transition.

Luckily for you, you’re in the right place to learn everything there is to know about Scrum and Agile. The EasyRetro blog has a wealth of knowledge to help you get ahead, including what a burndown chart is and how to use one.

Sprint burndown chart: a definition

Simply put, a burndown chart shows how much work has been completed during the sprint and how much is left to do.

It can also be a handy tool to help identify any “scope creep”, but we’ll come back to that later.

Sprint burndown chart: the benefits

Burndown charts allow your team to easily visualize the likelihood of completing the allotted work, within the time, allocated to that sprint. It clearly reflects the team’s progress, shows them which tasks are left to do, and how long there is left to do them.

Because the burndown chart is simple to understand, your team will be able to spot potential bottlenecks and tackle them before they become an issue.

If a team is consistently missing deadlines — or even finishing up earlier than expected — a burndown chart can help visualize workflow so the team can adjust accordingly. This helps teams make the most of the time they have available in every sprint.

Identifying “scope creep” is another benefit of burndown charts, as we mentioned before. It’s a situation we’ve all experienced before: when the pre-defined features, scope, and deliverables of a project have grown from their initial specifications — without the budget or timeframe being adjusted as well.

Scope creep is a very real threat that can affect any fixed-scope project, but if you’re truly working with the Agile methodology, you should always be adapting to the changes as they happen. That’s where the burndown chart comes into play.

The burndown chart will clearly illustrate that minimal progress is being made, even if the team is working hard to keep up with the changes.

Getting started with burndown charts

A burndown chart doesn’t need to be fancy or complicated — the entire point is to give your team an accurate representation of where they are in the project at a glance. That being said, working out your burndown chart is a process you need to get right, or you risk running into trouble down the line.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a burndown chart, based on a 5-day sprint with 8 tasks in the backlog. Let’s also assume that sprint velocity has already been calculated with a result of 80 available hours.

Step 1: Estimate effort

This is where your team looks at the number of available hours and days to form a baseline of how many hours should be used per day to stay on track. Put simply, we’re going to divide the available hours by how many days the sprint is due to last.

So, based on the values we’re working with in this example, it would be 80 hours over 5 days, which leaves us with 16 hours per day.

In order to create the burndown chart for this sprint, the data needs to be captured as a daily running total starting with 80 hours and subtracting 16 hours per day. So it would leave 64 hours at the end of the first day, 48 hours at the end of the second day, and so on.

Step 2: Estimate daily progress

You need to provide a baseline estimate for how much effort will be put into each task. The available hours will be divided by the number of tasks that need to be completed during the sprint.

In our example scenario, this would be 80 hours divided by 8 tasks, leaving 10 hours per task.

These first two steps provide the metrics you will be using to compare with the rate of actual work being done.

Step 3: Calculate actual effort

At the end of each day, an actual effort figure should be recorded to represent the remaining available hours. This is the metric that will be used to compare against your estimate to ensure that the sprint is running on schedule, or if tweaks need to be made.

Step 4: Create your burndown chart using the fresh dataset

As the data comes in, you can start using the dataset to build your burndown chart. Good spreadsheet software will help you create the chart with the data you’ve inputted.

But for an even quicker, easier way of building a burndown chart, check out our free burndown chart generator here!

How to read your sprint burndown chart

Alright, now you have a great-looking burndown chart, but do you really understand what it is telling you? Sure, a simple 2-line chart may seem self-explanatory, but some of a burndown chart’s vital insights are easily missed.

Take this example from AgileNutshell.com. Within this burndown chart, you are able to see the team’s velocity and total effort (this chart shows “points” rather than hours, but they are two names for the same quantifier). Yet there is much more information on display here, including:

Work done per day (iteration)
Work remaining
Total work completed so far
Estimated completion date

Utilized correctly, a burndown chart can give you accurate and eye-opening insights into your team’s workflow. This can be used to improve workflow, decrease time wastage and save money.

Create burndown charts — and use them in your retrospectives!

Lastly, burndown charts can be great tools to look back on during a retrospective as they help with assessing the following:

How good is the team with planning?
How effectively is this team performing against the stories planned in a sprint?
Is the team self-organized and working in unity?
What refinements could this team do?

Of course, this isn’t the only tip we have to improve your end-of-sprint retrospectives. The EasyRetro blog is packed full of amazing tricks, tips, and insights. Used alongside our great range of tools, EasyRetro can push your team to the next level and help you truly embrace the scrum methodology!

Get started for FREE today!

Collaboration tools, frameworks and exercises you might not be using yet

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 09:00:00 +0000

The best teams work together to solve problems rather than working alone to try and get ahead of the pack. This is why enabling collaboration between your team members is important — collaboration is key for commercial performance.

There are countless tools, frameworks and exercises to help promote a collaborative culture, but what happens when those methods get over-used?

As the exercises start to go stale, so do team morale and engagement. You can try the same old methods time and time again, sure. But eventually, you’ll need to inspire a spark — the kind that only new ways of working can evoke.

At EasyRetro, we’ve made it our goal to put the fun back into fundamental practices. So with that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of amazing collaboration tools, frameworks and exercises that you’re probably not using yet, but should.

7 great tools that make collaboration easy

Zoho Cliq

Zoho Cliq is a real-time team communication tool that lets you view multiple conversations at once. Say goodbye to switching back and forth between conversations, different applications and group chats, everything is right there on your dashboard.

Each conversation has its own dedicated column so you don’t get mixed up with multiple chats.

Zoho Cliq offers a free plan which includes video conferencing with up to 100 users, screen sharing and whiteboards to help your team collaborate with ease.

Notion

Notion is one of the easiest collaboration platforms to get used to, making it perfect for any team regardless of experience.

This collaboration tool allows teams to work in real-time, share documents with the entire company and has the ability to embed over 500 external tools into its one-stop hub. Almost everything you could need can now be found this a single application — saving you time and effort trying to find various files or keeping track of constantly changing discussion points.

Notion offers a free plan with paid upgrades and scalable plans.

Twist

Doist — the company behind Todoist — are aiming to make synchronous team messaging apps (such as Slack) a thing of the past. Twist promises a calmer, more balanced, more fulfilling way to work and collaborate, especially for remote and asynchronous teams.

Twist offers a new and easy way to organize and keep track of discussions with threads, rather than channels. Their message board-like interface is easy to use, though using threads and the inbox will take a little getting used to.

Twist is free, with paid upgrades available.

Flock

With Flock, team members can exchange messages, share files, host video conferences, manage to-dos, and set up calendar events all from one easy-to-use app.

Flock offers all the usual integrations that you would expect. That allows any team to quickly incorporate Flock into their existing workflow and take advantage of the extra features Flock brings to the table.

Flock offers a free-to-use package, as well as a Pro package offering personalized onboarding, 24/7 customer support on top of their great features.

Wimi

Wimi offers users their own ‘unified workspaces’ where teams can manage projects and share files and calendars. A unique feature of Wimi is their rights-based system. This allows you to manage which team members can access certain areas, offering an extra layer of security for sensitive tasks and data.

Wimi offer three “flagship” products:

Wimi Teamwork - A collaboration tool packed full of features to help your team work smoothly.
Wimi Drive - A cloud-based storage platform
Wimi Armoured - A highly secure platform with all the features of Wimi Teamwork, but with end-to-end encryption.

Wimi offers a free trial and a scalable pricing structure.

Milatone

Milanote is a really cool platform that caters to the creative side of product development.

Described as “The Evernote for Creatives”, Milanote allows you to create notes and to-do lists, upload images and files as well as giving you the Milanote Web Clipper, which lets you save ideas from any website with a single click.

If your team works better with visualization, mood boards and more creative methods for product development, Milanote is the tool you need.

Milanote offers a free, limited plan as well as paid upgrades and scalable pricing.

EasyRetro

EasyRetro is the collaboration tool for Agile teams working in sprints. Designed to make retrospective meetings more fun, engaging and beneficial, this tool brings together team decision-making and smart prioritization of tasks.

The result? A team that’s all pulling in the same direction together. And isn’t that what collaboration is all about?

4 Agile frameworks that promote team collaboration

Lean

Lean is a software development approach derived directly from Toyota’s Lean Manufacturing methodology (yep, the very same Toyota that brought us Kanban, too). As the name suggests, Lean is a zero-frills framework that aims to eliminate waste, empower your team, improve build quality, enhance learning and help your team create deliverables within the quickest amount of time possible.

The Lean framework enhances the learning process by integrating testing, short iteration cycles, and refactoring. It ensures that consistency is built into the system by automating testing through builds, installations, and continuous integration. If utilized correctly, Lean will save your team time and money while still maintaining high-quality output.

Most importantly, Lean emphasizes the team as a center of decision-making. Rather than a traditional top-down approach, management looks to the team for the best solutions. This means your team needs to collaborate effortlessly or risk failure.

Hop straight into Lean with our Lean Coffee template!

Crystal

Crystal is the umbrella term for various Agile methodologies including Crystal Orange, Crystal Clear, Crystal Red and Crystal Yellow. Each crystal approach has its own structure with various factors (team size, project goals, etc) dictating which approach to use.

The Crystal Agile framework is built on two core beliefs:

Teams can find ways on their own to improve and optimize their workflows
Every project is unique and can change on a whim.

These beliefs place a huge emphasis on the need for collaboration between team members. The team is entirely responsible for deciding how the project should progress and takes away the need for strict documentation and rigorous schedules. Perfect for self-organized, highly adaptable teams.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

SAFe is the world’s most common system for scaling Agile through organizations. SAFe enables and accelerates faster time-to-market. It does this by making significant improvements in efficiency and quality, while also improving employee engagement.

SAFe is based around ten Lean Agile principles:

Take an economic view
Apply systems thinking
Assume variability; preserve options
Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles
Base milestones on an objective evaluation of working systems
Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths
Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
Decentralize decision-making
Organize around value.

These principles form the basis for all decision-making and practices within the SAFe framework.

SAFe promotes trust-building behaviors such as breaking down work into smaller batches so that developers can identify issues faster, offering real-time insight into backlog progress across stages, and inspecting and adapting routines.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

Speaking of adaptable, next up we have Adaptive Software Development — or ASD.

ASD empowers teams to efficiently and decisively adapt to changing demands or market needs by developing their products through versatile scheduling and continuous learning. It’s one of the best examples of Agile working and is a streamlined version of the Rapid Application Development framework.

ASD is a gradual framework, with step names representing the uncertainty of complicated systems.

Speculate - The “speculate” step has a significant role in team planning as it observes and discovers problems from any complex system.
Collaboration - The “collaboration” step enables the collection and analysis of information required for the project.
Learn - The “learn” step consistently delivers vital knowledge for project development to the members.

The process as a whole promotes innovation and discovery, helping team members to work together efficiently — gaining knowledge and sharing in their work.

3 team-building exercises to improve collaboration

Zoom

… And, for once, we don’t mean the video conferencing app!

This team-building activity is based on the picture books “Zoom” and “Re-Zoom” by Istvan Banyai, comprising 30 sequential pictures.

To play, the team is first divided into groups and each group member is given an image for their eyes only. The overall goal is to piece together a narrative from a set of images provided.

Without looking at each other’s images, players must work to place the images face down on the table in sequence — simply by speaking about and discussing what their image contains. The winning team is the first team to piece together their narrative in the correct order.

Because each participant keeps their image hidden from everyone else, the group must self-organize to create the narrative without the others knowing which part each person has. This requires effective communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Scavenger Hunt

Sitting at a desk all day can be exhausting — that goes double when meetings drag on. Instead, give your team the chance to move around, have a break and enjoy themselves with a classic scavenger hunt.

To play, your team is divided into groups and tasked with finding items that have been hidden around the office/workspace. Each group is given an initial clue to get them started, which may lead to items or further clues as they get closer to the prize. The first group to complete the entire scavenger hunt is the winner, meaning they have to work together if they want the glory.

Scavenger hunts are a great way to promote timekeeping, creative problem-solving and collaboration while injecting a little fun into the workday.

Minefield

This is a very fun and active task that focuses on communication skills and collaboration. Find a suitable empty space and fill it up with obstacles or ”mines”. You can use office chairs, desks, balloons, water bottles and so on.

To play, your team needs to divide into pairs. One will be blindfolded and tasked with getting from one side of the room to the other, without tripping on any of the mines. The other will be responsible for guiding their partner across the room and avoiding the mines.

The best-performing teams will illustrate great communication skills and stellar team spirit.

Collaboration is the cornerstone of team success — use these tools today!

To put it simply, it’s a case of ‘collaborate or fail’ with modern, multi-functional teams. You could be product managers, marketers, finance teams, or customer service agents — everyone needs how to work together for the organization’s greater good.

We hope this list of collaboration tools, frameworks and exercises give you food for thought and inspiration for better team working.

What does it take to create an agile work environment?

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

The environment in which we work has a huge influence on what we produce. No wonder companies spend millions on their office design! But as we move into 2022, there’s a new type of workplace taking dominance: the agile work environment.

Agile environments have long been important for those of us working in agile ways. But now it’s what many people are craving, from industry to industry and across the world.

What is an agile work environment?

An agile environment is a flexible one. Employees are able to work how, where, and when they want to — so long as it’s helping productivity. Without the pressure on timekeeping and rigid work processes, an employee can direct all their focus on the task at hand.

The work environment should be a space that facilitates productivity, offering workers the resources and space they need to perform. For example, an agile work environment may consist of collaboration space, relaxation space, concentration space, focus space, team meeting space, inspirational space, and phone conversation space.

It’s a drastic change from the traditional desk clump and dividers model we’re used to, but as we know, the traditional workspace does not work for agile teams.

The benefits of setting up an agile work environment

There’s little value in working with agile methodologies if the workspace can’t facilitate them, but switching to an agile workspace has more benefits than you may realize.

A company may wish to focus on the cost saving aspects, as agile workspaces make use of every inch of floor space, rather than paying for an office that’s barely utilized. However, the real benefits are what an agile workspace can do for your employees.

Employee satisfaction

Workplace flexibility is one of the main drivers of job satisfaction. An agile workplace supports this, encouraging workers to approach tasks on their own terms, and trusting them to manage their own time and workload effectively.

More than half of employees (54%) who took part in a global survey said they would consider leaving their job if they’re not able to work flexibly in a post-pandemic world. However. only 48% of those surveyed thought their workplace had actually embraced change over the past year. To make matters worse, 31% actually said their company’s culture had worsened.

This suggests that businesses need to offer a flexible workspace to attract and retain top talent.

Improved collaboration

It seems obvious, but you can really promote collaboration by removing literal barriers between employees.

Say a team needs some guidance from another team in the building, but they’re both in separate rooms. There’s an instant sense of “Oh, I don’t really want to bother them” — and that makes employees unwilling to talk to one another. If different teams are sharing an open plan environment, it opens up the opportunity for spur-of-the-moment collaboration. And that’s the secret sauce that can really push your project to the next level.

Autonomy creates leaders

We know that employees can thrive when given the opportunity to work as a self-organized team. A flexible attitude to the work supported by a flexible workplace can help those self-sustaining teams expand and collaborate with other teams that were previously hidden away behind a divider.

As these teams collaborate more frequently, natural leaders will emerge from the pack, helping to guide these teams towards valuable outcomes without the need for managerial intervention. Sure, management will always be there, but they can operate safely in the knowledge they don’t need to micromanage anyone.

On the other side of the coin, those who prefer to work alone will also have the space and freedom to work exactly how they want to. Better still, in an agile workspace, they can easily see and access help from teams or leaders as and when they require it.

What does an agile work environment look like?

There’s no one-size-fits-all plan for an agile work environment. In fact, that’s kind of the point.

Every team is different and every employee works differently, so why would we want to follow the same template as everyone else? That being said, there are key quantifiers we should focus on when creating an agile work environment.

Comfort

No one can work at their full potential if they feel uncomfortable where they are working. This doesn’t only mean getting rid of those bad, cheap desk chairs or turning the thermostat down. Cramped spaces and dull color schemes can affect the team’s mood, which in turn hampers productivity.

Flow

It’s a slow morning. Your commute was less than pleasant. Then you get into work and you need to navigate an obstacle course just to get to your workspace. Quite quickly, you’ve got a recipe for a very poor workday.

An agile work environment should offer as much freedom and as few obstacles as possible. That means literally and figuratively!

Noise level

Not everyone can work with Spotify playing throughout the office. But, on the other hand, some people work better when they’re able to listen to music. It can be difficult to manage external sounds, especially if your building is near infrastructure, but you do have control over the in-office noise level by asking employees to use headphones and keep conversations quiet.

Flexibility

Flexibility is the whole point of creating an agile work environment.

A static workplace can easily hamper productivity. An agile workspace should be completely flexible and rearrangeable to help your team create the perfect space for maximum productivity.

Rather than tethering your employees to their desks and keeping them hidden behind a computer screen, look to create a workspace and culture that supports agile workflows.

But… what about remote teams?

Obviously, flexible working practices can’t just include office-based tweaks. Now we know that working from home is a viable option, we can’t just expect our employees to be happy about returning to the office. Likewise, companies are able to save money by encouraging remote working, saving on office space and supplies.

The only problem is, it’s tough to create an agile work environment when you have little control over their workspace at home. After all, ‘agile’ is a mindset and a culture — not a design style.

The answer is fairly simple though: embrace the change.

It can be easy to see issues with distributed teams, especially if employees are working on different schedules. However, agile methodologies are all about taking a problem and solving it in a creative fashion — so you should do the same to make a distributed team work.

Minimize friction

The early stages of remote working will present plenty of obstacles. And obstacles mean opportunities to learn!

This is the time where you need to discover which software to use to develop, how to schedule meetings appropriately, and how to seamlessly communicate with team members.

Scheduling standups or retrospectives will require some amount of compromise between team members, especially if they’re in different time zones. However, using the right software to organize your teams can help everyone quickly acclimatize to the new way of doing things.

Remember, you’re still working as a team

It can be easy to see other team members as individual entities when working remotely. The literal distance can lead to an employee thinking they’re on their own as they work, but keeping an emphasis on collaboration can help bridge that gap.

If you’re managing a remote team, it’s vital to maintain strong communication between team members with daily stand-ups and voice conferencing software. Check in regularly to make sure any concerns aren’t being ignored.

Sharing agile-focused digital tools will also help remote teams stay aligned. Check out EasyRetro’s feature set, as a great place to get started.

9 Scrum antipatterns to have on your radar

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

9 Scrum antipatterns to have on your radar As with everything in life, working with Scrum has its highs and its lows. It can be easy to fall into a routine that resembles Scrum but doesn’t offer the same value.

Complacent, seemingly innocent practices become ingrained into your process and — while it feels like they help — they easily distract from the project’s main goal.

We call these “Scrum antipatterns”.

5 common Scrum antipatterns and how to solve them

The first step to combating antipatterns is to actually recognize them. It’s highly likely that your team is utilizing antipatterns without even realizing they are negatively impacting the project.

Let’s have a look at the most common antipatterns — and how to fix them:

1. Thinking Scrum can solve everything

Scrum is wonderful, but let’s be honest… it’s not magic.

Scrum is a tool that can help tackle specific problems and shouldn’t be the go-to solution for everything. That’s how you get stuck!

The best way to fight this antipattern is to simply ask “Why?”. Scrum has been integrated so heavily into our workflows that many may not understand why we do it. Taking a step back to remember why Scrum works and why we use it can give you a chance to reassess the situation — finding the solution or approach that actually works best.

After all, Agile and Scrum are heavily focused on being adaptable, so your team should be equally flexible to make it work.

2. Forgetting that Scrum and Agile are part of the same family

Here’s a truth you may have forgotten: Agile is a mindset, Scrum is a way of operating within that mindset.

If you’re getting too wrapped up in the world of Scrum, rather than keeping Agile workflows in the picture, you can dig yourself a deep hole and bury your project. The whole team needs to look at both Scrum and Agile to make sure they’re getting the best out of their practices.

3. Focusing on Scrum guidelines

You might be able to see a pattern forming here! Scrum is a fantastic way of working, but placing too much emphasis on it can hinder your team. Following a rigid set of guidelines is the complete opposite of the Agile methodology you should be working with when using Scrum.

It may seem ironic, but focusing too heavily on the Scrum guidelines is a trademark antipattern as it actually limits your team. Remember the old adage: rules are made to be broken!

To dig themselves out of the Scrum hole, teams should always be looking for ways to improve their processes rather than following the rule book at all times.

4. Introducing Scrum, but not actually working Scrum

Scrum for Scrum’s sake. This happens quite often and adds absolutely zero value to your team or your product.

Management hears about the value Scrum can bring — cheaper costs, faster turnaround, higher revenue, and so on. They then start preaching Scrum and insist everyone switches to it. But they don’t follow through properly, they don’t know how to implement it correctly, and a few months later, never mention it again because it didn’t provide the results they were looking for.

The issue is, you can’t just say the word Scrum and expect everything to change. Agile working is a gradual process that needs to be introduced correctly — it’s not a buzzword designed to fix everything overnight.

Ultimately, Scrum is a reflection tool that gives you the guidelines to understand what’s working well and what needs to improve. Use it to inform your decision-making process so that you and your team can make the right choices.

5. Embracing Scrum in one department only

Scrum is mainly used in product development, but does that mean only product teams can work this way? Absolutely not!

By its very nature, Scrum needs to involve the end users and the customers you’re building the product for. If it’s confined to the product team alone, you’re not going to see the benefits as a whole. You need regular feedback from everyone involved in the process to make sure the product will genuinely address the customer’s needs.

This is true of any form of Agile methodology you’re trying to introduce. The entire company needs to be involved in the Agile transformation so everyone can be on the same page and give valuable feedback.

Scrum Masters and product owners aren’t immune either! - 4 antipatterns that leaders should watch out for

By nature, Scrum Masters and product owners are the authority on what to do and not do during sprints. That being said, they can still throw some antipatterns into the mix.

1. Product Owners staying out of the process

Some product owners like to take themselves out of the product development cycle. That may seem like a good thing, as the team is able to self-organize and work with autonomy, but it means there is no one to keep the work on track.

A product owner may be involved with multiple teams at once and have to split their time between them, but that doesn’t mean they should be completely hands-off. Product owners should be regularly checking in with their teams to make sure any concerns are answered and the sprint is on track to being a success.

2. Being MIA too often

On a similar note, the dream of a self-organizing team comes with drawbacks. Obviously, you don’t want to have to micromanage your team at every point in the process, but leaving them without guidance can be equally as damaging.

If the Scrum Master or product owner can’t be there, they need to make sure they can be contacted easily. After the last year of remote working, we should all be using communication software and be fully clued up on how it works. Now things are heading back to a hybrid “normal”, it’s important you and your teams are still using that software as standard.

3. Too many sprint cancellations… or not enough

Canceling sprints seems like an extreme measure, but a good team knows when a sprint should be called off.

Sometimes it becomes obvious that the sprint isn’t going to be successful and to continue working on it would just be a waste of time and money. A product owner or Scrum Master should be willing to cancel a sprint in these situations. It may seem like you’ve wasted time by only performing half a sprint, but it’s going to save more time and money for the project as a whole.

On the other side of things, once you open up the concept of canceling sprints, you and your team may start seeing this as an easy way out. Not every sprint will need to be canceled and let’s be honest, working with Scrum is all about finding problems and fixing them — not running away from them.

4. Removing retrospectives

It may not surprise you to see us reeling at the idea of Scrum Masters saying no to retrospectives. After all, if you’ve visited our blog before you’ll have seen countless posts on how important retrospectives can be for your projects and all the best ways to get the maximum value from them.

Yet, despite our efforts, some teams are growing bored of the retrospective and choosing to skip them altogether! We understand that they can become repetitive over time, but we can’t stress how important retrospectives are for learning and improvement.

Is your Scrum team experiencing retrospective fatigue? Then try switching up how you’re running them. EasyRetro has over 100 templates and plenty of guides to make retrospectives fun again. Give them a go today!

Where to get Planning Poker cards [+ TEMPLATES]

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Planning Poker is one of the most popular estimation techniques — and with good reason. It’s a fun, collaborative process that gives everyone an equal voice, resulting in more accurate estimations.

As you might have guessed, Planning Poker cards are key to Planning Poker. You can use regular playing cards if that’s all you have to hand, but a set of cards that have been specifically made for this Agile practice really makes the difference.

What to look for with Planning Poker cards

A friendly tip >> If you’re new to the concept of Planning Poker, then quickly hop over to our other blog (‘A beginner’s guide to the Planning Poker estimation technique’) to brush up your knowledge. What we cover below will make so much more sense once you do.

Planning Poker isn’t your typical game. When done right, it’s actually a hugely beneficial project planning technique — and one everyone needs to know the rules to as they participate. If your team members are always asking, “Wait, what does the Queen of Hearts represent again?” then their head isn’t in the estimations.

That’s why simplicity and single-mindedness are essential for a deck of Planning Poker cards.

You may also notice that most Planning Poker cards are based on Mike Cohn’s original deck. These cards will have values such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, and 100. Those values represent whichever metric your team uses to estimate with. There are plenty of variations available on the internet, but as long as the cards you choose have the same values, you’ll be fine.

Fibonacci & Planning Poker cards

Recognize the Planning Poker values above? They are based on The Fibonacci sequence — a well-known set of numbers that mathematically describe the “Golden Ratio”. The sequence is built by starting with 1 and then generating the next number by adding the previous two together. So 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8 and so on.

You’re probably wondering “Why not just use standard numerical increments?”, and that’s a fair question to ask. It might appear simpler to code your tasks as 1, 2, 3, but that narrow band can create issues once everyone has voted — after all, the resulting figures may be far too close together to deliver any real insight.

Using a scale that offers bigger increments helps the group reach a consensus quicker.

Where to buy Planning Poker cards

You don’t have to look far for Planning Poker cards, most places offer worldwide shipping or even sell through Amazon (simply search ‘Planning Poker cards’) for extra convenience. To avoid a never ending list, though, here are a few of our favorite decks:

Mountain Goat Software

Mountain Goat Software and its owner Mike Cohn hold the trademark for Planning Poker, with the majority of other companies basing their decks on this set. Cohn was the first to introduce the Fibonacci sequence to Planning Poker and shaped the practice into what it is today.

Mountain Goat Software offer their Planning Poker decks at cost price and are printed by one of the world’s leading card manufacturers. The only problem is they exclusively deliver within the US.

To make up for the lack of shipping options, they offer a royalty-free license for companies who wish to create their own decks.

Agile42

They may not be the prettiest cards on the market, but Agile42 offers a wider range of shipping options. They also bundle in their ‘Business Value Game’ with their cards, a variant of Planning Poker that includes stakeholders and can be used to identify the true business value of features.

Agile Stationery

Agile Stationery’s Estimation Poker cards are a streamlined version of the Planning Poker deck. The values in their deck range from 1 to 21, still following the Fibonacci sequence but with the higher (and lesser-used) cards taken away.

With the higher values removed from the pack, Agile Stationery had space in the deck to expand from the traditional 4 player deck to a 6 player game. Perfect for larger teams!

Worldwide shipping is available, with same day dispatch in most cases.

Crisp

Crisp offers a set of clear, easy to read cards with no extra bells and whistles that could confuse matters. The order process is quick and easy, with EU shipping within 2 weeks.

Planning Poker cards to download and print yourself

One of the downsides to Planning Poker is that it’s not quite as simple to play if you’re working remotely. PlanningPoker.com has been designed alongside Mountain Goat Software to give the closest thing to an in-person game, but not everyone gets on with playing through the screen.

Likewise, you may need to host an in-person game, but don’t have the cards yet. If so, don’t fret. You can simply download and print out Planning Poker cards and here are some of our favorite templates to try out:

Agile Axoim Framework

This template offers every value increment and includes both front and back designs, ready for you to print out and laminate. It does not include a coffee break card.

Teamworx

The Teamworx template includes t-shirt cards ranging from XS to XXL, providing an extra way to gauge the size of a task.

Create your own!

Of course, you don’t have to settle for someone else’s pre-made templates. You can create your own Planning Poker deck in a few simple steps, offering a way to customize the cards to your team, project, or business.

Now you’re ready to go with Planning Poker, it’s time to get to work!

With Agile work, there’s always room for improvement. You may be one simple trick away from your team’s ideal workflow process and chances are, that one trick is waiting for you to discover it on the EasyRetro Blog — the best place for learning about the world of Agile.

See you there!

A beginner's guide to the Planning Poker estimation technique

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Planning poker is one of the most fun and popular ways to estimate the length of your project, but how does it stand out from other planning methods?

If you ask us, it’s the characteristics of the planning poker estimation technique that make it so unique.

What is the planning poker estimation technique?

Planning poker was invented by James Grenning after a particularly slow and boring meeting.

The energy was low. And team members were spending unnecessary minutes debating an estimate… before arriving at the exact same conclusion they’d had before the meeting took place. In his proposal paper, Grenning said exactly what everyone thinks after a meeting like this: “You just wasted 20 minutes of valuable time”.

The game rose to prominence thanks to Mike Cohn of Mountain Goat Software. In his book ‘Agile Estimating and Planning’, Cohn adapted the planning poker game to use a modified sequence of numbers that are optimized for reporting. Cohn now owns the trademark for the Planning Poker name.

The game is fairly simple to understand. Product features or deliverables are assigned to a numerical score based on the current user story. This score is the number of “story points”, which can be fed into planning and forecasting processes.

How does Planning Poker work?

Step 1: Hand out the cards

Participants are all given a deck of cards. These can be regular playing cards or custom Planning Poker cards. Each card will have an assigned value, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40 and 100 (as is suggested by Mike Cohn).

If you’re playing with regular cards, you’ll need to work out a theme for yourself — for example, you could assign 100 points to the King of Hearts. The values represent the number of story points, ideal days, or any other units the team uses to give estimates.

The decks are limited, with significant number-jumps, because the goal is for all participants to reach a consensus number for each story. Giving participants too many options, such as every number between 1 and 50, would make the process inefficient as the scores could end up looking too similar across the board.

Step 2: Read the story and discuss

Whoever is running the session will read out the user story to the group. This is immediately followed with a discussion about possible ways to approach the goal, estimate how many people they will need, which skill sets will be required, and any potential issues they can see popping up.

The group can also use this time to clarify anything they’re unsure about.

Once everyone is on the same page with the user story, it’s time to play poker.

Each participant will secretly choose a card from their deck to represent their story point estimation. When everyone has made their choice, the team reveals their cards at the same time. The higher a participant’s card is, the more difficult that participant estimates the story will be to complete.

Step 4: Discuss results and aim for consensus

It’s unlikely that everyone will reveal the same card. But if they do, that number will become the official estimate and the team can move on to the next user story.

If the cards differ, the team will need to continue the discussion about this user story. Those who have played a card that’s higher or lower than the general average will explain their thought process — with the aim of convincing the rest of the team to agree.

When the second round of discussion ends, the team will play again. Depending on how the discussion went, they will play a different card that matches the points that were made, or simply play their original choice again if not convinced.

If the team chooses to play the same cards as the first draw, the outlying vote will be taken out of the running and the average rating will be used as the estimate.

What makes the Planning Poker technique so unique?

We can all relate to the idea of being stuck in a boring meeting that offers absolutely no value to the project, and that’s why the Planning Poker technique has become so popular. What better way is there to keep your team engaged than an entertaining little game that puts the fun back into the workplace?

Aside from being great fun, Planning Poker stands out from the other planning methods thanks to the range of benefits that it can bring.

Relativity

One of the immediate benefits of Planning Poker is that it allows you to estimate tasks relative to one another. Much like an AI would use machine learning to compare previous sprints or projects to help guide its estimation, the planning poker technique allows you to compare the work required to work that’s already been completed in order to select a card.

As each session is now using the same metrics, the team can look back on previous Planning Poker sessions and look at how accurate the estimates were. That experience can then be used to tailor their opinions in the next round.

Improving estimations and continuous learning

One of the most unique characteristics of the planning poker technique is that you create a culture of continuous learning. With each round, you start to learn how each team member thinks and operates.

You can identify team members who maybe need a little more support if they’re always assigning higher values to tasks or find ideal pairings for collaborative tasks. Of course, on the other hand, there are some team members that will often underestimate tasks and subsequently don’t get their work done on time.

Planning Poker can essentially remove the over and underestimating that can happen with a single person’s decision. Team members who play the smallest and highest estimate will explain their decision with the group, maybe offering a fresh perspective. By the end of the process, your team is all in agreement and can choose the most accurate estimate on the table.

Another great suggestion is to break down complex tasks into smaller tasks. Set a limit using whichever metric you have chosen, and if the consensus is higher than that number, split the task into subtasks and play again. Breaking a task down into smaller chunks and estimating those, rather than estimating the overall task, is one of the best ways to get accurate results.

It’s worth taking into consideration how many people will be needed for a task, too. If a task will only take 1 hour, but requires 3 team members, you would rate that as if it was a 3-hour task.

As two team members with the highest and smallest estimation will explain their decision, the team will see what makes the solution look complex or simple. Maybe there are some people on your team who are more experienced with the resources you’ll be using, or have experienced similar issues in previous sprints.

These added insights can help the team estimate and plan far better than if it was left to a single person.

Clarify everything before you get started

Planning Poker provides ample time to discuss anything and everything you may need. This means that any questions or confusion a team member may have, they can gain clarity from the product owner, product manager, or even their fellow team members before drawing their card.

How accurate were your estimates after all?

Now you know how to plan your sprint or project, you also need to know what to do once the sprint is over.

Sprint retrospectives offer a look back on what went wrong and what went right, allowing you to make adjustments to future rounds of Planning Poker. And who has the best resources to make your retrospectives great? That’s right, the EasyRetro blog. Check it out today.

4 examples of retrospective meeting formats, exercises, and games

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0000

A sprint retrospective is by far the best way to assess your team’s progress. It’s a chance for everyone to catch up, seek assistance, and pass on tips before diving into the next sprint.

And while we all know how useful a retrospective can be, we also know it can be difficult to get started. That’s why we made it our mission at EasyRetro to help Scrum Masters get the best out of their retrospectives.

Keep reading for our pick of best practice retrospective formats, exercises, games — plus examples for getting started today.

Should a retrospective happen online or offline?

The pandemic has brought remote work into the spotlight, leaving some Scrum Masters caught off guard. Thankfully, the sprint retrospective has stayed true to its Agile nature and can work well regardless of where your staff are sitting.

That being said, there are a couple of key differences between the online and offline formats.

Retrospective formats for distributed/remote teams

The age of remote working is here and brings with it a new set of obstacles for Scrum Masters to navigate. Thankfully, Agile methodologies have given us a headstart compared to other ways of working, as being ready to adapt is part of the mindset!

Even so, it can still prove difficult to make retrospectives work via video chat. Here are our top tips…

What you will need:

Video conferencing software
Online whiteboard (or simply download an EasyRetro template!)

Thanks to cloud-based technology, hosting an online retrospective is relatively simple and often requires little more than a few clicks to get started!

Aside from the digital workspace, running a remote retrospective is the same as an in-person one. The 5 key steps remain the same, the objective remains the same, you just might end up listening to a co-worker’s child singing their favorite song in the background.

Retrospective formats for in-person sessions

Of course, not everyone is sticking with remote working. As some head back to the office, they may just feel a little rusty when it comes to in-person retrospectives. So, by way of a reminder…

What you will need:

Suitable meeting space
Whiteboard or large paper
Sticky notes
Markers
Timer

In-person retrospectives have an advantage in that the team can feed off everyone else’s energy. You’re able to really get a sense for how they viewed the previous sprint while sharing the same space. It can be easier to promote engagement without the Scrum Master dealing with obstacles such as bad connections, muted microphones, and other outside distractions.

No matter which you choose, holding the team’s attention during the retrospective can sometimes be a difficult task. Workers heading back to the office are going to be keen to interact with co-workers they haven’t seen for months, while those still working from home have a whole range of distractions to fight against.

Luckily for you, we have a few tips to help you keep the team engaged!

Retrospective exercises: 4 examples & templates

If you’re new to retrospectives, you may be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of formats they can take. We have already talked a lot about What Went Well, Sailboat, Stop Start Continue, and Rose Bud Thorn on the blog, but there are over 100 other templates on our website alone — and that’s before you add the other tools that are available!

With that in mind, we thought it would be handy to offer a list of our favorite retrospective exercises from our vast template library. All our templates are easy to use, easy to share, and most importantly, fun!

Starfish

The Starfish Retrospective was developed by Patrick Kua with the intention of helping teams better understand what went wrong and how to improve for the future. It enables workers and managers alike to look at what the business is doing in order to work out where resources need to be distributed.

The five stages of Starfish are:

Keep doing: This is where the team will identify things that are working well and add value to the organization already.
Less of: As the title suggests, this is where the team will identify things that are not working well and need to be reduced.
More of: These are activities that are already happening, but maybe aren’t offering as much value to the organization as they could.
Stop doing: Another self-explanatory title. Identify actions that hold no value to the organization and get rid of them entirely.
Start doing: Think of what your competitors are doing that you aren’t. Assess the value of those actions and seek to implement them if they can benefit your organization.

Three Little Pigs

You may be familiar with the Three Little Pigs story from your childhood? This fun retrospective format takes inspiration from the tale and focuses on the state, quality, and challenges of the project.

It’s a great starter template for teams that are new to working Agile, with a familiar hook to help the transition.

It also works brilliantly when measuring risk. A straw house isn’t a bad idea if you’re certain it isn’t going to encounter something that could knock it down, but the aim is always to build that solid brick house. The Three Little Pigs retrospective is a great example of an exercise that identifies weak spots — so you can fix them before the big, bad wolf comes!

As you can guess, there are just three stages to this format:

House of Straw: This house could topple over with even a small amount of opposition. What features of the product need the most attention?
House of Sticks: Everything in this category is worthy of further attention, but maybe not as urgently as those in the House of Straw.
House of Bricks: This is where everything that is completely solid goes. If a new process worked out well, place it in the house of bricks! A new feature is completed and works well? Put it in the house of bricks!

Mad Sad Glad

Mad Sad Glad is an organizational tool that can be used to encourage discussion of pressing issues. It is a great way to list all the strengths that your team has and allows them to address any problems that have occurred.

The Mad Sad Glad format can often be a source of team satisfaction, positive team dynamics, and good morale since it promotes cooperation instead of dissent and frustration.

The three stages for Mad Sad Glad are… Well, it’s probably obvious but here’s a breakdown anyway!

Mad: What has frustrated your team during the last sprint? Does communication need to be improved? Are any team members not pulling their weight?
Sad: What could be done to improve team morale? Does anyone on the team feel undervalued? Is the team working well as a group?
Glad: What is making your team happy? Are they receiving great support? Is there a positive and flexible attitude that fits with their needs?

Lean Coffee

Unsurprisingly, the origins of Lean Coffee lie in Seattle. It’s designed to be a nice, laid-back format like you would expect from a small meeting in a coffee shop. But don’t let the casual nature fool you — this retrospective format example packs a punch (just like its namesake). Lean Coffee’s purpose is to pinpoint sources of time-wasting and address ways to improve efficiency, hence “lean”!

Lean Coffee is a little more interactive than some of the other formats we have discussed and requires a little more preparation. Everyone will need to have their own stationery — including markers, notepads, and sticky notes — in order to fully take part in the meeting.

While it differs from the traditional retrospectives, Lean Coffee is one of the most effective ways of engaging your employees in discussions with the managerial staff. It helps in increasing their motivation levels and makes them feel like they are valued by the company.

Of course, this is only a snippet of what EasyRetro can offer you!

Alongside our great template library, we also offer all the tools and advice you could ever need to collaborate with your team in one place. Check it out today!

How Kanban works for team productivity (and how to succeed with EasyRetro)

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 11:00:00 +0000

The Kanban framework is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. That might be organizing your email campaigns, planning an upcoming build, or following a recipe for dinner!

Teams utilizing this method can identify potential bottlenecks — and smooth them right out. That way, work can flow through at an optimal speed while staying cost-effective.

Sounds good, right? In this post, we’ll explain how Kanban works for Agile teams to boost their productivity.

A short history of the Kanban method

Kanban — also spelled “kamban” in Japanese (you’ll see why soon) — roughly translates to “signboard” (that is, any space that’s used to display information). In product development, Kanban is used as a scheduling system that can tell you what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce at any given time.

The Kanban board as we know it today actually originated in 1940s Japan when a Toyota engineer — Taiichi Ohno — devised the “kamban” tool as a way of boosting the company’s efficiency and driving its manufacturing capacity to new levels.

Ohno was inspired by the workflows he’d noticed in supermarkets, where items were only re-ordered and added to the shelves when stocks were running low.

His idea quickly took hold across the manufacturing floor — everyone bought into the idea of using physical cards to track which steps had been completed and which team was ready for the next task.

This new way of working transformed the workers’ routines and increased company-wide awareness and accountability.

Since then, Kanban boards have become a cornerstone of Agile working thanks to a little awareness boost brought by David J. Anderson in his groundbreaking book ‘Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business’.

These days, it’s tough to find a company that develops products without a Kanban board by their side!

9 ways Kanban helps improve team productivity

Digital Kanban-based tools (like EasyRetro) boost productivity for virtual teams by creating a shared virtual space where work can live. A digital manifestation of the Kanban framework can also be used within an office setting with great results.

Here are just 9 of the ways that Kanban works to promote productivity.

Better visibility

Kanban’s main feature, the Kanban board, is easily the most recognizable feature of any Agile methodology. Each project has its backlog and every task must go through the product backlog before it can become a deliverable.

Using the Kanban board, a team can easily see how they are progressing through the sprint/project. The simple and easy-to-understand format means that bottlenecks appear on your radar as soon as they form and everyone can take steps to combat them before they become an issue.

Improved efficiency

Even as a project comes to an end, we’re often left thinking “Could we have done more?”. The answer always seems to be “Yes”, but how can you actually achieve that?

Throwing extra resources at a problem is a possible solution, so long as there’s room in the budget, But for a small- and medium-sized business, that’s not often the reality.

But what if you could do more with what you already have?

It doesn’t take long to recognize inefficiencies when you switch to Kanban. The visualization of the process will quickly draw attention to areas where your workflow could be smarter. Once you have identified the issues, you’re already on your way to solving them!

Increased productivity

Once your team is working efficiently, you can start looking at increasing productivity.

And cycle time and throughput are the key metrics for productivity while working with Kanban.

“Cycle time” measures how long it takes for a task to pass through your process, while “throughput” measures how many tasks are delivered during a certain time period. Having a simple way to track your cycle time and throughput reduces discussion as everyone is on the same page — and with just one glance at the board!

Reduced crunch time

Traditional management methods rely on planning upfront and pushing to get all the tasks completed within a set time. This usually ends up with the team crunching during the final stretch — increasing burnout and decreasing morale. Kanban flips that concept on its head. With Kanban, the team only pulls a task into the workflow when another task is completed.

One of the core Kanban practices is imposing work-in-progress limits. When the WIP limit is reached, no new tasks can be added until another task has been completed. These limits prevent the team from being bogged down with too much work.

Increased team focus

WIP limits are also great for improving the team’s focus. After all, they (or you) may think that multitasking is more efficient, but splitting your attention — also known as context switching — comes at a cost.

Context switching can cause from 5 to 30 minutes of wasted time per task, depending on the task and person involved. Kanban benefits team members by letting them focus on a single task at a time rather than having their attention divided between multiple work items at once.

Reduced waste

Eliminating or reducing waste is a cornerstone of lean management. It was an integral feature of the original Toyota Production System — today’s Kanban method.

“Waste“ - Any action that uses resources without adding value.
“Value“ - Something that the customer is willing to pay for.

By using waste and value as the main metrics, your team will start to realize how much time they can save by removing certain actions or conversations.

Flexibility

The joy of any Agile workflow is the flexibility that comes with it.

In a market that moves as quickly as the tech industry does, your team and processes need to be flexible. Responding quickly to changes to the brief is just as crucial as responding to the volatile market.

In this way, using Kanban gives you the flexibility to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

Improved collaboration

Kanban suggests a backlog management process that can help teams become more self-organized while offering transparency and consistency to the decision-making process. This makes it easier for the people who know the most about your processes to operate. And who knows the most about your process? The people working on it day in and day out.

Kanban encourages frequent collaboration between team members. No matter if they’re organizing the day’s priorities in the Daily Standup or trying to get that last bit of coding finished, team members are constantly being encouraged to work together and give their opinion on how to improve current processes.

Improved company culture

Strong collaboration between team members, managers, stakeholders, and customers leads to improved morale and inclusive company culture. Everyone’s opinion is important and valuable — and a good company will realize that early on.

Working with Kanban, the team is able to work independently where needed; using their own initiative is strongly encouraged to achieve maximum efficiency. That allows everyone to unleash their creative ideas and talents.

How Kanban works in EasyRetro

We’ve worked hard to bring you a platform that’s packed full of Agile features while still being accessible to even the newest of Agile workers. EasyRetro’s cloud-based Kanban boards can be accessed anywhere, on any device with multiple sign in options.

Creating a Kanban board is quick and, well, easy. You can see all your existing boards and create new ones right from the EasyRetro dashboard.

With just a few clicks, you can create your own board or select from over 100 templates. All you need to do is:

Name your board
Assign the number of votes per team member
Select an existing template from the drop-down menu or choose to make your own, customized board.

Additional options are available to keep the board in sync with your workflow: disable votes, hide cards, hide vote count, or limit the team to one vote per card.

Once your board is created, you can customize it to your heart’s content. Color code your columns for easier at-a-glance readability, rename the board, add columns, and sort the cards by date, number, order, or even by text. Once you’re all set up, team members can comment and vote on individual cards so the project manager can gain insights from the whole team.

The project manager can even create surveys within the board for quick insights on how the team is getting on.

EasyRetro’s drag-and-drop functionality simplifies the project management process. As soon as a task is complete, it can be dragged into the ‘Completed’ column and, using our Slack integration, the relevant people will instantly be notified of the task’s completion!

Our tools are trusted by thousands of companies from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Find out why they put so much faith in our platform by getting started for yourself today!

When should a retrospective meeting be held — and how often?

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0000

At EasyRetro, we live and breathe sprint retrospectives.

These sessions are a fantastic way for teams to review what went right and what went wrong during iteration sessions — especially with our fun and engaging templates!

A retrospective isn’t designed to be a long, drawn-out meeting. It’s designed to highlight issues that need correcting and identify positive actions in a short amount of time. That way, the development team can head straight back to work with a strong sense of direction.

While most seem to grasp the concept well, we do hear one question more often than the others: “when should we be holding a retrospective — and how often?”

These are tricky questions to answer, as you can technically host a retrospective at any time. However, sprint retrospectives are very particular tools that need to be utilized correctly, creating some ground rules for teams to follow.

So let’s dive in…

When is the right time for a retrospective meeting?

Retrospectives are a time for teams to reflect on what they have learned and are a cornerstone of nearly all Agile project management methodologies. They should take place at pivotal moments in your project timelines, such as launching a new feature or reaching an important milestone.

When work is divided into sprints — as it is in most Agile methodologies — scheduling retrospectives is a little more rigid. As the name may suggest, sprint retrospectives are held when a sprint is completed — and, traditionally, immediately afterward. That way, everything is still fresh in the team’s mind and will give a more accurate representation of what happened during the sprint.

How often should a retrospective meeting happen?

There’s no “one-size-fits-all” guidance as to how often you should hold a retrospective meeting. That being said, if we use sprint lengths as a guide we can map out a rough schedule for how frequently the retrospectives will run.

If your team prefers to work with longer sprint times, you may only need a retrospective once every couple of months. It’s recommended to treat sprints as short bursts of productivity, so you may have one or two retrospectives per month.

Finding the perfect balance can be a difficult task, as too many or too few retrospectives can be equally detrimental to the overall project. Retrospective meetings need to be held frequently enough that they maintain their usefulness, but not so sporadically that key issues have time to be forgotten.

Sprint retrospectives: getting your timing right

Let’s briefly look at the issues that can occur if you fail to maintain a healthy balance.

When you have too many retrospective meetings…

A retrospective may be the only time you have to come together as a complete team, so you have to make it count. They need to be focused, interactive, and serious about improvement both personally and as a team.

That’s not to say don’t have fun with it — we’re all about making retrospectives fun. But your team needs to respect the process and understand why they’re doing a retrospective.

If you start hosting too many retrospectives, your team is going to burn out very quickly. They may start to feel pressured to achieve perfection in every task and end up trying to work at an unhealthy pace. They may also stay quiet when they have an issue, rather than stand up in regular meetings and gain insight to help them improve.

Another issue with holding too many retrospectives is that they end up feeling like a regular, boring meeting. Instead of engaging fully, team members spend their time looking at the clock, thinking about the work they could be doing instead.

Finally, filing your calendar with retrospectives is going to leave very little time to actually do the work discussed. The list of improvements will keep piling up as the team tries to work towards their new sprint goals.

And that’s no good for anyone’s morale or wellbeing.

When you have too few retrospective meetings…

Retrospectives are a chance for your team to voice any concerns or observations they have about their work. It’s an invaluable learning opportunity that will have positive implications as the project goes on. So when retrospectives are too infrequent, it removes the support system that is there to identify and tackle issues.

We’re also very forgetful as a species. Unresolved issues that crop up at the start of a sprint have the potential to cause major obstacles down the line — while a regular commitment to retrospectives nips problems in the bud before it’s too late.

For those issues that do roll into roadblocks, the lack of accountability can quickly turn into toxicity. There’s a chance that the person who made the mistake in the first place has forgotten what they did, which can lead to frustration. Blame is thrown around the team and with no clear answer to how the issue happened, it can spiral into a deeply negative situation.

Something that often gets overlooked is the effect retrospectives have on your team’s mental health. Retrospectives are all about opening up and sharing what is and isn’t working for you. Importantly, they are also about receiving validation from the team. Regular, well-run retrospectives can let your team know that they are respected and valued as an individual — not as a tool for completing tasks.

The retrospective is not just a time to evaluate work, either. It also serves as a time for teams team to connect. Having too few or too many retrospectives reduces the amount of time the team gets to have valuable interactions and quality team-building. Either by needing to fit as much work as possible into a rare meeting, or zapping the team’s energy with too many meetings.

This is even more important during this time of remote working. As many companies transition to full-time distributed working, team morale could take a serious hit if they’re not afforded the right amount of time to bond and collaborate.

How long should a retrospective meeting last for?

While there is no definitive answer to how long a sprint retrospective should last, the general rule of thumb is half an hour per week. So if you’re coming out of a two-week sprint, your retrospective should be roughly an hour long.

Retrospectives are not meant to be perfect presentations and lengthy discussions. In fact, that’s the opposite of how a team should operate — that’s just not how Agile works! Avoid long introductions and stick to the valuable information that’s needed to proceed.

To avoid running too long, consider a loose structure such as this example from a single week sprint:

Set the stage - 5 minutes
Gather data - 10 minutes
Generate insights - 10 minutes
Decide next steps - 5 minutes
Close - 5 minutes.

Putting a structure in place for retrospectives isn’t essential, but can help cut down on wasted hours. If you’re having issues with your retrospectives taking too much time, we have some great tips on streamlining the process right here!

Before we go…

Another common question we get at EasyRetro is about who needs to be in a retrospective.

Realistically, you only need the team members that are actively working on the project to run an insightful retrospective. However, outside opinions can be valuable too — and could make the difference between a product’s success or a product that flops.

For a deep dive into who should and shouldn’t be involved in a sprint retrospective, check out one of our earlier blog posts.

Finally, the key to a successful retrospective is visualization. And there’s no easier way to visualize your retrospectives than EasyRetro. We have hundreds of easy-to-use templates, insightful guides, and almost everything else you could ever need to run your sprints.

Get started for FREE today!

Mastering design thinking — 15+ tips and insights from the best design thinking minds

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Design thinking is quickly becoming the go-to methodology when it comes to product design. Mega companies such as Google, Apple, and Samsung have taken their winning formulas and injected design thinking into the process.

And the results speak for themselves, as each new product they bring to market wins rave reviews and customer satisfaction.

We recently looked at some great examples of the power design thinking has to improve your products. But at EasyRetro, we love design thinking so much we couldn’t just leave it at that! Today, we’re going to offer you tips and insights straight from the mouths of people who are truly mastering the art (and science!) of design thinking.

17 tips and insights from the people mastering design thinking — so you can master it too!

1. Do something real

“Every self-respecting designer should do something. Come up with new ideas, dust down old ideas, and place them in a new context. Silence the cynics. Let the politicians know that wheeling and dealing achieves little. Prove that actions speak louder than words. Demonstrate the power of design. Designers can do more than make things pretty. Design is more than perfume, aesthetics, and trends.” — Richard van der Laken, founder of What Design Can Do

This powerful quote reminds us that successful products tend to forgo flashy, gimmicky features. Instead, developers should use design as a tool — to offer something real to their users. Something that can improve their lives rather than just looking pretty.

2. Design for a better world

“How can you cultivate your breadth & depth of expertise and provide a significant push to humanize our experiences for the better?” — Kevin Bethune, Founder of dreams • design + life

This fascinating, in-depth interview with former design executive at Nike, Kevin Bethune, offers insight based on 20+ years of experience with design thinking. Bethune (and Nike) are huge believers in design thinking and this quote is a testament to that.

3. Build empathy into everything you do

“User-centered design means understanding what your users need, how they think, and how they behave — and incorporating that understanding into every aspect of your process.” — Jesse James Garrett, User experience designer

This is a brilliant summation of design thinking from the co-founder of The Information Architecture Institute.

4. Innovation requires a fresh perspective

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein

Years and years before the term was coined, design thinking was already a large part of the process behind some of life’s most impactful scientific works. He may not have known it, but the Father Of The Modern Scientific Age was using design thinking to form the foundation of science as we know it today.

5. Iterate and iterate until you get it right

“It is about them and for them. The closer the end users’ needs are analyzed and answered, the more successful the adoption or purchase of a solution. You iterate until you get it right from a customer perspective.” — Olivier Delarue, UNHCR

This quote helps teams stay motivated even when they’ve headed down the wrong path. Design thinking is all about empathy and being user-centric — you really can’t get it “wrong” if you’re answering a user need.

6. Welcome failure

“Fail often so you can succeed sooner” — Tom Kelley, Author and General Manager, IDEO

The team at IDEO are mastering design thinking like no one else. And Tom Kelley’s quote has risen to fame.

Most practices consider failure to be the end of an idea. But funnily enough, it’s that very mindset that leads to failure — in wasted time and resources. Design thinking embraces the unknown and unexpected. That means taking failure as an opportunity to learn, rather than as a negative experience.

7. Design for real people (and put your ego aside)

“We must design for the way people behave, not for how we would wish them to behave.” — Donald A. Norman, Co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group

For the longest time, companies were dead set on innovation for the sake of innovation. This quote from Donald A. Norman reminds us that the end user is an individual with their own way of doing things. That should be the focus of product development, not what the company thinks is the next big thing.

8. Embrace not knowing

“Human-centered design is a philosophy, not a precise set of methods, but one that assumes that innovation should start by getting close to users and observing their activities.” — Donald A. Norman, Co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group

Donald A. Norman with another great piece of advice here. Design thinking is an iterative process, not a set of steps that can be followed to the letter. It’s more about embracing an understanding of your users, than having a set of rules to work from.

9. Forget ideals

“You have to know why people behave as they do — and design around their foibles and limitations, rather than some ideal.” ― Cliff Kuang

In his book ‘User Friendly’, Cliff Kuang sums up design thinking perfectly with this quote. Traditional product design methods are very focused on what could be when the reality is successful products are built for the world as it already is.

10. Stay on your user’s side

“It’s not ‘us versus them’ or even ‘us on behalf of them.’ For a design thinker it has to be ‘us with them’” — Tim Brown, CEO and President of IDEO

Customers have problems, that’s how the world (and design thinking!) works. Tim Brown believes we should address those problems head-on, rather than seeing them as a barrier to success. Solve the problem, make the user’s life easier, then your product will succeed.

11. Don’t get caught up in product details

“We spend a lot of time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it.” — Dr. Prabhjot Singh, Director of Systems Design at the Earth Institute

As a designer or developer, it’s easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty and feature list. You may have smart tech and a big innovation budget… but what does it all mean? Don’t forget about the people you’re helping get from A to B.

12. Empathy above all else

“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing — building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.” — David Kelley, Founder of IDEO

Making our list once again, it’s David Kelly from IDEO. If there’s only one person in the world that can claim the ‘Design Thinking Genius’ title, it’s him.

This thought-provoking quote draws parallels between design thinking and leadership roles. A great leader understands their employees’ needs and feelings, then uses that information to make that employee feel comfortable and work at their full ability.

Are you doing the same as Product Owner or Scrum Master?

13. Design for tomorrow today

“Design thinking is the ability to create, portray, and deliver tomorrow’s distinction, today.” ― Onyi Anyado

At EasyRetro, we’re big supporters of design thinking and its potential to change the world. This quote from ‘Mr. Distinction’ himself, Onyi Anyado, perfectly sums up our thoughts on design thinking: it’s the future!

After all, there’s a difference between being idealistic or designing for fictional users, and the ability to deliver products that create positive change.

14. Make the invisible, visible

“Creativity is nothing but the way to design the invisible.” ― Prof. Salam Al Shereida

This particularly insightful quote is perfect for inspiring your team when the going gets tough. Get them to think outside of the box and try new angles they may not have considered — it may just be the key to success.

15. You don’t always have to be right

“The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar there is to new ideas.” ― Edward de Bono

The late, great author and inventor Edward de Bono has left an incredible legacy. His success can be attributed in part to lateral thinking — a term he coined himself! Lateral thinking and design thinking can be used simultaneously in the right situation and this quote highlights that perfectly.

De Bono was mastering design thinking before he (or anyone else) even knew what it was.

16. Explore a problem from all angles

“Most people don’t make much of an effort to explore the problem space before exploring the solution space” — Prof. Steven D. Eppinger

This final quote comes from Professor Steven D. Eppinger of MIT. Eppinger teaches ‘Mastering Design Thinking’ — one of the world’s best courses on Design Thinking, under the banner of one of the best schools on the planet. How could we not include him in our round-up?

This quote rings so true for countless industries. A traditional mindset will tell you to fix the problems as soon as they appear. And yet that doesn’t always fix the problem. Maybe you just move things around and the problem moves into a different section of your product.

There’s little value in tackling a problem if you don’t look to the root cause.

For more design thinking, creativity, and teamwork tips and tricks, check out the rest of the EasyRetro blog.

What is a breakout session and how do you run one?

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Breakout sessions have become a key feature since remote working became the norm. With just a click of the mouse you can send teams off into little groups to discuss new ideas, solutions or even take a few minutes away to socialize.

They can be a great way to break down a long meeting into more manageable chunks. So, why not keep breakout sessions in the mix as we start to make the transition back to the office?

What is a breakout session?

Breakout sessions - sometimes referred to as breakout meetings or breakout rooms - are small, planned sub-meetings within a lengthy group activity. They tend to be less structured than the main activity, allowing the team to interact with each other.

While the use of breakout sessions has increased during this remote working boom, they’re also a valuable tool for in-person meetings. We’ve all heard the words “break into groups”, right? That’s all a breakout session is.

What is the purpose of a breakout session?

Breakout sessions can serve various purposes. So while the sessions will normally focus on the main topic, they can also focus on unrelated things.

The most common reason for a breakout session is to gather ideas, point out observations and raise questions that otherwise would not have been asked. The smaller groups can be organized by skill level or seniority, gathering similar minds together to get the best results. Each team is given an objective and sent away for 15 to 30 minutes. Each team can have the same objective, or be given separate scenarios, depending on the task.

If using breakout sessions as a means to productivity, choosing the right space and facilitator is crucial. The quieter team members can feel more comfortable speaking up in smaller groups. So, not only will you be getting multiple potential solutions to a problem, you are creating an engaging environment where everyone feels they can contribute.

Another great use of a breakout session is to simply give the team a little break. Let them decompress and allow them to process everything that has gone on so far. Long meetings can make everyone feel burnt out, so a quick 15 minute breakout session to discuss non-work related items can make all the difference.

Tips for running breakout sessions in-person

In person, breakout sessions can be much simpler to run. Each group can head off to separate rooms, with the facilitator checking in at regular intervals to ensure productivity. The face-to-face aspect of in-person breakout sessions can add even more reassurance to the quieter team members.

If multiple rooms aren’t available, simply split the teams between different sections of the room. For example, create four teams, each team gets a corner. Simple!

Pick the right breakout format

To host an effective breakout session, you first need to determine what the aim of the breakout session is.

Are you looking to liven up your team and increase engagement? An interactive, fun session such as a game or team building exercise would be perfect.
If it’s to share and discuss ideas, you may find a presentation-style session more beneficial.
If you’re simply offering a breakout session as a means to relax during a long meeting, offer refreshments and a comfortable location

Design seating to complement the breakout format

The seating plan doesn’t have to be rows of chairs or gathering around a table. You can use the seating plan as a tool to inspire the team, further collaboration or promote relaxation.

Before you start on the seating plan, you need to consider if the room is appropriate for the session you’re going to run. Does it have AV facilities? Is there enough space for the team to move around and interact? Is the general environment conducive to learning and sharing ideas? If the answer to any of those questions is no, you may not have a suitable room to host your session in.

Once you have found the right room, you need to consider the activities you’re about to host.

If the session is more of a presentation, the traditional seating plan may do just fine. However, a semi-circle layout with the speaker at the center may help the team focus.
If you’re hosting a more interactive session, seating is less important as the focus will be on the free space in the room. Ensure potential obstacles and tripping hazards are cleared, while making sure there is enough space for any activities.

Utilize technology to promote engagement

We know how exhausting long meetings can be. So, when it comes to breakout sessions you can be forgiven for switching off a little bit. This is fine for breakouts that serve as a rest break. If you’re trying to come up with new ideas, everyone still needs to be awake and engaged. Using technology to visualize your task or ideas can boost engagement. Even something simple like digital sticky notes can jazz up a presentation enough to hook your team back in.

Tips for running breakout sessions online

Setting up an online breakout session may seem easier than its in-person counterpart. With just a couple of clicks you can split your team between separate “rooms” and the facilitator can just click between each room to check in. However, as with most activities, running breakout sessions online can be a little more difficult.

Assign people to breakout rooms manually

Some applications allow you to automatically assign team members to breakout rooms, however it’s not the most reliable system. With most platforms, it’s usually something that can be done just once as you set up the session. That means if plans change during the meeting, the host would have to close the entire meeting and create a new call. It’s one of those features that seems helpful on paper, but doesn’t fit with the ever-changing nature that comes with working agile.

Manually setting up breakout rooms on the call may seem unprofessional, however it can save time and avoid awkward breaks in the call.

Rename the breakout rooms

Simple housekeeping can help meetings run smoother. As the meeting’s host, you’re responsible for making sure the right people are put in the right breakout room. Consider giving each breakout room a nickname or something to easily identify which team is heading to which room. That will avoid any awkward situations where you check in on the wrong team and ask them the wrong questions.

Set a time limit for the breakout session

Most platforms now include timers for breakout sessions. As you set up the breakout rooms, you will have the option to set a time limit on the breakout room. So if you’re only looking for a quick break, you can set the timer to 15 minutes, at which point the breakout rooms will automatically close and participants will return to the main meeting. A timer will be displayed on the screen for all participants so they are aware of how long they have before returning.

Breakout session ideas

Speed networking

No, we’re not suggesting you make your team date each other! Speed networking is a great way of getting to know your team. Participants share fun facts and general information about each other within a set time period. When the bell rings, team members move on to the next person until everyone has met each other.

Speed networking can be done in three formats:

Round Robin - Participants meet others one-on-one sequentially
Station Based - Participants pick a time to meet with specific people beforehand
Group based - Each breakout team will meet each other and share as a group

Lightning talks

Lightning talks are quick presentations, usually around 5 minutes long. They serve to keep the team thinking while offering a break from the core subject. Depending on the main purpose of the breakout, the presenters are able to talk about any subject they would like. For example, if the session is to provide a chill-out period, they could talk about football, music or other personal interests. However, if the purpose is to maintain focus on the project a facilitator could offer cards with suggested subjects.

Human Bingo

Human Bingo can be a fun and exciting way to connect your team members. This involves a little bit of preparation, as the host will need to create bingo sheets for each team member before the meeting gets underway. The squares are filled with a mix of professional and personal statements that could apply to your team. This could be something like “has met a famous person” or “has worked at the company longer than you”.

Cards are then handed out during the session and the team will interview each other to see who can fill the card first.

Give the Breakouts a Break

Breakout sessions are great, but they can quickly get just as tiring as the main event. When planning for breakout sessions, think about offering an actual break during the breakout. No agendas, no discussions, just a chance for the team to talk amongst themselves and decompress a little. You could even offer refreshments if it’s a particularly long event!

For more teamwork tips and tricks, check out the rest of the EasyRetro blog.

Could you be your company's Agile Champion? Here’s how to get started…

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Working with Agile methodologies can be hugely beneficial to your company — provided you pick the right person or coach to oversee the transition. We call this person the “Agile Champion” and it’s their responsibility to usher the team to Agile.

What may come as a surprise is that an Agile Champion doesn’t actually need to work agile!

Their main role will be to look at the results of the implementation and facilitate the changes that need to be made, ensuring the team is getting the most benefit from the change.

What does an Agile Champion do in essence?

Agile Champions live and breathe Agile methodologies. They take an oversight role — advocating Agile while also being critical with constructive feedback. An Agile Champion needs to ensure that the team remains enthusiastic throughout the transition. They also need to understand what they are doing — and why they are doing it — to maximize outcomes.

The Agile Coaching Institute defines two styles of Agile Champion: “The Activist” and “The Sleeper Cell”. So which approach is right for you?

The Activist tends to come with relevant professional experience — they might be a development lead, QA lead, or even a product owner. They bring with them a lot of life lessons, and these can be used to help influence others.

This style of Agile coaching is for outgoing, confident people who have no problem inserting themselves into the team. They will set up and organize communities that bring Agile workflow into everyday life and help it become second nature for everyone involved. They have a proactive attitude and will often host Agile lunches or casual meet-ups outside of the office to encourage productivity in a more relaxed situation.

The Sleeper Cell is an Agile Champion who is not working within an Agile team already. They may never have worked with Agile methodologies at all!

They are powered by the belief that agility can bring value and improvements to a company. They will sit in wait and pick the right moment to introduce an Agile practice into the workflow. While they aren’t as interactive, Sleeper Cell coaches can act as an almost third-party presence — providing insight from outside the team, turning that insight into real positive change.

Both styles of Agile Champions are responsible for making sure the team is staying on the right track; planting Agile seeds within various processes that slowly grow into a fully-fledged Agile team.

What skills are required to be an Agile Champion?

Agile Champions play a key role in the transformation from traditional methodologies to Agile. However, the best Agile Champions know when Agile is a suitable approach and when it isn’t.

A great Agile Champion will assess how a team is currently working and find opportunities that could be improved by Agile working. They need to be analytical and keep one eye on the prize at all times — there’s no point switching to Agile methods if your workflows are slowing down or getting more confused as a result.

Agile Champions also need to be comfortable speaking to people across different departments and should certainly have some insight into how each department works, to help enable better coordination. They also need the authority and confidence to create new positions within the team, in case no one within the business is able to support a certain area.

Lastly, they need to be tenacious and accountable for the overall success of an Agile transformation. When your name and reputation are on the line, then discretionary effort really pays off. And that’s why Agile Champions are called champions — they fight for the results they are after and, often, they win.

How to become an Agile Champion for your organization

If you’ve read this far, then you know that becoming an Agile Champion is for you. Great stuff! But how do you get started?

Here are a few tips to get you on the right path…

Demonstrate value

The potential of Agile as a way of working spread by word of mouth. Maybe you’re even reading this because you heard from someone else that Agile was the route to take.

But anecdotal evidence only goes so far. And until your team has a chance to experience the value that Agile working can bring, it will be tough for them to fully understand and embrace the change.

To combat this hesitancy, an Agile Champion should empathize with the team and use their previous experience to demonstrate the value that Agile can bring. This will be easy for ‘Activist’ coaches, but ‘Sleeper Cell’ champions may need to do their research.

Then, as the team starts to adopt Agile practices, the Agile Champion should assess the outcome of each task, sprint, or project to ensure it’s working as intended. Ask the team for feedback to understand how they’re coping with the change and if they feel like it’s making a difference overall. Are deadlines feeling more realistic? Does the team believe this is a step in the right direction?

The more information you can gather, the more you can adapt the process and learn new methods to use in future projects.

Engage with others already working Agile

Chances are, you’re not going to be the only Agile team within your sector. With larger companies, you won’t even be the only Agile team in the building! But rather than seeing this as pressure or competition, view it as the perfect time to shake off the traditional silence between departments and promote growth throughout the organization.

If your company is lucky enough to have multiple product managers, they should be working together to help each department transition. Sharing knowledge between teams can create a whole culture of Agile methodologies. And before you know it, the whole company will be working Agile — with reduced costs and greater output in both quality and quantity.

Remember, if you’re spearheading internal meetings and promoting Agile throughout the business, you’re more likely to get recognition as an Agile Champion.

Nurture a culture of learning

Truly successful businesses grab hold of opportunities to learn every time they crop up. Creating a ‘culture of learning’ is essential to Agile workflows, as the team needs to be ready to adapt to changing situations. Falling into old habits is strictly taboo.

A culture of learning is created when employees are committed to continuous learning throughout their careers. Each team member acknowledges the need to grow, retool, and learn new things on a regular basis. To complement this, Agile managers should also facilitate learning opportunities into the workday. Even a 10-minute window of learning can benefit the employees, and company, immeasurably.

Brand yourself

It’s unlikely anyone will hand you the “Agile Champion” label. And there’s rarely a specific job role for someone to just be an Agile Champion.

One of the key steps to becoming an Agile Champion is to promote yourself as such. Give your LinkedIn profile a make-over, add #agile to your bios, join Agile channels on your company’s Slack (or other communication platforms) and start the necessary conversations.

The more you present yourself as the “go-to” for Agile, the more people will start coming to you for assistance.

Make sure you have the right tools for the job

So now that you’re talking the talk… how will you walk the walk? It’s time to turn your attention to tooling — making sure you have the right tools to demonstrate the value of Agile with ease.

Luckily for you, easy is what we’re known for!

EasyRetro offers Agile Champions the perfect platform to kickstart Agile workflows and get full team buy-in. Our tools are available everywhere, so it couldn’t be more straightforward to bring your colleagues together no matter where or who they are.

Try EasyRetro for free today!

20+ Scrum best practices to reach your team's full potential

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 09:00:00 +0000

If you’re reading the EasyRetro blog right now, then chances are you already know how powerful Agile and Scrum can be.

The question is, are you doing it right?

There are countless guides offering tips and tricks to help you run your sprints well — and trying to follow them all can be confusing. That’s why we’ve put together the ultimate list of Scrum best practices. These are practices, habits, and commitments that any team should follow in order to achieve their full potential.

Before we dive in, though, let’s address a question we hear a lot:

How many Scrum teams per Scrum Master?

Truthfully, a great, well-experienced Scrum Master could be responsible for two, even three, teams depending on the workload. However, this assumes that the Scrum Master is only performing that role rather than splitting their time between being the Scrum Master and another development role, such as coding or QC.

For smaller teams, a Scrum Master will often perform more than just that role. Often they’ll be a part of the development team who is flexible enough to handle both development and leadership roles.

If your team is new to the world of Scrum and Agile, then we’d recommend one Scrum Master per team.

General practice tips for Scrum teams

Pick the right product management tool and make sure it’s readily accessible

Using the right tools makes all the difference when working with Scrum. Using something like EasyRetro can help you visualize every step of the process. Using a cloud-based platform makes it quick and easy to pull up boards, burndown charts, and anything else you need to visualize your sprint’s tasks and progress.

Set workshops with stakeholders to form product backlog and product vision

The product backlog is one of the most important artifacts used in Scrum and documents the stakeholders’ product vision. It’s good practice to fill in the product backlog together with stakeholders so they can stay in the loop from the very start.

Invite stakeholders to Scrum meetings

Stakeholders and/or product owners should always be included in Scrum meetings where possible. It’s an easy way to keep them updated on any goings-on and allows them to experience how meetings are run.

It also helps them understand how the team communicates internally — this can lead to vital feedback from an outside perspective.

Don’t break up existing teams

We all know the old saying: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. That applies to teams that already work well together.

Working with Scrum and Agile methodologies requires a team that can work efficiently. If you break up a team that’s been working together for a while, it means they’ll have to adapt to a new way of working with new people. Not a very agile practice!

Focus on team-building, especially with new groups

On a similar note, team-building is absolutely vital for Agile and Scrum success.

You won’t always have a team ready and waiting for a project — and you’ll sometimes have to patch a new team together to meet the product needs. Team-building exercises are invaluable when creating a new team for an Agile project, and can help promote communication, collaboration, and efficiency.

Take daily standup meetings seriously

The daily standup meeting is a vital part of working Agile.

This quick meeting may seem like a casual affair, but it serves to keep everyone on the team in the loop and can identify problem areas before they damage output. Everyone needs to turn up every day to ensure tasks are being completed on schedule.

Don’t slack on communication when working remotely

By this stage, we all know how difficult it can be to communicate remotely. But we should also have figured out the best ways to do it.

Simply posting on Slack or mentioning something during a Zoom call may not be enough for your point to stick. Always make sure the correct people are notified with every update, either with tags or direct communication. And don’t fear a follow-up message either.

Scrum best practices for planning and estimates

Clarify the objective with an agenda

Working Agile requires everyone to be on the same page at all times. That’s why one of the first things you should do in the planning stages is set an agenda for the meetings. This helps to define the roadmap and allows the team to know what they’re headed — giving them time to think of contributions.

EasyRetro has a great and FREE agenda planning tool to make this even simpler.

Estimate together with stakeholders

Stakeholders should be part of the planning process. This will allow the team to clarify any details before development starts. It also allows for the customer to gain insight into the process and justify estimates if they’re not in line with their expectations.

Plan a new sprint when the product backlog has enough items

A product backlog is a prioritized list of work for the development team that’s derived from the roadmap and its requirements. And we can’t stress how important the product backlog is when working with Scrum.

Sprint planning should be saved until the product backlog has enough items to complete at least two sprints. Without enough items in the product backlog, the project could lose focus.

Set the main goal for each sprint

A sprint doesn’t work if there’s nothing to aim for. Sprint goals should always be made clear before undertaking a sprint. The goal allows the team to understand what tasks need completing and how to prioritize the items.

Goals should be presented in clear one- or two-sentence statements such as: “Implement the check-out workflow: view the cart, set payment, choose a delivery method, pay, receive a confirmation email.”

Plan 6-hour days to mitigate risks

It may seem sensible to plan for the full working day, but failing to plan for potential issues can derail a project very quickly.

Our top tip? Leave two hours in the day unplanned. That way you have extra time to fix any issues that present themselves — an absent team member or computing issues, for example.

Don’t stretch sprint time

Sprint lengths are set for a reason. There will always be the temptation to stretch a sprint if the work isn’t quite complete, but that makes it difficult to judge the effectiveness of the sprint and its length.

Stretching sprints can also encourage the team to become less respectful of other set timeframes.

… but don’t cut sprint time either

Like we mentioned above, sprint lengths are set for a reason. Cutting a sprint short because all the tasks appear to be complete can be just as detrimental down the line.

If you find a rare moment of spare time, consider coming up with some small stories and adding them to the scope until you hit the sprint ending.

Best practice approaches for managing Scrum backlogs

Always separate product backlog and sprint backlog

The sprint backlog should be set in stone in most situations, but the product backlog can change at any moment.

Keeping them separate is vital. That way the team can accurately plan the upcoming sprints by comparing sprint backlogs.

Use task prioritization techniques for product backlogs

There are multiple backlog prioritization techniques, but not all of them work well with Scrum and Agile.

Traditional practices often use HiPPO to prioritize. The problem with this in an Agile setting is that it doesn’t take the team’s workflow into account. Instead, using a prioritization technique such as the Kano model ensures the team is going to be working efficiently and to the best of their abilities.

Assign IDs to items

A simple practice that many teams forget about: you must assign IDs to product backlog items.

It’s just like organizing any other folder — document files, image collateral, or even digital films and music! Giving items an easily recognizable ID can reduce time spent finding specific items and allows the team to collaborate easily (even when working remotely).

Visualize dependencies to capture bottlenecks

Dependencies should be sorted into two groups for best practice approaches:

Functional dependencies
These are defined by the stakeholders and product owners, as they are the ones who will consider the product’s market behavior.
Technical dependencies
These are defined by the technical engineers and can include items such as integrating payment gateways before developing the shipping set-up flow.

Use Scrum boards

If there’s one thing we know at EasyRetro, it’s Scrum boards.

Scrum boards are the easiest way to visualize your sprint, tasks, or anything else you might need to bring to life. The boards are built with cards — either in-person with sticky notes or online with one of EasyRetro’s great templates. The team writes their tasks on the cards and adds the cards to the board, showing colleagues and stakeholders exactly what is happening in a clear and concise fashion.

We have a great guide to Scrum boards and over 100 templates to get you started.

Scrum practices for tracking and predicting

Visualize sprint burndown

Burndown charts are an easy-to-understand way to show your team’s progress throughout a sprint.

The chart shows the completed items per day against the planned rate of completion — helping Scrum teams to stay on track. Visualizing the progress also helps detect any issues quickly. That way they can be discussed during daily standups with a focus on resolving them early to keep up a good pace.

Use release burndown charts

Similar to sprint burndown, a release burndown chart helps estimate how many sprints are needed to complete a project on schedule and whether the team must adjust the estimated timeframe as the project progresses.

Release burndowns are particularly important if the product backlog was updated with new items along the development course.

Use velocity measurements

Velocity is a measurement that considers how many items are completed during each sprint compared to initial estimates. Velocity measurements are needed to better forecast team commitment and eventual results to reveal estimation problems in the longer term.

Usually, 3-5 sprints are enough to gauge general team velocity.

Use quality collaboration software

You can have a fantastic team that works together with ease. But give them the wrong tools and you’ll soon find they’re spending more time fixing problems than working on the product.

Using the right software that fits with your team’s workflow is vital to get the best out of them.

How great Scrum teams manage engineering and quality assurance

Don’t separate testing and development

Testing should be seen as part of the development process — not as an afterthought.

Testing the product as you develop it, rather than waiting for it to be finished, can save time and money. It also helps maintain a design thinking ethos.

Frequent product testing catches issues early — before the issue becomes embedded within the final version. That means your end-users get a seamless, error-free experience, and your development team won’t need to go back to the release product to fix any careless mistakes.

Address bug debt in the following sprint

It can be tempting to fix bugs as soon as they’re discovered. But is that the right approach when working within Scrum? After all, jumping on bugs immediately can derail a sprint — leading to a knock-on effect across the team and on the overall project time.

If you can afford to, then make a note of the bug and leave it for the next sprint.

Implement continuous integration

By their very nature, Agile and Scrum are highly flexible methodologies and thrive off of last-minute change. And yet, even if your team is brilliant at switching gears at the drop of a hat, there are always ways to improve efficiency during development.

Utilizing a technique such as continuous integration can do just that.

Continuous integration involves running automated tests for every feature after an engineer commits it. The test will look to validate the new feature and automatically include it into the build. This means bugs are found quicker, giving the team regular updates on possible integration issues too.

Is your Scrum team ready to step up?

Scrum is an exciting, high-potential approach to product and development work. But it takes some getting used to!

If your team is just setting off on its Scrum and Agile journey, then the tips and tricks above are well worth exploring. And you’ll find plenty of other insights and guides on the EasyRetro blog, as well.

Understanding Scrum development teams: who are they and what do they do?

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

The EasyRetro blog often focuses on tips to help Scrum Masters get the best out of their team, but we rarely talk about the team themselves. To set that right, this blog post will look at the Scrum development team in detail — who they are, what they do, and why it’s so important to choose the right people for the job.

What is a Scrum development team?

Strictly speaking, everyone who’s involved in a Scrum project is part of the development team. For the sake of clarity, though, we’re going to talk about the people who actually build the product.

The term “development team” implies that this group comprises engineers only, but in actuality, the team can include writers, designers, programmers, Agile experts, and so on.

What are the Scrum development team’s responsibilities?

This is another big question to answer.

Each team member’s responsibilities will depend on the job they’re undertaking. For example, a UI designer will spend the majority of their time focusing on accessibility and product flow. Meanwhile, the programmers will be focused on how to make the UI designer’s ideas work as intended.

That being said, there are a certain number of shared responsibilities for a Scrum development team, regardless of their specialty. After all, Agile methodologies can’t function if the team is working towards separate goals.

Perform sprint execution

This may seem obvious, but the key task for a development team is to actually undertake sprints and ensure deadlines are met.

The team needs to self-organize in order to plan, carry out, and manage a sprint. During sprint execution, the development team members perform their specialized tasks to produce an increment. These tasks can include designing, programming, integrating, and testing backlog items to achieve the goals set during sprint planning.

Inspect and adapt on a day-to-day basis

Agile and Scrum methodologies require regular updates and transparency between team members. This is why we have the daily standup.

These standups are quick, 15-minute meetings that focus on reviewing what tasks have been achieved and what is left to be done. Its bite-size and straight-to-the-point format gives the team an insight into how the sprint is going and can pinpoint any issues that require addressing before moving forward.

Most standups won’t affect the day-to-day flow of a sprint, but they could drastically alter workflow in some situations. That’s why it’s vital that everyone attends each day to avoid being out of the loop.

For an in-depth look at the Daily Standup, take a look at our Ultimate Guide to the Daily Standup Meeting.

Groom the product backlog

A product backlog is a prioritized list of work for the development team. These tasks will be taken from the product roadmap and its requirements, with the most important items shown at the top of the product backlog, so the team knows what to deliver first.

In each sprint, the development team must dedicate an appropriate amount of time preparing for the next sprint. The majority of this planning will revolve around “grooming” the product backlog. This involves creating and refining, estimating, and prioritizing product backlog items.

In every sprint, the development team should dedicate around 10% of its overall workload to assist the product owner with all these activities.

Plan the sprint

Sprint planning is vital for a successful sprint. As with all Agile practices, it’s a fully inclusive process that involves the full team, a facilitator (Scrum Master), and a product owner working together to establish goals for the next sprint. Once the goal is defined, the team determines a high-priority subset of the product backlog items which they should build to achieve that goal.

The amount of time that needs to be allocated to sprint planning is relative to the length of the sprint. For example, a two-week sprint would require half a day of planning, four-week sprints require a full day, and so on.

Inspect and adapt the product and process

As each sprint comes to an end, the development team takes part in two more inspect-and adapt activities: sprint review and sprint retrospective. Similar to the daily standup, the aim of these activities is to find out how much progress has been made, what went well, and what needs to improve.

A sprint review is normally an informal meeting involving the product owner, product manager, Scrum Master, development team, management, and stakeholders. The development team presents the product increment and receives feedback from the rest of the group.

Alongside the presentation, the group discusses tasks that have been completed, tasks that are still to do, any issues that occurred during the sprint, and the next steps. The sprint review is designed to offer insight into the product so far.

The sprint retrospective traditionally takes place immediately after the sprint review, though we recommend running both at the same time to save time, money, and resources. The aim of a sprint retrospective is to improve the development process by identifying ways to improve productivity and efficiency.

The development team will talk about how progress happened, rather than what progress happened. The retrospective is designed to offer improvements in workflow to get the best value out of your team.

If you’re still a little confused about the difference between sprint review and sprint retrospective, we have a great guide on our blog that offers an in-depth breakdown of their key differences.

What’s the ideal size for a Scrum developer team (is there even such a thing?)

According to The Scrum Guide, a developer team working with Scrum should be between three and nine people, depending on the size of the project. This does not include the Scrum Master or product owner.

However, teams outside of those parameters can still work with Scrum methodologies. Ideally, a development team should be small enough to remain agile, but large enough to complete the amount of work required for each sprint. Achieving the right balance will help your team work in an Agile fashion and bring the most value to each project.

Too many team members…?

In most product development cycles, it’s all hands on deck. The deadline is approaching and the higher-ups are tasking the entire office with finishing the product. That kind of chaos doesn’t fit with Agile workflows, nor should it be the usual practice to operate this way. For an Agile team, you want no more than nine members — anything more than that will result in convoluted communication and disorganization between team members.

You may be thinking “less is more” seems to be key to a successful Agile development team, but a team that is too small presents its own issues.

… Or too few?

Smaller development teams with fewer than three members may seem like a great idea to ensure workflow stays Agile, and yet a team that’s too small can face more problems than positives.

There will be fewer interactions, which quickly translates into low productivity. The lack of hands on deck will also extend sprint lengths due to fewer tasks being completed simultaneously — and that’s before we factor in possible skill constraints for more complicated challenges.

What Scrum mindsets and practices should development teams follow?

Scrum is, by nature, a fast-moving and flexible methodology to work with. To get the most value out of Scrum, you need to be open-minded and ready for anything that might crop up. It’s one thing to be a great programmer or designer, but to be a successful member of a Scrum development team, you need to have the correct mindset.

Let’s take a brief look at what that might entail…

Self-organizing

This is the key mindset for any Scrum development team member. There are a lot of tasks and responsibilities they have to manage, so understanding how to prioritize those is essential, especially without a top-down figure to keep them on track.

Musketeer attitude

We all know the famous catchphrase “all for one and one for all” — let’s think of this as a motto for Agile working. Going into a project with this kind of attitude can reinforce the collective ownership of the project.

You will succeed as a team, or you will fail as a team.

Commitment and focus

Commitment to the project comes hand in hand with taking ownership. There is only a limited time available during sprints, so every team member needs to be focused on the sprint goal rather than attempting to multitask.

Transparent communication

Every team member needs to be completely upfront with others. If there is a problem, they shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and ask for help as that only serves to delay the sprint’s progress. You don’t want to get to the sprint review and find a hole in the product that could have been fixed during the sprint.

Looking for tools to help collaboration and communication? Then look no further than EasyRetro. And for further tips and tricks about Agile working and Scrum mentality, then visit our blog.

Troubleshooting in distributed Agile teams

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Distributed Agile teams had a secret weapon when we were all home to work: they’d been successfully managing remote and distanced working for months or even years.

Simply put, a distributed team is one that’s spread across numerous locations. This could be two offices in the same city or two homes halfway across the world. A distributed team has to work without a common physical space and relies on digital methods of communication to get their tasks done.

And even as social distancing restrictions ease, distributed teams could very well be here to stay. Workers are increasingly questioning if the traditional office environment is relevant anymore — after all, technology has evolved at an incredible pace to support remote working, making it easier than ever to collaborate from the comfort of your own home.

Despite the benefits, it can still be difficult to manage a project remotely. Not to mention that remote work and Agile workflow tend not to go hand in hand. For a great Agile project manager, the issues caused by remote working provide an opportunity for growth; every issue has a solution, if you know how to approach it.

Good practice = great teamwork

In order to make the best out of a (sometimes) difficult situation, your main focus should be on how your team will communicate and collaborate.

By this stage, most of us know which tools work well and which don’t. We’ve had plenty of time to adjust to the various instant messaging, video calling and collaboration platforms available to us. However, that doesn’t mean everyone understands the best practices for remote working.

Distributed working can take away the personable experiences that we take for granted in an office space — this can make teams feel isolated and robotic. Little changes and breaks in workflow can provide a huge boost to morale, making the team feel like a team again.

Encourage everyone in your distributed Agile team to turn their cameras on during video meetings and take time to allow the team to discuss personal, “small talk” topics — much like you would expect in an office.

It’s also good practice to try and replicate actions you would normally do during an in-person meeting. Most video conferencing tools allow for screen sharing that allows Scrum Masters to use a platform like EasyRetro to display idea boards, brainstorming sessions, workflow trackers and hold retrospectives.

Challenges of distributed Agile teams and how to solve them

Of course, even with the best practices in place, distributed Agile working can throw up its fair share of issues. Here’s how to solve them:

Communication

Communication is the most common issue that teams face with distributed working — Agile or not. You can’t just walk up to a coworker’s desk to ask for advice or give updates, and connecting via IMs can be difficult in busy periods.

To improve your Agile team’s remote communication, consider the following:

Agree one way of staying in touch: This could be as simple as asking your team to download Slack. As long as everyone on the team is using the same software, communication can be effortless.
Keep on top of IMs: Waiting on another team member to respond to a simple question via IM can be extremely frustrating and disruptive to an Agile team. Equally, you don’t want to promote a culture of “always being on”. Agree on a workable and reasonable reply window, and stick to it!
Daily standups: The daily standup could be the only time you communicate with the team as a whole. It’s vital to make the most out of these quick meetings, so Scrum Masters should be making sure that everyone is attending and participating.

Time zones

Time zones can be an entirely new issue to try and navigate for those switching from traditional work to distributed teams. Even teams working in the same country can still have to juggle with time-zones — the USA alone has six time zones!

That makes finding the right time to get everyone together for meetings a very difficult task, never mind organizing more complex, day-long collaborations. To help combat the issues caused by a team stretched out across different time zones, we’ve put together a few tips:

Ensure requirements are crystal clear before starting a sprint: Without defined objectives that the whole team understands, the first couple of days are going to be spent clarifying everything to every team member individually. Not a very Agile way to start a sprint!
Delegate where appropriate: There may be a need to delegate tasks at certain points. Say the product owner and core team are working in different timezones, it can be helpful to have an individual assume the role of product owner to reflect their viewpoint in the event of scheduling conflicts.
Place emphasis on flexibility: It’s not always possible to stick to a rigid schedule while working as a distributed Agile team. Before transitioning to this style, make sure the team you’re working with are comfortable and able to adjust to last minute schedule changes.

Partial distribution

As the office opens up again, new problems start to present themselves. It’s possible not everyone is ready to come back to the workplace, or maybe you’ve taken on a new hire who lives in a different state.

This can mean some of your team is remote and some are not, making organization a little difficult. You can combat this with the tips we’ve already mentioned, but there are a couple of extra things to consider in a partial distribution setting:

Commit to the daily standup: We stressed the importance of the daily standup earlier, and that still stands in a partial distribution setting. However, those not in the office may not feel like they are as important. Scrum masters need to make sure that standups still happen with digital support, to ensure those working at home don’t feel out of the loop.
One team member, one screen: It may seem like an easier plan to have everyone working in the office come into one room and stream the video and audio from there. But this can cause issues for those working remotely, as it’s hard to identify who in the room is talking when. Those in the room can also forget about those on call and end up talking between themselves, excluding the remote team members. It’s much better to have everyone take part in video calls from their own desks — that way everyone is using the same methods to communicate.

Distributed Agile teams can collaborate easier with EasyRetro

You need the right tools to make distributed models work. Platforms must be easy for everyone in the team to use, must update in real-time and must be accessible from anywhere in the world.

EasyRetro can do all of that and more.

Get started for free and see how EasyRetro can support remote Agile working.

How innovative companies use design thinking

Sun, 13 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Customer satisfaction is absolutely vital to the success of any product. Without it you’re destined to fail, fast. And yet, too many companies overlook their customers’ needs — using output and being ‘first to market’ as the metrics that matter.

But here’s the thing: being first isn’t an advantage if the product itself lacks relevance or traction. That’s why tech giants such as Google, Apple and Samsung have all embraced the design thinking methodology, with other companies looking to do the same.

Design thinking is an iterative process that keeps the user at the center of every decision. It encourages an integrative view and accepts uncertainty. It also helps product teams to consider every angle of a problem, before exploring creative solutions with the customer in mind.

So which companies are using design thinking the best? And what can we learn from the products and services that they developed?

5 companies using design thinking to create user-centric products and services

Braun/Oral B - the next-gen, smart toothbrush

Braun and Oral-B are well known for their electric toothbrush line, but when it came to creating a new brush with smart features they had a problem on their hands. The initial idea involved a sophisticated data-tracking module that would be able to sense how the user was brushing. It would collect information about interactions with every individual tooth and offer feedback to the user about gum health. It would even be able to play music!

The companies brought in Kim Colin and Sam Hecht, founders of the London-based industrial design studio Industrial Facility, to help them realize their vision. As design thinking experts, the duo looked at the design brief and found some immediate issues.

Rather than thinking about a customer’s dental care needs, Braun and Oral-B were approaching the new product as if it were a fashionable fitness or wellbeing tracker. Many of the features they wanted to include served purely as gimmicks — they would give the illusion of essential benefits, but actually held little value to the end user.

Instead, Colin and Hecht shifted focus towards issues that customers were finding with existing toothbrush lines. They decided the two features that would provide the most benefit for users were better charging and replacement brush heads.

Currently, users were able to charge their brushes via a dock, but charging on-the-go proved less convenient. To fix this issue, Colin and Hecht incorporated USB ports to allow the user to charge their brush via outlets or even a laptop.

Reordering replacement brush heads was already a simple task, but while users would notice their brush heads were worn down, they would forget to order replacements. To combat this, the designers created an app that connects to the brush via bluetooth. Users can then press a button on the brush to send a message to their phone reminding them to order replacement brush heads.

By utilizing design thinking — and empathizing with what the user was actually experiencing — the companies were able to shift their focus from gimmicky pseudo-features to a product that passed on real value to the customer.

Stanford Healthcare - improving the ER experience

During a two-day design thinking course at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, a group was tasked with improving the patient experience in the hospital’s emergency department. For the experiment, they played the roles of patients and their family to simulate the feeling of a chaotic atmosphere normally found in the ER. It may not have been the first place people would consider using design thinking, but design thinking is an empathetic process and was perfectly suited to the task.

They started by interviewing patients and families about their experience before recreating the experience for themselves. Design strategist and co-teacher Emilie Wagner noted that the simulation “added an emotional value that complemented the interviews.” She also described the design thinking process as “a tool that encourages students to step out of designing for themselves and trust the people they’re designing for.”

The design thinking experiment brought to light a need for coordinated and clear communication. After all, that’s what’s going to reassure patients during the heightened anxiety and fear of an unwanted ER visit. The experiment’s success led to Stanford Healthcare administrators incorporating design thinking into the planning of a new hospital building.

Nike - sportswear for sports lovers

Nike is one of those companies that has embraced design thinking for a long time — and the results speak for themselves. In fact, Nike CEO, Mark Parker, believes it should be “infused” into everything the company does.

The needs of their sporting partners have always been first and foremost in Nike’s design process. In fact, the Air Force One was originally designed to help athletes perform better as the first sneaker to incorporate their trademark pressurized air technology. To their surprise, they became a fashion sensation on the streets of New York and formed a long lasting bond between Nike and the NYC community.

While fashion and style is important — a fact that is reinforced by the huge “sneakerhead” community who are passionate about every new release — performance and innovation must always come first for Nike. That’s why design thinking, with its user-centric focus, is the perfect methodology to keep the brand on top.

Airbnb - walking a mile in users’ shoes

A little over a decade ago, Airbnb was on the verge of bankruptcy. Revenue barely hit $200 a week and its founders were floundering while trying to manage their losses. As they investigated the root cause, they realized their advertising campaigns were lacking high quality images. And, most importantly, their ads and website listings weren’t showing everything the unique accommodation brand had to offer.

This meant potential customers had little to no idea what they were paying for.

Their first solution was simple: go to the properties, rent a camera and take the pictures themselves. Sure, that got the job done for a brief time, with turnover doubling to $400 a week, but it was far from scalable. They needed to rethink.

As is often the case, a better solution was sat right opposite them: their new and growing team. Moving forward, new hires would be tasked with making a trip to each new listing and documenting their experience. This allowed employees to see the problems potential customers were facing — then come up with creative solutions.

For example, the app’s system for rating properties was originally a traditional star system. That was until a member of Airbnb’s design team realized that users would reward hosts in a colder fashion with the star system and replaced it with the heart scale we know today. While this may seem like a relatively minor change, the replacement rating system was credited with a 30% boost in business!

Thanks to design thinking, Airbnb has gone from the brink of bankruptcy to disrupting the tourism industry worldwide. The digital experience their website provides solves user issues effectively — for travelers and hosts alike.

Uber - changing lanes with UberEats

When Uber made its first steps into food delivery, they knew that their customers would expect the same seamless experience they were used to with Uber’s cars. Thanks to design thinking, the company has achieved just that and UberEats is now one of the top food delivery services in 24 countries across the world.

The UberEats design team lives and breathes design thinking to ensure its users receive the maximum value. That’s true whether they’re a restaurant looking to expand their business, a delivery partner looking for flexible ways to earn money, or just a hungry person looking for a quick bite to eat.

To understand their different markets, Uber designers visit a city where UberEats operates and immerse themselves in the culture and infrastructure. They interview delivery partners, restaurant workers and consumers to gain insight from every user. They also perform “order shadowing”, where the designers can observe the experience in action. This involves visiting restaurants during busy periods and actually sitting in customer’s homes while they order.

Lastly, they offer “fireside chats” with their customers to gain insights directly. They invite delivery partners, restaurant workers and consumers into the Uber offices and encourage candid conversations about what matters to them most.

UberEats’ commitment to design thinking is one of the strongest examples of its benefits. They understand that every user persona is central to a successful product, so it’s no surprise that the venture has proved hugely successful across multiple markets.

Design thinking workflows made easy with EasyRetro

EasyRetro may be known for its amazing retrospective templates, brainstorming tools and anything else you may need to run a successful sprint, but our value doesn’t end there.

We love design thinking and the benefits it brings. So we want to bring design thinking and agile workflows together. Our experts can help you find the right tools for your team and offer design thinking templates to help you transition smoothly.

We’ve helped teams improve in more than 2,000,000 retrospectives and now we’re here to help you. Let’s get started today.

Getting started with Liberating Structures (and their surprising power!)

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 10:18:00 +0000

Have you ever felt like meetings take the same-old-same-old format every single time? You’re not imagining things. Presentations and brainstorming sessions are the norm in nearly every industry — and have been for years.

Would you mix things up if you could?

If your answer is ‘yes’, then this blog post was written for you. In it, we’ll learn about the surprising power of liberating meeting structures and how to use them.

What are Liberating Structures?

Liberating Structures are a selection of 33 alternative structures for facilitating meetings and conversations. They have been curated into a great book by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless, who describe the structures as simple, small shifts in the way meetings work.

Their book, ‘_The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures_’, and website are not the easiest literature to navigate, but they are packed full of valuable insights that can unlock the true potential of your meetings.

Each Liberating Structure has been given a fun, differentiated icon and has a uniformed set of instructions and information, such as:

An icon and name
What is made possible
Structural elements - min specs
Why? Purposes
Tips and traps
Riffs and variations
Examples
Collateral materials.

New structures are being developed all the time and existing structures are modified, adjusted, or removed. With Liberating Structures, it’s possible to start shifting entire organizations by tweaking the way groups and individuals interact.

What are the benefits of using Liberating Structures?

Liberating Structures empower people to work at the peak of their abilities — and in a creative manner. They offer a platform for everyone to put forward their ideas, creating a more inclusive space.

That’s important because, in these types of environments, people thrive and enjoy their work.

These easy-to-learn interaction methods can help to enhance relationships, collaboration, and trust. Liberating Structures are powerful methods to increase participation regardless of team size — they make it possible to include everyone and unleash your team’s full creativity.

The Antidote to “Zombie Scrum”?

There’s a trend emerging within the world of Scrum: a phenomenon that some are calling “Zombie Scrum”.

With so many companies “using Scrum” — and just as many “certified” Scrum coaches — teams can convince themselves that they’re following Agile principles, but their attitudes haven’t really changed. They’re just getting the framework in place and carrying on as normal.

For companies stuck in this pattern of Zombie Scrum, Liberating Structures could be just the antidote they need. Utilizing Liberating Structures will help the team understand why they’re working with the Scrum methodology — unlocking their potential to bring maximum value to their product.

If you feel like your team is just going through the motions and not truly embracing the Scrum methodology, it might be time to start looking at Liberating Structures. Incorporating them into a Scrum workflow is an easy and natural process as they can be used for problem-solving, determining strategies, improving collaboration, and creating shared understanding. Much like Scrum!

Using Liberating Structures in product and Agile teams

You can start using Liberating Structures from the get-go if you’re already Agile. These meeting facilitators fit into the Scrum methodology with ease, unlocking the value of any meeting from sprint planning to the retrospective.

Let’s take a look at some of the stages where Liberating Structures can improve collaboration and ideation.

Sprint planning

There are two main questions that need to be asked in every sprint planning session: “What can be delivered within the time constraints?” and “How will we achieve the sprint goal?”.

It’s a simple concept that’s proven effective in countless situations. However, there are also times where the sprint planning gets off track and turns into a hindrance.

If a team is unable to create an achievable sprint goal from a business objective, it may be a case of poor product backlog or simply a loss of focus on the customer value. When this happens, Scrum teams can utilize the 1-2-4-All microstructure to identify the most likely causes for sprint planning failure.

In a fascinating experiment into the effectiveness of Liberating Structures in sprint planning, four teams were able to agree that successful sprint planning depends on an actionable product backlog.

Daily scrum meetup

The daily Scrum meeting isn’t designed to solve every problem within 15 minutes — we wish! The purpose is to reveal issues that the team are facing. And, with that in mind, you may be wondering how Liberating Structures fit in.

Using a microstructure such as TRIZ — which is designed to stop counterproductive activities and behaviors — or Min Specs — which breaks down tasks into “must do” and “must not do” — teams can take the issues raised in the daily Scrum meeting and resolve them in a creative way.

If you’re not already familiar with the daily scrum meetup (also referred to as daily standup), we have a great guide on our blog.

Product backlog

Issues with the product backlog can trigger a domino effect with the rest of your sprint tasks. Sprint planning can fail and teams can end up delivering a final product that fails to bring value to the client or customer.

Looking at the Ecocycle Planning microstructure, you find a perfect solution to the usual product backlog issues. It can be utilized to identify whether the content of the product backlog still reflects the best use of the team’s time. Ecocycle Planning can also be utilized to identify processes within the team that prevent product backlogs from achieving their full potential.

Ecocycle planning can take longer than traditional meeting structures, but it can save much more time down the road, as the team has already solved the problems that would otherwise hold them back.

Strategy meetup

Strategy meetups are often like diving right in at the deep end and hoping for the best. Teams are forced to overcome uncertainty in order to move forward with the project.

Meetings like these need a slightly more advanced Liberating Structure, such as Critical uncertainties, but it can be hugely effective. Not only will it help with the current project, it can also have lasting effects on the team, helping them to overcome uncertainty on a regular basis.

Sprint retrospective

If you’ve been keeping up with the EasyRetro blog, then you already know how to get the best out of your sprint retrospectives. So, it might surprise you to know that Liberating Structures can unlock even more value from your retrospective meetings.

We already know a retrospective works best if everyone has the chance to speak their mind. But we also know that can be easier said than done.

If your team is having issues with inclusion and openness, consider incorporating the What, So What, Now What? or TRIZ microstructures into your retrospective. Used in tandem, or separately, these can promote inclusivity and create a safe space for your entire team to contribute.

Liberate your sprints with EasyRetro’s tools

Liberating Structures are all about simple, small changes — which is exactly what EasyRetro does best. Leave behind complicated meeting, collaboration and project planning software and unlock your team’s full potential with fun retrospectives and hundreds of great templates instead.

And the best part of EasyRetro? You can try it all for free today!

Coaching Agile teams — do you have what it takes?

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 10:18:00 +0000

Agile coaching is one of the hottest jobs on the market right now.

More and more companies are switching to Agile, but not every company knows how to do it well. There are still a lot of teams that think they’re working Agile, but are simply going through the motions while old habits run on repeat. This is why Agile coaches are so important.

What is an Agile coach and what do they do?

An Agile coach is a person who is responsible for creating and improving Agile processes within a team or a company. Agile coaches aren’t management — they’re not responsible for barking orders at the team. A great Agile coach will share their experiences and insight in order to get the best out of everyone.

For a team going from traditional methods to Agile, change can be difficult. An Agile coach must ensure that Agile teams have the support, encouragement, knowledge and tools they need to execute the process successfully.

By developing Agile teams and championing an organizational culture that embraces change, Agile coaches help pave the way for long-term Agile success. That’s why the average salary for an Agile coach in the USA is around $124,000!

It’s not just the attractive six figure salary that makes ‘Agile coach’ such a sought after role. There’s a number of opportunities for a certified Agile Coach, from a salaried position within one company to a freelancing role working with different teams on a project by project basis.

It’s rare to find a job with this much flexibility, but do you have what it takes to become a top Agile coach?

What personality types are best for coaching Agile teams?

The first step to becoming a great Agile coach is to understand what the job really entails.

There are plenty of definitions floating around the internet with an equal number of certifications, so you can be forgiven for getting confused about what an Agile coach actually is.

Agile coaches are normally from a project/product management or software development background. They will have professional experience with multiple Agile methodologies from SAFe to Kanban and are able to transfer that experience into valuable advice that strengthens every team they work with.

The various definitions of an Agile coach can be overwhelming, but the whole thing makes more sense when you break down the different types of Agile coaches — rather than looking at a one-size-fits-all definition.

Agile coaching hero, Els Verkaik, provided a great breakdown of the different styles of coaches. Let’s take a quick look at her seven definitions and see if any resonate with you.

1. The Artist

An ‘Artist’ Agile coach has the knowledge and skills to push any team to the best of its abilities. They are passionate, charismatic and tend to have many followers around them that reflect their message. They thrive when they can take center stage and take a focused approach to transitioning to Agile.

Because they’re successful, artists end up craving attention and recognition. They do their job well, if only to have an opportunity to shine and seek applause. They’re born leaders, but crumble under scrutiny — taking criticism personally rather than as an opportunity to grow.

2. The Evangelist

An ‘Evangelist’ Agile coach is committed to imbuing as much of their knowledge as possible into their mentees. They are passionate people — motivated by the idea that their input is making the world a better place, rather than personal glory.

Evangelists have a lot of experience and are keen to share that with the team. But because they live to help, they can often come up with solutions for issues that don’t actually exist. They can be apathetic to the needs of others and can come across as a bit of a busybody rather than a useful source of knowledge.

3. The Viking

As the name may suggest, ‘Vikings’ are thick skinned, passionate and objective Agile coaches. Their transformation approach is confrontational, with a strong vision that’s not open to interpretation. They’re dominant, straight to the point and get results before moving on to the next project.

Vikings can quickly identify the root cause of a team’s issues and they’re not afraid to ruffle some feathers in order to fix it. Of course, their aggressive style can be a bit much for some teams and can be viewed as unapproachable.

4. The Mediator

‘Mediators’ are the most flexible kind of Agile coaches. They can adapt their vision to fit the needs of the business and thrive when working as a team. Their motivation comes from the social aspect of coaching; they’ll ensure that every colleague is on the same page by the time the coaching period comes to an end.

While Mediators tend to be well-received by new teams, their flexibility and need to be accepted can get in the way of true progress. They find it hard to confront issues and may sacrifice their vision in order to please others.

5. The Professor

The ‘Professor’ is another title that explains itself. These Agile coaches are experts in their field and tend not to need support from anyone else. They are great observers — inquisitive and analytical. They can simplify complex issues and offer clarity to ensure the entire team is on the same page.

Unfortunately, Professors tend to distance themselves from the team and take on more of an overseer role. They don’t actively participate in the transformation and purely focus on enabling the team to grow by themselves.

6. The Networker

‘Networkers’ are great at building relationships with the team. They’re not afraid to dive into the work and share knowledge wherever they can. They’re loyal to their job and view everyone as an equal, rather than assuming a leadership role.

While Networkers are great for team morale, they can bend easily when it comes to transformation. They can become so integrated into the team that their vision becomes blurry as the opinion of others factors heavily in their process.

7. The Innovator

‘Innovators’ are creative, experimental Agile mentors who thrive on bringing new solutions to the table. They focus on making the transformation a fun process in order to engage the team in a meaningful way — promoting lasting change through enjoyment.

The problem is, they can be apathetic towards the emotional side of change, which may leave some team members feeling lost and confused. They also head straight to a solution rather than identifying the cause.

What skills does Agile coaching require?

Now that you know the core styles of Agile coaching, do you have the skills required to get the job done?

Tick of as many as you can from the following skills list — the more you have, the better!

How do you get started coaching Agile teams?

There are countless Agile coach courses and certifications you can take. However simply having a certification doesn’t make you a great coach. Before diving into coaching, you need to ensure that your knowledge is up to spec.

You need to know why we work Agile, not just how to work Agile. You need to be well practiced in working with Scrum and how it can benefit the team. You also need to know how to facilitate the team to transition naturally to Agile workflows.

Most importantly, you also need to be great at connecting with people. A successful transition needs the team to feel comfortable with you as their coach. If there is personal conflict, the transition will be much harder for everyone.

If you’re up for the challenge, then go get ‘em! And don’t forget, there’s always the EasyRetro blog for more Agile working tips, like this: Top 10 Agile tools for keeping your team productive.

What is a self-organizing team and how do you create one?

Thu, 20 May 2021 08:00:00 +0000

“So, as it turns out, unless you’re a young child or a prison inmate, you don’t need anyone supervising you. People just come in and do their work on their schedule. Imagine that.”

There are lots of great quotes from The Office that translate to real life, but this particular line from Jim Halpert is one of the best. That’s because Jim is actually describing a well-functioning, self-organizing team — the backbone of Scrum methodology.

What is a self-organizing team?

A self-organizing team is exactly what it sounds like: a team that organizes themselves into action.

A traditional team would need to wait for a manager to sign off on an idea before getting started. They may even have to wait for further directions or instructions, too. This approach takes extra time, extends deadlines and — most importantly — costs the company money. A self-organizing team will identify what tasks need to be done, when; prioritizing and managing their own deadlines.

The key characteristics of a self-organizing team

There’s no clear definition of a self-organizing team in the Agile Manifesto. That said, through practice and experience we can easily define the most important characteristics that self-organizing teams have to embody:

Collaboration

This might be obvious, but a self-organizing team needs to work together. Without a manager to push them forward, it’s down to the team to communicate — and collaborate — to complete the task at hand.

Competency

While the Scrum master will be there to help coach your team through any tough patches, the team needs to know what they’re doing. Autonomy won’t be possible if the team is constantly waiting to be told what to do — or how to do it. This is why it’s important to pick your teams carefully, ensuring a good blend of skills and talents that, together, really shine.

Continuous improvement

Self-organizing teams are also self-governing — there’s no figurehead telling you what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on. This can cause problems if the team shies away from intra-team feedback. Members of a self-organizing team also need to be able to seek out their own growth opportunities in order to improve their skills.

Ownership

There is no one to hold you accountable to your mistakes within a self-organized team. For a team to run effectively, every team member needs to be able to take ownership over their work — mistakes and all.

If a team member can’t own up to their own mistakes, you’re going to end up with a backlog of issues building up with no explanation as to how they happened in the first place. That means starting from square one, rather than simply working backwards to fix the issue.

Respect and trust

Conflict within teams is inevitable, especially without a traditional management figure to oversee proceedings. Team members need to show respect to their co-workers — even if there’s a difference in opinions. The workplace isn’t a place for personal issues and a great self-organized team is made up of people who understand that.

4 benefits of a self-organizing team

Self-organization is a simple theory, but it can deliver an enormous positive impact.

Having your team work autonomously is already a great benefit, but let’s dive into some of the other reasons to adopt self-organization:

Improved output

Since teams are already working in an Agile manner, they can adapt to customer and market needs at the drop of a hat — as no one has to wait for a manager’s approval. Teams can work at their own pace, find their own rhythm, and start putting out consistent work. Team members can also prioritize workflow based on their own skills and hit deadlines with ease.

Emphasis on quality

Self-organized teams are far more likely to assign the right person to the right job. Traditional managers will often organize projects by who has less on their plate at the time, assigning tasks accordingly. That seems like a great idea to keep workflow consistent, but it means someone may end up with a task that they’re not so confident with. That tends to result in lower quality products and lower customer satisfaction at the end of development.

Saves time and money

A self-organizing, autonomous team has no use for the extra resources that a manager offers up. Simply put, that means less money wasted to an unneeded figurehead and less time wasted on admin that the team could just do themselves.

Improved satisfaction

As mentioned earlier, the improved output and quality means higher customer satisfaction rates.

However, it’s not just the customer that feels the benefit at the end of a sprint or project. With no one to micromanage their efforts, team members can feel more comfortable and empowered. They can work at their own pace and in their own way, rather than worrying about having to conform to the manager’s timeline or standards.

Challenges faced by self-organizing teams

Despite the benefits, there’s a reason why self-organized teams aren’t the norm. Autonomy and freedom can be wonderful for team members, but from a company standpoint there are a few potential issues that we need to address.

Thankfully, as seen in the Agile Alliance guide, these issues are easy to resolve. Let’s take a look at the main challenges you may face — and how to resolve them.

Communication

Self-motivation can easily lead to team members becoming more introverted. If everyone is focussed on their own tasks, then you can’t be surprised if there’s a breakdown in communication within the team.

Following Agile ways of working requires everyone to be able to handle sudden changes, so keeping everyone in the loop is vital. Daily standups and weekly status meetings are still essential, even if only to update the rest of your self-organized team on what you’re doing.

Accountability

Lack of accountability is one of the most common challenges in self-organized teams. A quick look into this style of working may present red flags, such as reduced efficiency and a lack of individual accountability.

The entire team is responsible for the project, rather than a single figurehead. This means everyone needs to attend meetings and interrupt workflow. With that shared responsibility, it makes it much harder to hold an individual person accountable for specific tasks or mistakes. By the time it comes to the sprint retrospective, there’s no way to identify ways to improve, because no one knows what the mistake was or who made it.

So how do you avoid this issue? It all comes down to team dynamics and trust. If a self-organized team member feels connected to their colleagues, then they’ll want to help the team succeed. Don’t skip on the team bonding activities, basically!

Conflicting personalities

Homogeneous teams tend to struggle with creativity and innovation; different mindsets bring different advantages and having a diverse group can lead to great things.

Unfortunately, the variation between personalities can lead to conflict, too. Without a traditional manager to step in and resolve the issues, conflicts within a self-organized team can continue to escalate. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Communication is essential here. If you see an issue emerging, raise it and talk it through.

Inertia

Trying something new in the workplace can stir up a bunch of excitement and boost morale. However, old habits can return without the guidance of a traditional manager to oversee the self-organized agenda. This is one of the biggest issues for upper management, who may see the potential for reduced output.

Again, everyone in the self-organizing team has to be inspired to succeed. If you feel the wheels grinding to a halt, don’t just stand by and watch it happen.

How to build an Agile self-organized team

There are very few employees who can be dropped into a self-organizing structure and run with it right away. That doesn’t mean you should steer clear from self-organization, though, the key is to pick out the right people for the team with the right skills for the tasks ahead.

Once you’ve selected your team, there’s a few steps you need to take to prepare them for their new way of working:

Training

Self-organization will look different for each team member, so preparing them for how it’s going to work is key. It’s not a case of “off you go, get to work” — there are principles that the team need to understand before diving in headfirst. They will also need training on the framework required to work this way and the skills required to communicate better.

Coaching

The initial stages of transitioning into becoming a self-organizing Agile team can be difficult. In a study by Alistair Cockburn, many participants described the transitioning phase as “a war”, “challenge”, “struggle”, and “difficult”.

This may seem counterintuitive but having an extra team member who can coach the core team through the transition can make a huge difference. Of course, as the project goes on and the team starts building confidence, the coaching role can be gradually phased out.

Mentoring

As self-organization becomes second nature for your team, they need to know how they’re progressing. The former coach will need to check in from time to time and ensure the team’s skillset is growing and work is staying balanced. These mentoring sessions aren’t about micromanaging, they’re about ensuring the team is growing together.

Give your self-organized team the tools to succeed

Proper tooling makes the transition to self-organization easier — and that’s where EasyRetro comes in.

Our platform is simple enough for the whole team to use and flexible enough to handle any task you need to complete. Slack integration, easy export, and “access-anywhere” functionality ensure better communication, even in remote working situations!

Start working smarter with our free plan, or try a free trial today to see how EasyRetro can make Agile working even more efficient.

Understanding Scrum Roles & Team Structure

Thu, 20 May 2021 08:00:00 +0000

The Scrum methodology has been around in one shape or another since the 80s and continues to be the go-to workflow for tech companies across the world.

And there’s a good reason why it’s stuck around for so long: Scrum makes teams more successful.

Newcomers to Scrum may find the range of team roles and responsibilities confusing though. That’s why in this blog post we’ll run through the three different roles within a Scrum team — leaving you with a clearer idea who should do what, when and why.

Scrum teams at a glance

There are three core roles within a Scrum team: the product owner, the Scrum master and the development team. The Scrum ‘chain of command’ might be obvious at first glance, but a strong and efficient team relies on all relevant parties pulling their weight together. So understanding each individual Scrum role is essential, too.

Introducing the product owner

As with any project, you need someone who can understand the customer’s needs and represent the business. In Scrum, this person is called the “product owner”.

What does a product owner do?

A good product owner needs to be the branch that connects the team to the customer. They are responsible for representing the company and keeping the customer updated with how the work is progressing. They also need to keep the team on track to meet the customer’s expectations and ensure they deliver the most value.

Keeping customer and business needs balanced is a tightrope walk, so the product owner must pool those needs together and work out which tasks need to take priority over others. Having one person in charge of setting priorities means less time is spent on discussion — freeing up more time to work on delivering the best product.

What type of skills does a product owner need?

Customer expertise: As product owner, you need to make sure the project is meeting the stakeholder’s expectations. That said, a great product owner will do more than assess and process the data they already have. They need to be aware — and stay one step ahead — of the customer needs.

Storytelling: Great product owners go beyond the mechanics of chopping up a user story into the product backlog and sending it to developers. As a product owner, your mission is to think about what will transform that story into a product feature that — you guessed it — delights the user.

Delegation: Every management role can be overwhelming, and the biggest mistake anyone can make as a manager or product owner is taking on too much work at once. As the product owner you need to be willing to put ego aside and ask for help from the people you know can handle the task at hand.

Communication: There’s no shame in not knowing everything — even as product owner. We all have our strengths and our blindspots, but trying to push beyond your comfort zone unsupported risks confusion down the line and ultimately takes value away from the project.

A product owner should identify and engage the team members best placed to deliver on a task — even if it isn’t them.

Introducing the development team

Strictly speaking, everyone involved in the project is part of the development team. But the development team is also a specific group of people working on the project.

Confused? Let’s look at what defines the development team in Scrum.

What does the development team do?

To use an old cliché, the question should be: “What don’t they do?”.

The development team are the people who actually build the product. The name may suggest a team that’s made up purely of engineers. In reality, it can feature writers, designers, programmers, agile experts and so on.

Simply put, the development team is made up of the right people with the right skills needed for the job.

What type of skills do the development team have?

Self-organization: Development experts need to be self-starters. The Agile workflow doesn’t make time for people who wait for a thumbs up or seal of approval — you have to trust your own instincts and solve your own problems.

Transparency: Working with Scrum means the focus is on efficiency. The daily standup meeting gives the team a chance to speak about their current workflow issues, and a team member who is afraid to speak up when they need support is dead weight and will derail the project.

There are many other skills a development team member needs, but it really varies between projects. Whoever chooses the team will need to take this into account and adapt the team to the product requirements.

Introducing the Scrum master

The Scrum master is the glue that holds the entire project together. And without a Scrum master, everything could fall apart — it sounds dramatic, but it’s true!

What does a Scrum master do?

You may assume that a Scrum master will be leading every meeting or event during the product development cycle, but that’s not actually the case. Scrum masters support the product owner by: helping them understand the product and where the value lies; managing the backlog; and helping to plan upcoming sprints and projects. They also support the development team by problem solving, aiding with self-organization and focusing on outcomes.

For a more in-depth look at a Scrum master’s responsibilities, check out our earlier blog on what a Scrum master does during a sprint retrospective.

What type of skills does a Scrum master have?

Organization: Keeping the project together isn’t always an easy task, but a stellar Scrum master will be able to keep the entire team on track to hit deadlines. Scrum requires a lot of planning and structure, so the Scrum master needs to be a whizz in project management and talent resourcing.

Coaching: Ensuring that the team is working on schedule doesn’t just mean telling them to hurry up or work faster. Teams are made of people and people are not perfect — maybe someone falls ill, has a family emergency, experiences a crisis of confidence, or looks like they are burning out. A great Scrum master will be able to teach the team how to solve the problems on their own, rather than just fix them and move on.

Conflict handling: Teams are full of different ideas and personalities, too — and not all of them work well together all of the time. Part of keeping the project on track is making sure that interpersonal conflicts don’t interfere with the workflow. Conflict resolution is a vital skill to have as a Scrum master, especially when the going gets tough.

Scrum roles vs job titles — anyone can do anything!

It’s often thought that Scrum roles and Scrum-related job titles are interchangeable, but that’s simply not true.

The three scrum roles we’ve shared above are more of a description of your key responsibilities during the project — that means any person can perform any one of these roles, regardless of their job title.

Scrum teams in action

It’s tough to find a company that doesn’t use Agile ways of working, like Scrum. And you don’t need to be a business management expert to understand why.

Using Scrum in particular will offer greater productivity, better quality, consistent product releases and, most importantly, customer satisfaction every time.

To learn more about the advantages of Scrum, take a look at our handy beginner’s guide to Scrum methods and our guide to sprint retrospectives.

How to use design thinking to shape your sprint strategy

Thu, 20 May 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, a tech company calls itself ‘successful’ if it can get a product idea to market before anyone else. Unfortunately, as innovation and speed became key priorities, some companies lost focus on what is really important for businesses to thrive: the customers themselves.

Thankfully, the industry is shifting back to creating what their customers want and need. Enter design thinking, an ideology that’s been adopted by Google, Apple, Samsung and more.

So why have these tech giants switched gears? And what makes design thinking such an impressive idea that it’s taught in classrooms at Harvard, MIT and Stanford University? Let’s find out what it is, what the stages and principles are, and how design thinking can improve the Agile workflow.

What is design thinking — and how does it fit in Agile?

Design thinking is an iterative process that keeps the user at its heart. It encourages a holistic view, accepts that uncertainty is always present during development, and helps to consider every angle of a problem to come up with creative ideas.

No matter what you’re developing or what issues you’re trying to solve, design thinking asks you to look from an outside perspective. By incorporating empathy into development, you can build products that truly leave the end user happy with their experience. Don’t forget: without customer satisfaction your product will fail.

When presented with the design thinking approach, some could be concerned that output levels will dip. However, by merging Agile methodologies with design thinking, you can still have a consistent output level and increase the chances of the customer’s first impression being a positive one.

While design thinking isn’t exactly an Agile way of working, the two methodologies complement each other well.

Where Agile requires user engagement to gain product feedback, design thinking shows you how to put it into practice: building feedback into iterative improvement.

The 5 stages of design thinking

The design thinking process is commonly split up into five distinct stages. We’ll explore these five stages below, from the perspective of a product that’s already in development.

If you want to read up on the five stages of design thinking in ideation and early concept development, take a look at our guide here.

Step 1: Empathize

Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process like design thinking. It allows the team to put aside their own assumptions and gain valuable insight from real-life end users.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

The first is fairly standard: talk to your target users and learn what they want or need from the product. As design thinking is a problem-solving technique, ask them to recreate the steps they took that triggered the problem in the first place. Users typically have tons of valuable information tucked away — insights they didn’t even realize they had to offer, coming from a perspective you may not have considered.

Another way to build empathy is by immersing yourself in the user experience. Take some time with the product and use it like the end user will use it. Putting yourself in their shoes will help you understand their journeys, their struggles, and their needs. You’ll experience what they feel and how they react, giving you the context you need to fix the issue.

Step 2: Define

In order to fix problems, you first need to identify them. The empathize phase will have given you a wealth of information to work with, but no clear definition of what is working and what needs improvement.

As you look through the research data, you will soon see patterns emerging — indicating the problem areas. Chances are you won’t be able to resolve every issue right away, so identify and prioritize the improvements with highest value to your customer (as is the design thinking way.)

Again, there are many ways to tackle the definition stage. You could try affinity grouping, dot voting or a traditional idea board.

No matter which method you choose, you’ll be able to complete the definition stage quickly and easily with one of EasyRetro’s templates.

Step 3: Ideate

You know the problems that need addressing, now it’s time to figure out how to solve them. It would be great if every problem had a simple solution — but that’s not always (read: never) the case. That means your team will have to come up with a creative fix. And the best way to find that is a good, old fashioned ideation session.

You’ll need to gather as many ideas as possible to start off with. Using a brainstorming session (or whichever ideation method you prefer), you can gain lots of ideas from your team and plenty of insight into the team’s next steps.

Once the ideas have been gathered, evaluate each idea as a team. Decide which ideas to leave behind and which ideas the team will move forward with.

Step 4: Prototype

If you’re following the design thinking method to a T, then the design team will now produce scaled-down versions of the product or feature to assess which best solves the problem. These low-cost prototypes will help you develop multiple solutions at once — rather than trying each option one by one (we’re working agilely here, right?).

The team will experiment with the different ideas that came out of the ideation stage. Each prototype will provide a realistic representation of the solution that allows you to understand what works, and what doesn’t.

The prototype can be improved over time as feedback comes in from the testing stage.

Step 5: Test

This is where everything starts to come together. Prototypes are shared and tested with users outside of the team. Similar to the first stage, you’ll need to gather feedback from your end users. This time, they’ll have the prototype to explore, rather than highlighting issues in your product.

By the end of the final stage, your design team will have impartial feedback from a variety of demographics. Not only will that give you the best solution to the problem you’re facing, but it’ll give you even more valuable information on how people will use your product.

The entire process can be repeated as many times as necessary until the best solution has been found.

Why use design thinking in Agile sprints?

It’s a common misconception that Agile methods sacrifice customer satisfaction, in favor of speed and flexibility. To that end, clients may prefer to use a company that follows Agile in order to fast-track their projects and lose sight of the customer experience. However, the two methodologies can work in harmony — offering high customer satisfaction via a fast, efficient workflow.

By incorporating design thinking early in the process, your team can gather insights from real end users. Those insights will help them to focus on what the customer needs — and that can improve satisfaction, reduce risk, and lower the need for expensive redesigns later in development.

Implement design thinking into your sprint team

Worried about gaining buy-in from the rest of your Agile team?

“Hybrid sprints” are a great way to combat the team’s concerns and integrate design thinking. A hybrid sprint embeds the design thinking steps into a sprint format, offering a familiar structure for your Agile team. They’ll also be able to see how design thinking meaningfully connects user needs to business objectives — and no one can deny the value in that!

The design thinking mindset can be implemented within any stage of your project, too. As your team is already working in a flexible, Agile fashion, the transition shouldn’t be too difficult to manage. Even before shipping new features to market, teams that integrate design thinking and Agile practices can capture valuable, real-time feedback from the end users.

Design thinking and Agile: differing ideologies that thrive in unison

You may have thought that design thinking and agile working were mutually exclusive, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Integrating the two can result in higher customer satisfaction without sacrificing output levels.

Agile and design thinking methods both contain similar principles and frameworks. And both methods have defined sets of roles and activities.

When thoughtfully applied, the two approaches can help teams deliver brilliant solutions that bring value to the end user and deliver real commercial results.

Of course, a flexible team needs tools that adapt as fast as you do. EasyRetro’s user-friendly platform helps you brainstorm, build idea boards, undergo dot voting sessions, and so much more. We have a huge library of templates that can be customized in just a couple of clicks and our blog is full of valuable guides such as this one.

And better still, we get Agile.

We’ve helped teams improve in more than 2,000,000 retrospectives, so why not let us help you too? Come join the EasyRetro family today with our free plan, or unleash your team’s potential with a free trial of our premium packages.

40 Great Teamwork Quotes to Inspire Teams

Thu, 20 May 2021 08:00:00 +0000

In the world of Agile, there are few tasks that can be done alone. We know this, but sometimes a team needs a little boost to help them collaborate when morale starts to dip. Pulling out an inspirational quote during a meeting may seem a little corny, but you would be surprised how often it works.

Here are some of EasyRetro’s favorite teamwork quotes to inspire teams…

Quotes to inspire collaboration

**“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”**
_- Helen Keller_

The greatest quotes are the ones that can be applied to nearly any situation. This gem from Helen Keller – who was herself an inspiration to many – is a fantastic reminder for our work and private lives.

“Individual commitment to a group effort: That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
- Vince Lombardi

Vince Lombardi will forever be remembered as one of the NFL’s greatest coaches and quotes like this are part of the reason why. Lombardi understood the need for team collaboration and never based his strategy around just one player.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”
- H.E. Luccock

A single person may have an idea, but it takes a team to bring that idea to life. Teamwork is about working as one, not for one.

“What separates the good players from a great player is that a great player is willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group.”
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

We could fill this entire list with great quotes from athletes, but this one from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stands out by demonstrating how important it is to be selfless when working as one.

“The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.”
- Margaret Carty

“The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.”

Margaret Carty

“Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”
- Patrick Lencioni

A team without trust isn’t going to work, everyone needs to feel they are an equal participant. That means checking your ego at the door and allowing yourself to be open to criticism.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
- Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Akutagawa is known as the “father of the Japanese short story” and has a wealth of insightful quotes, but this one is perfect for a team who are about to tackle a huge task.

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”
- Reid Hoffman

A cohesive team will always outshine a solo superstar!

“If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?”
- Mathew Woodring Strover

Funny, and hard to argue with.

“You don’t win alone. That’s just how it is.”
- Tobio Kageyama

Blunt, but accurate.

“Surround yourself with a trusted and loyal team. It makes all the difference.”
- Alison Pincus

You don’t need to take on projects alone, get to know your co-workers and embrace their input.

“Strong and cohesive teams thrive when leaders highlight how much they all have in common, not how much he or she stands above from the crowd.”
- Moira Alexander

This one is mainly for the Scrum leaders and project supervisors. Try not to focus on one person too much when offering praise. Everyone is in this together and should be praised equally.

“Collaboration has no hierarchy. The Sun collaborates with soil to bring flowers on the earth.”
- Amit Ray

It’s tough to not have an emotional reaction to this one.

Quotes to inspire communication

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Another poignant thought from Patrick.

“Not finance, not strategy, not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and rare.”
- Patrick Lencioni

This is a great reminder that a company is nothing without its team.

“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”
- Abraham Lincoln

First impressions are sometimes a little off base. Get to know your team before making judgements and watch your productivity soar.

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.”
- Amy Poehler

Saturday Night Live alum and queen of comedy, Amy Poehler is full of gems like this extract from her incredible speech at Harvard. This pull reminds us that working as a team serves as a learning opportunity and a chance to improve.

“Change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus.”
- Simon Mainwaring

Following one person’s lead won’t inspire creativity, working as a group can inspire a new angle that could improve a product in ways no-one expected.

“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is people who trust each other.”
- Simon Sinek

Trust is vital for a team to work together. Team building exercises to build trust will make your team work smart, not hard.

“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.”
- Lewis B. Ergen

There’s no place for someone who thinks of themselves rather than the collective.

“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.”
- Thomas Stallkamp

Disputes are inevitable, but follow the old rules of improv and your team can still help each other out. Avoid “no, but…” and instead say “yes, and…”

“Don’t aspire to be the best on the team. Aspire to be the best for the team.”
- Brian Tracy

Teamwork isn’t about who’s best, it’s about giving your best.

“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”
- Althea Gibson

Think about your greatest accomplishment. Who were the people who helped you get there with support and advice?

“In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.”
- Mark Sanborn Never be afraid to speak out. If you have a suggestion or an objection, it could be the key to success.

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”
- Henry Ford

Management must interact with their employees. If your company is treating staff like robots, innovation is going to be hampered while everyone focuses on conforming.

“The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first.”
- Iyanla Vanzant

Being willing to help others is an essential part of success.

Quotes to inspire motivation

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
- Henry Ford

A new team is a stressful experience and building trust is difficult, but it will always lead to great things if you persevere.

“When you need to innovate, you need collaboration.”
- Marissa Mayer

It’s rare that one person can make a brand-new product work, working as a team is key to success.

“Tough times don’t last. Tough teams do.”
- Robert Schuller

No matter what happens, your team will get you through it.

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
- Booker T. Washington

We all know how great it feels to help someone, so why don’t we do it more often?

“When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.”
- Joe Paterno

Some think they work best alone, but teamwork is the real key to perfection during product development.

“Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.”
- Chris Bradford

Come together when times get tough and your team can conquer anything.

“Be fast, be first, but never be alone. Nothing can replace the value of teamwork.”
- Farshad Asl

Make sure you bring everyone with you on your quest for success.

“We rise by lifting others.”
- Robert Ingersoll

The best way to motivate yourself is to help motivate others. People often give great advice but don’t realize they should follow it too.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
- Walt Disney

Discussion is helpful but finding the best way to tackle a task only happens when you start the practical work together.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
- Will Rogers

A mid-sprint stall can be disastrous, but as long as there’s at least one person who keeps going, a team can’t be stopped.

“I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.”
- Steve Jobs

Just because one idea was rejected doesn’t mean you wasted your time. It’s a journey.

“If you are afraid to take a chance, take one anyway. What you don’t do can create the same regrets as the mistakes you made.”
- Iyanla Vanzant

Mistakes provide learning opportunities, so don’t be afraid to make a leap into faith.

“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”
- Robert Kiyosaki

Winning always feels better when you can share it with your colleagues.

“A team that has no fun does nothing of value, so make your sprints exciting with EasyRetro.”
- Barack Obama

Okay, maybe we stretched the truth a bit on this one! But you can’t deny it makes sense — if you can’t have fun while working as a team, the team doesn’t work. So remember to work hard, but have fun along the way!

Top 5 podcasts for Scrum Masters and Agile coaches

Wed, 19 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Over the past few years, podcasts have become a juggernaut of entertainment, relaxation, and learning. There’s something for everyone, from interviews with musicians to deep dives on popular TV shows.

So it’ll come as no surprise that the world of Agile methodology has embraced the format to give you advice and tricks from the best of the best. What might surprise you is just how much content is out there.

Thanks to rising demand and an increasingly large choice of hosting platforms, it’s never been easier to find a podcast that fits your needs, no matter how specific they may be. There are at least 2 million podcasting shows available right now with over 48 million episodes as of April 2021, so we thought we’d save you time and shine a light on some of the best shows that will help you improve.

Why you should listen to Scrum and Agile podcasts

First, let’s talk about why podcasts are an essential tool for the modern Agile and Scrum professional.

There are endless books, articles and websites that can teach you how to adapt to Agile workflow, but who has the time to sit down and read these days? The world is moving too fast and there’s always new trends to keep up with. Here are 4 reasons you should include podcasts in your professional learning…

They’re free!

There are countless platforms to listen to podcasts through and nearly all of them offer a free service. Some are ad-supported, some may offer premium services that run alongside the podcast, but you’ll be hard pushed to find a great podcast that forces you to pay before listening.

Free, up-to-date advice is just a click away!

A great education tool

Podcasts are a valuable tool for Scrum Masters, Agile coaches, and anyone else who wants to work more efficiently. Education within a professional setting is important, but sometimes anecdotal evidence from those who have been there and done it can be just as valuable.

Training sessions and educational environments often deal with hypothetical situations, so to hear real life accounts from actual situations can be the key to making your management style shine above the rest of the crowd.

Most importantly, podcast hosts are always looking for fresh content. So instead of studying textbooks about how everything was years back, you can stay updated on the latest trends and challenge the traditional thinking you may be stuck in.

Always accessible

Alongside their wide availability — so you can listen on the platform of your choice — podcasts are one of the most accessible mediums in the business right now. The audio-only format means you can listen to a podcast while commuting, at the gym, on a hike in the mountains or literally anywhere else you take your ears with you! You could even learn about improving your skills while planning your next sprint!

Unlike radio, you don’t need to tune into a podcast at a specific time or risk missing out. They’re on demand so you are in control. Missed a bit? Rewind a few seconds to catch up. Need to write something down? Pause at any point to document inspiring moments and useful nuggets.

Engage with like-minded professionals

Most podcasts have built up a great community that runs alongside the show. It might be a simple Slack channel or a full-blown message board bursting with people much like you who are eager to share their experiences and learn new skills.

Having a support network like this, outside of your own office, is invaluable. You’ll find it boosts your confidence, workflow, and leadership skills just by talking to likeminded people who have been brought together by a podcast.

Top 5 podcasts for Scrum Masters and Agile coaches

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Acclaimed engineer and author of #NoEstimates: How to Measure Project Progress Without Estimating, Vasco Duarte, hosts this bite-sized podcast. Episodes range from 10 to 30 minutes and are published multiple times per week, meaning you get the freshest updates without the usual padding that can come with longer episodes.

Vasco interviews Scrum Masters and Agile coaches from around the world and discusses topics including development strategies, team motivation, frameworks, sprint planning and scaling.

EasyRetro’s Top Episode: The Nexus Framework for Scaling up Scrum With Simon Flossmann.

Meta-Cast

Bob Galen (Principle Agile Coach) and Josh Anderson (Senior Director of Product Management) co-host this informative show packed full of real-life experiences from well-versed Agile practitioners. Meta-Cast offers a softer type of learning aimed at helping Agile coaches lead by example and support their teams and businesses.

Bob & Josh are quickly approaching their 200th episode and show no signs of slowing down. New episodes are uploaded every week, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. Make sure to check out their deep dives as they break up difficult issues over multiple weeks and give you the best advice on how to overcome issues.

EasyRetro’s Top Episode: The Hard Stuff, Part 1.

The Agile Pubcast

We all know how much the Brits have missed the pub during the past year, but thankfully you can crack open a can one evening and remind yourself how it felt to have a pint and a chat with The Agile Pubcast.

Geoff Watts (serial author and the UK’s first Certified Scrum Trainer) and Paul Goddard (Certified Scrum Trainer & Coach, founder of Agilify) play joint landlords, tackling a range of topics in their trademark relaxed but highly informative approach. No script, no agenda, just a weekly 30-minute episode packed full of stories and tips to quench your thirst for work/pub banter.

Of course, the pubcast has been downgraded to a regular podcast until the world opens up again, but the guys still manage a cheeky pint when they can, as evidenced by their recent episode featuring Sandy Mamoli, a leading Agile coach from New Zealand.

EasyRetro’s Top Episode: A Prestigious Pint with Sandy Mamoli.

The Daily Standup

No-one can deny that podcasts can sometimes be a long, tedious affair. There are some shows that stretch to 2 to 3 hours, that’s a big chunk of your day and a lot of information to process in one go. Considering we’re talking about Agile workflow; it seems counterintuitive to recommend a show that’s padded with more content than you actually need.

Thankfully, The Daily Standup has decided to do exactly what the name might suggest. Host Lee Henson (President & CEO of Agile Dad) puts together short, daily episodes offering insights from one of the leading authorities in the world of Agile.

EasyRetro’s Top Episode: DON’T do “The Agile”, Do Mini-Waterfalls Instead?

Beyond the To-Do List

Finally, something a little different to cap our list. Beyond the To-Do List from Erik Fisher (Director of Social Media Education at Agorapulse) interviews a veritable who’s who of leaders in the worlds of productivity, development, teamwork, discipline, ownership and even neuroscience!

Not every episode deals with Agile methodology, but there’s still plenty here to draw inspiration from. Most notably, the recent episode featuring Cal Newport (author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Deep Work and A World Without Email).

EasyRetro’s Top Episode: Cal Newport on Information Overload and A World Without Email.

But I’m not a podcast person…

The world of podcasts is daunting. Millions of shows mean you don’t know where to start and a bad podcast could put you off the format for life. However, now that you’ve seen our top picks, maybe it’s time to give them another try? You might find that you haven’t found the right podcast for you, rather than you don’t enjoy the medium at all. There’s a wealth of knowledge to be heard, don’t let the opportunity pass you by!

How to calculate sprint velocity

Wed, 19 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Working with the Agile methodology can boost productivity, improve quality, and get the product in your customer’s hands faster than any other approach. The key to this workflow lies in good planning, execution and constant improvement.

Before diving headfirst into a sprint, it’s helpful to hold realistic expectations for what your team can do in the amount of time available. This will give you a better idea of how many sprints will be required before finalizing the product and gives you a predictable roadmap. Setting expectations in the early stages makes a development cycle easier for everyone involved.

But how do you find out this information in advance? How do you make sure all your resources are being used effectively, with the right team members in the right place? Let’s take a look at how to calculate sprint velocity when working with Agile/Scrum methodology.

How to calculate sprint velocity

Essentially, sprint velocity is the measure of how much you can realistically accomplish within a sprint cycle. To work this out, you need to look at what your team accomplished on previous sprints. Consider how long the sprint lasted and the volume of work completed.

The velocity is worked out by taking the number of units of work completed over several past sprints, and dividing by the number of sprints. The actual unit of measurement can vary depending on how your team works. You could use hours, tasks, or whatever you use to estimate workload.

The average number of tasks or hours logged per sprint is your sprint velocity.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Calculating sprint velocity using tasks as a measure

For this example, let’s look at 3 past sprints.

Sprint 1: The team planned for 8 tasks to be completed, but only completed 5 of those tasks.

Sprint 2: The team planned for 4 new tasks to be completed and finish the 3 left over from sprint 1. 7 tasks were completed during sprint 2.

Sprint 3: The team planned for 6 new tasks to be completed, completing all 6 tasks.

So, over the three sprints, 18 tasks were completed overall (5+7+6), but the workload was inconsistent and the first sprint fell way short of completing all tasks assigned.

In order to make the workload more consistent and easier to manage for the team, we need to try and set realistic targets. This is where sprint velocity comes into play.

Calculating the sprint velocity:

18 tasks completed over 3 sprints would divide into 6 tasks per sprint, making your sprint velocity 6 tasks.

Setting a target of 6 tasks per sprint would mean that the team is much more likely to achieve this target on each sprint. In this example you would avoid possible pressure and de-motivating effects from your team failing to complete 3 out of 8 tasks (an unrealistic expectation when we look at the average Agile velocity).

Calculating sprint velocity using hours as a measure

This is similar to the last example, but we’ll be translating the tasks into hours.

Sprint 1: The team planned for 8 tasks to be completed in 160 hours, but only completed 5 of those tasks in that time.

Sprint 2: The team planned for 4 new tasks to be completed and finish the 3 left over from sprint 1. 7 tasks were completed during sprint 2 in 240 hours.

Sprint 3: The team planned for 6 new tasks to be completed, completing all 6 tasks in 180 hours.

Over the three sprints, the team put in 580 hours, but there was a crunch during sprint two that we need to avoid. So, let’s work out the average hours per sprint and use that as the target going forward.

Calculating the sprint velocity: 580 hours completed over 3 sprints would roughly divide into 190 hours per sprint, making your sprint velocity 190 hours.

This approach allows for more flexibility with complex projects as longer tasks can be accommodated without dragging your average task velocity down. You can also combine these two methods to create targets both tasks and hours completed per sprint — whatever works best for your team.

How to use sprint velocity

Agile velocity calculation should be used during the planning stages. It will help when assigning roles to team members, assist in allocating resources so every task has what it needs and most importantly, it will help make sure your team is working at full efficiency without risking burning your team out.

Looking back at the first example we used, a Scrum Master now knows that the ideal number of tasks per sprint is 6. So, going forward they will plan for 6 tasks per sprint to ensure consistent and effective workflow.

The best way to track your sprint velocity is with visual aids. Even a simple Kanban board – such as this one from EasyRetro – makes it simple for a Scrum Master to track the team’s progress. Once the sprint velocity has been worked out, create cards for each task and within seconds you have a clear view of the upcoming sprint that anyone can understand at a glance.

Advantages of using sprint velocity

For a team already using Agile methodology, incorporating sprint velocity can make a huge difference to how you manage projects and assign staff.

Because sprint velocity uses real data from your previous sprints, rather than just guesswork, you can create highly accurate roadmaps to project delivery. This benefits all stakeholders inside and outside the business.

As you have already seen, it’s not a difficult, time-consuming process either. The easy-to-use formula makes it quicker and easier to estimate timeframes and find efficiencies to shorten them. If you’re relying on external clients, this means less work for your team before securing contracts, meaning more profit at the end of the project. Of course, if your project is an internal effort, working out your sprint velocity is just another way using EasyRetro can save you, your team and your business time and money.

It’s not all about the money though. Setting sprint velocities encourages the team to think forward and offers a target for the team to work towards. Deadlines can be stressful, but carefully planning ahead ensures your team works smart and hard. As sprint velocity becomes a key metric in your process, you’ll find that crunch towards the end of your sprint cycles is reduced, and workflow is more consistent.

Challenges of using sprint velocity

As helpful as sprint velocity can be, it’s not without its drawbacks.

We may be approaching “normal” life again, but remote work is here to stay. Sprint velocity calculations can be less accurate for remote teams. There are so many variables that are introduced with remote working, from distractions at home to internet connectivity issues.These variations need to be accounted for, making your sprint velocity figure more of an approximation than an accurate prediction.

Another issue is that using “tasks” can be too vague a measure of work. Creating an entire UX from scratch could be summed up as a single, big task, or you could break it up into multiple, smaller tasks. However, when calculating sprint velocities, you treat the task as if they were the same size and complexity.

For example, if a task in sprint 1 took 200 hours and another task in sprint 2 only took 20 hours, when it comes to calculating velocity, the result wouldn’t factor in how much time either of those tasks actually took, throwing off your future calculations. Make sure you use the right approach for your team and your workflow.

EasyRetro makes tracking sprint velocity even easier

Now you know the ups and downs of sprint velocity, you’re probably wondering about the best way to implement it in your future projects. Thankfully, EasyRetro has your back.

Our Kanban board templates are perfect for tracking your sprint velocity and we have a huge range of them available to get you started. So, what are you waiting for? The first board is on us!

Digital idea board: how to create and use one with your team

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll already be up to speed with amazing tricks to facilitate brainstorming sessions, get the best out of dot voting and the benefits of affinity grouping.

Today, we’re going to tell you about a tool that draws on all of these concepts to make your ideation sessions engaging, productive and fun.

What is an idea board?

An idea board is exactly what it sounds like, a board for ideas. Think mood boards in interior design or a series of sketches an artist does in preparation for a big piece.

In Agile, idea boards are the sum of your team’s imaginative efforts to achieve a common goal or solve a common problem. They’re also a great way to get the entire team excited about the upcoming sprint. Much more so than a typical verbal ideation session.

As scrum master you’re looking for as many ideas as possible so you can find the best way to approach the next batch of work. An idea board is perfect for encouraging cross-pollination of ideas and engaging your whole team in the decision-making process.

So, what do you need to create an idea board? The good news is that the concept is super flexible and can be presented on any of the following:

Whiteboards
Walls
Glass
Paper
Digital Whiteboards
Device Screens

Don’t forget to consider the new remote working culture when planning your idea boards. Having shared online idea boards ensures easy access for your team, regardless of where they are in the world.

When can you use an idea board?

Idea boards are incredibly adaptive, simple, and fun for the entire team.

They can be used to gather ideas for:

-Problem solving -Marketing concepts -Event ideas (e.g., office parties, workshops, seminars) -Product Names -Improvements for existing products -Visual themes for a product’s UX

You can even use an idea board during sprint retrospectives or post-mortems to improve workflow for future sprints. Basically, if you need ideas from your team, it’s time to break out the idea board!

Idea board sessions are a great way to get the team excited about the weeks ahead. It’s a great team building opportunity as ideas flow. Team members feed off each other to create amazing solutions to potential problems or create a new feature that elevates the project to the next level.

So, not only does an idea board session help with team building, but it also gives the team a greater sense of ownership and pride over the project. Ready to learn how to slot this awesome concept into your Agile workflow?

How to make an idea board

1. Have a specific goal in mind

This might seem obvious, but for an ideation session to work you need something to work towards. If you simply walk into a meeting and ask for ideas, you’re going to be met with blank faces and a lot of questions.

When you schedule a brainstorming session, make sure to include the purpose of the meeting in the memo or on the calendar (ideally both). That way, everyone knows what needs to go on the idea board before they go in.

2. Choose a format

There are a couple of ways to run an idea board session. Both have their benefits, and both have their drawbacks, so this decision will be based on how your team works.

Format 1: Scribe

This format feels more like a traditional brainstorming session. Team members will verbally present their ideas as a designated scribe writes them down and places the idea on the board. The scribe can then use affinity grouping to organize ideas by category, or simply list the ideas as they’re presented.

This format relies on a “one-at-a-time” flow, offering whoever is floating the idea a chance to explain their concept further. However, it does present a barrier for the quieter team members as they have to find a suitable gap in the conversation before speaking up, which may not happen at all.

Format 2: Group

The group format is far more inclusive. Everyone is given their own sticky notes and can add their ideas as and when they please. This encourages more ideas but less discussion during the session and can be quite chaotic if held in the office.

However, it works brilliantly for online idea boards as everyone can add ideas instantly. Less time spent gathering ideas means more time left for the latter (arguably more interesting) stages of the session.

3. Ideation

As the ideation session begins, make sure to refresh the team on what the aim of the meeting is and what ideas you’re looking for. Then — depending on which format you choose — it’s time to get the ideas flowing.

An idea board doesn’t have to only include text: it can include visual cues too! Using sticky notes is a great way of incorporating visuals because your team members can doodle their ideas instead of trying to verbally explain them. Anyone wishing to upload a visual suggestion to an online idea board simply needs to embed or link to the image.

As scrum master, you’ll need to oversee the session to ensure everyone is involved. If any of your team looks like they’re waiting to speak up, but can’t find the right time, create an opportunity for them to speak.

4. Provide positive feedback

During these sessions, the aim is to get as many ideas as possible that can help in the upcoming sprint. Not only does this mean that no idea is to be dismissed, but the facilitator should be offering positive reinforcement to encourage the rest of the team.

Shutting down an idea (even one that doesn’t seem immediately useful) can quickly ruin the creative vibe and guarantees the more introverted team members will stay silent.

Offering positive feedback on each idea makes your team feel valued and creates a much more comfortable vibe for the rest of the project. Sessions like this double as a team building exercise, so try and make your team come out of the meeting with a sense of validation and pride.

5. Prioritize

As the ideation session comes to an end, it’s time to evaluate which ideas to take forward.

Firstly, the group needs to identify ideas that may be unsuitable for the upcoming sprint. That’s not to say these ideas wouldn’t work later on, so maybe create a “save for later” column so you can come back to them during the next sprint.

This will leave you with the ideas that would work. Now you can organize the remaining ideas into affinity groups or organize a dot voting session to choose what to work on.

Digital idea boards in EasyRetro

It probably won’t surprise you to know that EasyRetro is the perfect platform to host your idea boards! By creating your idea board online with EasyRetro, you’ll unlock a range of benefits to make your life easier, especially while working remotely.

Benefits of an online idea board include:

Realtime updates
Easy sharing
Access anywhere
Effortless organization with drag and drop functionality
Cloud storage (no more misplaced USB drives or accidentally shredded documents)
Easy to read (no messy handwriting)

Finally, when it comes to the post-sprint retrospective, you already have a board set up ready with all the ideas from the sprint. All you need to do is discuss the ideas and arrange them into what went well and what didn’t.

Making your retrospectives easier and more fun is what EasyRetro was built for, but that’s not all. By joining us, you gain access to thousands of templates, amazing advice, and plenty of great tools to make sprint management a breeze.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started with EasyRetro today for free!

Dot Voting - A Great Democratic Decision-Making Tool For Your Sprint Retrospectives

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Dot-voting (sometimes referred to as “dotmocracy” — democracy with dots!) is a quick and simple facilitation method that can make decision making a breeze.

It involves – as the name suggests – a voting process for teams, using dot stickers to indicate their preference. It’s mostly used to help prioritize items before starting a sprint but has many other uses throughout sprint cycles.

Dot-voting is a part of the Design Sprint methodology and has been used for decades as a quick and simple method for prioritizing a long list of tasks. After this quick guide, you’ll be ready to implement dot-voting directly into your workflow with EasyRetro.

What is dot voting?

Dot voting is a simple, quick method of identifying which items should be prioritized during the sprint. There’s no need for participants to justify their voting decision, or engage in debate with the group.

By cutting out the back and forth, your team can quickly come to a resolution while making sure that everyone gets an equal say in the prioritizing process. Members who normally keep a low profile are encouraged to contribute to the same level as everyone else. This makes dot-voting one of the most inclusive team voting models.

There are of course some downsides to dot-voting. There are situations that can hinder progress if the dot-vote isn’t implemented correctly.

Split voting

The most obvious downfall is when votes fall equally over 2 or more options, leaving a tie. It’s unlikely, but for dot-votes to be effective you need a fallback, just in case.

One idea would be to assign a tiebreaker. An objective person, possibly from outside the team who can offer final say on which option “wins”. However, this can introduce a bias into the voting process which is what we’re trying to avoid.

Another solution is to introduce “ranked voting”. Here, each team member will receive multiple dots and choose multiple items. Dots will be assigned a different number, indicating the strength of each individual’s preference. So, dot 1 would be their first choice, dot 2 would be their second choice and so on.

Once the results are counted and a tie is identified, the team leader can assess which item has the most number 1 dots, declaring that item the overall winner.

Persuaded voting

If senior team members elect to vote first, junior members may feel inclined to vote alongside them. People may also look towards what everyone else is voting on and side with them to avoid arguments. Of course, the whole purpose of dot-voting is to eliminate bias and arguments, so if voters are just following the crowd it defeats the purpose.

There are a few ways we can address this.

Firstly, dot-voting should be a silent vote process. Opening the vote up to discussion draws out the process and introduces bias. Keep discussion to a minimum by stating that this is a vote based purely on individual preference.

Next up, consider introducing a voting order. Avoid senior team members voting early in the process. This makes sure the junior staff get a fair say and don’t feel pressured to do what their superior is doing.

Thirdly, you could create a system to ensure accountability. Voters might record their votes on paper – making sure to keep their choices confidential – before placing their dots. Voters don’t need to do anything with the paper, and this isn’t about offering proof of their intentions, it simply helps the voters stick with their original instincts rather than letting other votes influence their decision.

Of course, you can solve all of these problems in one go by using software like EasyRetro to help anonymize the voting process, hiding each respondents answers from the rest until all the votes are in.

Options with varying complexity

Dot-voting works best when used to decide between options of similar complexity. Presenting options with varying difficulty will likely confuse the voters, or result in the easier options being voted higher than more complex work, even if that work would be a more important piece of the project.

Thankfully, this is easy enough to avoid. Simply arrange voting boards in a way that groups tasks of similar difficulty together, perhaps allowing separate votes on the low complexity and high complexity groups.

How it works

1. Gather Materials

Your materials will depend on where the vote is being held. Most commonly, dot voting is used to vote on options represented on sticky notes (usually hung on a wall or whiteboard) or as a written list on a large, easel-sized pad of paper. For voting, dot stickers (hence the name) are commonly used due to their flexibility. If the budget is a little tighter, or the vote is short notice, votes can be made using a marker to indicate the voters choice.

With remote working becoming the norm over the past year, the traditional dot vote could be a little more difficult to organize. Thankfully, the core process remains the same.

Using a platform like EasyRetro, you can easily create voting boards using cards in place of sticky notes and use the built-in voting system to register everyone’s votes. The team leader can assign each member with a specific number of votes, ensuring that everyone gets fair representation.

2. Generate ideas

Obviously, you need things to vote on. This is a simple step while following an agile workflow. Your options are simply tasks that you need to complete during the upcoming sprint.

3. Organize the options into groups

This step ties into solving the varying complexity problem. Tasks should be arranged into boards and matched with other tasks of similar complexity or type.

For example, if some tasks are design based and others are mainly coding, it would be sensible to separate those into their own categories. If left in the same column, the team may prioritize something more essential due to their preference of say, design over coding.

The same can be said for tasks of varying difficulty. No-one wants to choose the most difficult task in the list, but every task will need to be completed eventually. If everyone chooses the simplest task in the column every time, the team will be stung with extra crunch towards the end of development.

Top tip: Steps 2 and 3 are quickly and easily completed with EasyRetro!

4. Specify voting constraints

Before jumping straight in with the voting, make sure your team knows the value of this exercise. Let them know why they are voting and how their votes will affect the upcoming sprint.

Make sure your team knows how many votes they will have per board (EasyRetro will automatically inform voters on how many votes are left during the voting process) and make sure to explain how their votes are weighted if using a ranked vote system. Dots with a “3” on them represent their third choice, dots marked “2” are their second choice and dots marked “1” are their primary choice.

Further constraints can be introduced if needed to reflect the views of certain departments, though it’s best to try and keep a dot-vote as simple as possible.

5. Vote

The team places their dots on their chosen options in whichever order has been decided. As mentioned earlier, the most effective dot-votes are silent to avoid influencing other voters. The objective of this vote is to get unbiased opinions from your entire team and avoid the bandwagon effect.

6. Outcome

Once the vote is completed, the team can get together and review the outcome. The dots will create a heat map showing which tasks the team feels should be given priority. IF you want to open up the floor to discussion, now is the time to do it, but remember there’s no need to include discussion for dot-voting to be effective. Once this step is done, you can start planning the upcoming sprint based on what you’ve learned from the dot-vote.

When you should use dot voting

Decision making can be a painfully drawn-out process, especially at the end of a brainstorming session. Factor in mixed opinions, stakeholder priorities and the HIPPO (highest-paid person’s opinion) effect, and reaching a democratic decision becomes extremely difficult.

Dot votes aren’t useful in every situation, but if you need to focus discussion on a subset of tasks within a large work pool, it can certainly speed things up. It’s also incredibly helpful for ensuring the entire team is involved in the decision-making process rather than just a select few who have the confidence to speak up.

Try using dot-voting to shape your next sprint, review ux design feedback or decide future ux design changes.

Why is dot voting essential for agile teams?

At the end of a brainstorming session, the team is understandably worn out, so jumping straight into another huge discussion is the last thing anyone wants to do. Dot-voting sits right in the sweet spot of winding down and productivity.

It’s less stressful and intensive than ranking every option, as team members are not required to give reasonings behind their voting intention. It also encourages the whole team to participate, as the quieter team members don’t have to worry about speaking up or interrupting anyone.

Try for yourself!

Now you know everything there is to know about dot-voting, it’s time to put it into practice!

Using EasyRetro to create your boards makes the dot voting process even easier thanks to the easy-to-use interface and intuitive features. Creating voting boards is a breeze and the built-in voting system will save you money on markers and dot stickers!

EasyRetro is a great tool for fun retrospectives, but it’s also so much more. Come see how we can make your agile workflow even simpler with a FREE 7-day trial.

Free template for working from home bingo

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Mid-sprint lulls are always a tough thing to push through. Now the majority of us are working from home, it’s even tougher.

While you may enjoy the comfort of your own home, you can’t deny that having colleagues around you makes the days easier, especially when things get tough! So, why not try and get that same feeling of camaraderie back with some online meeting bingo?

There are few activities that bring people together in the same way bingo does. For decades it has brought people together and remains one of the most popular games in the world. The great thing about the game is how versatile it is— you can adapt it to fit nearly any situation! That’s why it’s perfect to add some fun to your video calls.

Team building is tough in these times, especially when the usual methods are impractical or closed for the foreseeable future. That doesn’t mean we can’t keep work fun via video calls!

Remote work bingo is a great way of getting your team engaged without turning into a distraction. It’s also an easy way to get new team members into the mix even while you’re not in the office.

Not enough teams take part in WFH bingo, perhaps because the most time-consuming part is creating the workplace bingo board itself. Luckily for you though, we’ve taken care of that already!

Step 1: Download the template

The first step to getting ready for online workplace bingo is simple! Download your template bingo cards here!

Click to download

Step 2: Give all players their own bingo card

Hand out different bingo cards to everyone, either send them via email or direct message. It’s best if everyone can print out their card but if that’s not possible, they can use a PDF editor or the image editor on their mobile device to blank out squares.

Step 3: Decide how long you’re going to play for

There’s a very small chance you might fill a card on a single call, but it’s more likely to take several calls. Try spacing the game out over a couple of days or even a week to give everyone a fair chance.

Step 4: Let’s play!

While the game is going on, players will listen out on all team calls for the phrases on their card and silently cross them off the board as they come up.

The first player to get a line (all phrases along a row on their card) and the first player to get “BINGO!” (all phrases on their card) are the winners!

Step 5: Prizes!

No game is complete without prizes and even when working remotely, bingo should be no different!

Prizes can be absolutely anything, digital gift cards, a box of chocolates, an early finish on a Friday, it really doesn’t matter. The main thing is to bring some life to the occasionally difficult work from home situation and get the team engaged again.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to keep your team engaged. With EasyRetro, you can make every sprint special with fun retrospectives. Get started now with a free retrospective board.

How to Facilitate Meetings Effectively

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Hosting an engaging meeting is challenging regardless of whether it’s face-to-face or online. However, expecting employees to be fully immersed in the meeting while in the comfort of their own home and surrounded by possible distractions is a big ask (let’s face it, it’s hard enough in a regular workplace setting).

The Threat of Ineffective Meetings

Despite best efforts to improve the optics of the meeting with new terminology, workers are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the concept. Doodle’s 2019 study found that many workers believe meetings take away valuable time from their work without the payoff of being at all useful.

Of course, it’s not just individual workers and the team that suffer from bad meeting management. Doodle’s report estimated that poorly organized meetings could cost businesses $399 billion in the U.S alone. Knowing how to facilitate a meeting effectively is not only vital for your staff, it could mean the difference between a bad quarter and a great one for smaller businesses.

Does this spell the end for the traditional meeting? No, but as the workplace continues to adapt to new challenges, it’s time to reassess the best practices to facilitate a meeting.

The Key to Effective Meeting Facilitation

The key to effective meeting facilitation is you — the meeting facilitator.

In this role, it’s your responsibility to ensure the meeting flows as planned and engages everyone equally. You are effectively a sherpa, guiding your team to a defined outcome, one in which everyone is invested and able to contribute.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure how to tackle the role, just follow these best practices to facilitate a meeting and watch as your team’s engagement and productivity skyrocket.

Assign meeting roles

Effective meetings need structure and participation, and assigning specific roles to individuals is one of the best techniques to facilitate a meeting. Not only does this spread your workload out, it keeps everyone engaged as you guide them through the discussion.

Co-founder and CEO of Lucid Meetings J. Elise Keith laid out some great ideas for meeting roles to help ease the load and improve productivity:

Timekeeper - Ensure all time limits for specific topics are adhered to.
Vibe Watcher - Responsible for keeping the topic of conversation on track, ensuring everyone has a voice and important topics aren’t being avoided.
Decision Maker - The person in charge of setting a plan in stone.
Promise Tracker - Ensure that every promise is logged as an actionable item.
Voice of Custome - How do these decisions affect the customer? Is what’s being suggested beneficial to clients? This person adds vital input from outside the team.
Enforcer - Meetings cannot run effectively if there are no rules in place, this person needs to put their foot down to avoid teams slipping back into bad habits.

Having set roles like this takes a huge load of you as facilitator while also increasing team engagement and morale, a classic win-win situation.

To make this even more effective, try mixing up the roles between meetings to keep things fresh and interesting for your team.

This seems like a given, yet you would be surprised how many people go into a meeting with little or no clue what is expected of them, or what outcome they are working towards.

By offering your team a pre-planned meeting agenda, you sidestep both of these potential problems. It gives a chance for the team to come up with fresh ideas and raise any questions ahead of time, ensuring the actual meeting time is used as efficiently as possible.

In some situations, say in a last-minute meeting where you can’t send an agenda out in advance, take time at the beginning to outline the expectations and running order of your meeting. Without a clear plan before diving into the meeting itself, the team will spend more time trying to understand the meeting’s purpose and not collaborating on achieving the outcomes.

Read our blog, ‘5 Steps of a retrospective meeting agenda’ to hone your skills.

Establish clear outcomes

Again, a very simple idea that often gets ignored. There’s no point in having a meeting without a clear objective in mind. This is a huge factor in the gloomy opinion most employees hold about meetings. When setting the agenda, ensure that you outline exactly what you expect from the process and what is required of your team to make that happen.

Not having a clear objective means that everyone will leave your meeting unsure whether or not it was time well spent. After going through this process a few times, enthusiasm for meetings, and perhaps work in general, will start to decline.

Ask open questions

Just like there is no “I” in “team”, there should be no room for closed questions in a meeting. Why?

They simply don’t work when trying to curate conversation and contribution. Compare the following questions for example:

“Do you agree?” vs “What do you think?”
“Can you achieve X?” vs “What challenges do you foresee in achieving X?”
“Do you need any help?” vs “How can the rest of us help you?”

In these examples, the first question is a closed (yes or no) question. The second is an open question. Which one do you think will encourage idea sharing and collaboration more?

Open questions engage people on a higher level and help maintain a dialogue throughout.

Practice active listening

Despite an increasingly widespread focus on employee engagement, many organizations simply do not listen to their employees enough. The meeting environment can behave like a microcosm of the organization, so practicing active listening here will help employees to feel heard across the rest of the business too.

And the data shows that when employees feel heard, they are more likely to contribute ideas and do their best work — 460% more likely in fact.

Active listening really matters in remote meetings, and making sure everyone feels heard is one of the best facilitation tips for online meetings, if not the best and most important one.

Be impartial

As the facilitator, it’s your job to guide the group through the meeting in order to achieve the best possible outcome. Now, the best possible outcome may not reflect what you would have done, but you’re not there to overrule anyone.

You have to be willing to put aside your role as leader in order for the team to thrive and if that’s not possible, consider appointing someone else who is able to stay impartial throughout the process.

Remember, your role as facilitator is exactly what the title dictates. You are there to get the best out of your team, not beat them into submission.

Check in regularly

We’ve all been in a meeting with a small group of loud, confident speakers that monopolize the conversation and we all know the effect that has on enthusiasm. Not only are potentially great ideas left by the wayside, the morale of more introverted members takes a huge hit.

This is an easy problem to combat, especially if you have assigned someone to be “Vibe Watcher”. If they feel a certain team member has been quiet, simply check in with them. You can quickly improve team morale by letting members air their thoughts.

And who knows, maybe the quiet ones may have just the answer you are looking for…

Establish rules

While setting “rules” may seem a little extreme, it’s vital that you establish the correct etiquette for your meetings. For example; “phones must be switched off before the meeting begins”, “allow others to finish talking before interjecting”. This can even be included on the advance agenda, reinforcing expectations for your team early on.

Without rules in place, meetings can quickly veer off topic. These tangents can cost you precious time and shatter progress towards achieving positive outcomes.

Use breaks and movement to maintain energy levels

This is one of the most important tools to utilize, especially in long meetings. As humans, we can only concentrate for so long before our ability to take in new information or contribute in any meaningful way starts to decline.

Don’t be afraid to let your team go for a quick coffee break if you sense a lull in the group’s mood. It can be much more productive to interrupt proceedings and freshen up the mind rather than committing to crunching it out.

Close the meeting properly

A solid recap can mean the difference between your participants leaving empowered or befuddled. Make sure to spend time going through notes before dismissing the team. This is where your Promise Tracker can come into play, as they can offer a summary of all the actionable tasks identified in the meeting.

Going through the list offers another opportunity for your team to input ideas they may not have formulated during the original discussion, as well as any concerns. It also allows the team to look objectively at the task list ,identify any conflicts that could arise and recognize actions that they and the rest of the team are taking away.

Closing up the meeting correctly will ensure everyone is on the same page going forward, so be sure not to rush things even if your team is anxious to get back to work.

Taking Effective Meeting Facilitation One Step Further

Now you know the key steps for effective meeting facilitation, it’s time to put everything you’ve learned into practice. With EasyRetro, you can take these skills and apply them to your sprint retrospectives with ease!

The EasyRetro meeting tool makes teamwork fun again with its range of unique themes that — alongside these meeting facilitation tips — will fully engage your team resulting in the best outcomes.

See how our fun, simple, and intuitive tool will revolutionize your collaboration process today, with a 7-day free trial.

Daily Standup Meeting: the Ultimate Guide (Standup Agenda, Best Practices, Standup Questions and More)

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 12:00:00 +0000

In the world of Agile, the daily standup meeting is an untouchable necessity. The focal point around which the whole team orbits, it is hard to overstate how useful these events are for keeping everyone focused, productive, and pulling in the same direction.

What is a standup meeting exactly?

Very simply, a daily standup meeting is a quick team get-together done while standing. The meeting’s main aim is to review ongoing work and look at tasks that are about to start or have just been completed. Keeping the team literally on their feet helps to focus minds and keep these meetings short and sweet. It also works to counter the more traditional thinking that comes from boardroom or round-table meetings.

Standup meetings are great for teams looking to generate fresh concepts and make ideation sessions more effective and productive. The daily nature of these standups creates a rhythm that’s really important for Agile iterations — guaranteeing that projects constantly move forward and never grind to a halt.

Standup meetings are, on the face of it, pretty simple affairs. They are easy to implement, once you know how. But as with all Agile principles they do require a little practice and fine-tuning, to reap the best rewards.

This guide will take a deep dive into the world of daily standup meetings. We’ll explore what they are for, how to get the most out of them, and what can go wrong — plus everything else you might need to know to make them succeed.

So with that in mind, let’s get started!

What is the purpose of a standup meeting?

Back in the 60s, managers and executives spent around 10 hours a week in meetings. Over the last 60 years meetings have shifted, grown, and become more frequent. Today, we can spend anywhere from 35% to 50% of our working week meeting with colleagues.

So enter the daily standup. When standups first came on the scene, they were designed to cut down on the amount of time spent (wasted?) in meetings, and make teams more productive. Committing to a time-saving meeting once every day might seem counterintuitive at first. But the standup’s bitesize, straight-to-the-point agenda is more efficient versus other meeting formats. It’s arguably also more inspiring than longer meetings held less regularly, too.

What do you do in a standup meeting?

The point of a daily standup is to go over upcoming, ongoing, and completed tasks. They are a great way to ensure that everyone on the team:

Is aware of what their teammates are doing
Understands what the team is trying to achieve on the whole
And has an opportunity to share information, tips, or knowledge that might be helpful.

These short, sharp meetings help track workflow and stay on top of the status of the overall project. They ensure that all the different moving parts of a team and project fit together properly, and help avoid overlap or missed opportunities. Most importantly, they encourage team members to think in alternative, more agile ways. The result? Exciting, beyond-the-comfort-zone ideas that may not have arisen in the boardroom.

Why not just use an instant messenger?

In today’s digitally-driven world — where software has made connecting teams easier than ever — it’s legitimate to wonder why face-to-face standups are any better than a Slack chat, for example.

Bringing everyone together, in the same room, remains an incredibly important part of forming and maintaining a good working relationship within a team. Studies show that people build stronger relationships when they meet face-to-face. And standups help everyone come together and feel like a team — even if they work separately.

Working in a fully remote or work-from-home organization? No stress. Standups are within your reach too! We’ll outline the tools you need towards the end of this guide.

What are the 3 daily standup questions?

Anyone who has taken part in a daily standup meeting knows that there’s a fairly standard, daily standup meeting format. This revolves around three key questions which provide the focus for the meeting:

What did you do yesterday?
What will you do today?
Anything blocking your progress?

The fundamental elements of these questions are pretty simple — as is often the way in Agile. The three questions are designed to check in on project progress and make sure everyone’s working as productively and effectively as possible. They double-check that everyone’s clear on what’s already been done, what needs to be completed, and what help members of the team might need from each other.

That said, there’s a bunch more benefits of the three questions — benefits that Agile teams often miss.

‘What did you do yesterday?’ can do far more than just update the team on an individual’s progress. It can highlight areas and working practices that aren’t as efficient as possible or that could benefit from additional resources. Together this shows where an organization isn’t working as effectively as it could be.

This first standup meeting question can help teams complete projects more quickly, too. Why? Because team members who finish similar tasks faster than their colleagues can share insights and advice on how they are working.

It might also shine a light on poor planning, too. Team members who don’t have enough to do — or who weren’t able to complete tasks for some reason or other — will share their concerns, triggering the team to reorganize and recalibrate to set things straight.

‘What will you do today?’ also brings far more to the table than just a rundown of team tasks for the coming day. You can examine upcoming tasks — eliminating any that don’t actively contribute towards the team’s goal and project success.

You can crowdsource solutions to particular problems, sharing knowledge and information to make the whole team function better. Finally, you can address unexpected or unforeseen planning or project management issues or glitches. Maybe two colleagues are accidentally working on the same task, a critical task has gone unassigned, or some crucial dependencies need re-evaluation.

The final question, ‘Anything blocking your progress?’ is probably the simplest and most straightforward. It gives the team a forum to air and address pain points and project blockers; working collectively how best iron them out.

10 standup meeting best practices

The three-question standup meeting format gives structure to daily standups. But there’s still scope for these meetings to go off track and lose their effectiveness. We’re all only human!

Below are some scrum standup meeting best practices. These will help you run a daily standup the right way — so they never become an everyday nuisance, to be tolerated within your teams.

1. Keep things uncomfortable

Daily standup meetings are called that for a reason — standing up helps keep everyone focused on the task at hand and prevents anyone from getting too relaxed or off topic. It might seem a little authoritarian, but a little discomfort means that meetings are more likely to be brief, and less likely to drift off-track.

2. Keep them brief

Daily standup meetings are meant to be short and to-the-point. They are not meant to be long, rambling get-togethers, but rather a quick, effective way to bring the team together and make sure that everyone’s on the same page. Most daily standups run for about fifteen minutes. Long enough for everyone to provide an update and report any difficulties they are facing, but not too long to eat into your day. Longer meetings often indicate a breakdown in team communication or bigger issues to be resolved.

3. Focus on the three questions

You should obviously feel free to cover everything that needs to be dealt with. But staying focused on the three-question format helps make sure the meeting’s main goals are achieved.

Moving too far away from these three topics tends to lead to lengthy, irrelevant digressions, and disturbs the flow of the meeting. When in doubt, write each question on a Post-It or piece of paper and place it in the center of your teams. Visual reminders work well to steer everyone back to the agenda!

4. Don’t forget about remote team members

Remote colleagues can still add value to your standup — and it is important not to exclude them. A simple video call on one person’s laptop brings remote workers into the loop. And if you’re all working remotely, the daily standup format is just as easily achieved via Zoom or Microsoft Teams as it is in an office kitchen!

5. Follow a routine

Whenever possible, hold your daily standup meetings at the same place and the same time every day. This helps form a habit and rhythm in your team’s weekly workflow.

Try not to skip days or miss meetings — even if you’ve not got much to discuss. Canceling standups will throw off the routine and disrupt the scrum process. Consistency is a hugely important aspect of Agile methodologies, making this standup best practice tip one of the most essential!

6. Take advantage of digital tools

Standup meetings are best held face-to-face, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t leverage digital tools to help make them even more effective. Meeting software and apps are a great way to ensure that the learnings and outcomes aren’t lost, that things are followed up as needed, and that remote team members are included as well.

There are a few particularly brilliant tools, which we’ll recommend a little later in this guide.

7. Stick to an agenda

A standup meeting can rip up the traditional round-table rulebook, true. But having an agenda for your standup is still an extremely useful way of staying on track and covering everything you need to cover.

A daily standup meeting agenda lets you create a bespoke meeting style that fits your team’s goals. It helps to ensure that all the personalities in the team are catered for, and makes certain that everything that needs to be addressed during the meeting gets its air time.

8. Be strict with off-topic updates

The facilitator has a really important role to play during daily standup meetings, and it is their responsibility to ensure that the meeting doesn’t veer off course.

Remember: standups should be quick conversations, not in-depth analyses. And the facilitator — or Scrum Master — may need to fight to keep things focused. Identify issues for sure, but work out who is best to handle them, then make that a follow-up task and move on.

9. Make sure everyone has speaking time

Plenty of standups use speaking chips or tokens, as well as allotted time segments, to give everyone a chance to contribute. Standups are meant to be communal forums for discussion, not managerial download sessions. You need to be proactive — encouraging the more dominant members of the group to wait their turn, so the quieter members of the team can have their say.

10. Follow up!

It is pretty basic: your daily standup meetings are a waste of time if no-one follows up. The meetings themselves don’t get anything done. You need to be rigorous in ensuring that everyone with an action or task from each day’s meeting works towards solving or completing it in the near future.

Common pitfalls of a standup meeting

While it’s important to know your standup best practices, you also need to know what inefficient standup meetings look like too. Learning what doesn’t work — the common standup errors and pitfalls — is your first step to avoiding them.

Plenty of teams, even those who are well versed in Agile, still don’t think that daily standup meetings are time well spent. This is usually because they aren’t run properly, and as a result no-one feels the benefits.

Sounds familiar in your organization? Maybe one of the following issues is to blame.

Nothing ruins a standup faster than getting drawn off topic.

Perhaps you spend time discussing something beyond the scope of your project, or that little bearing on your team’s to-do list. Either way, these diversions can have a serious impact on the effectiveness of your meeting.

Issues that are only of relevance to one or two people need to be dealt with outside the standup, so bear that in mind.

Long meetings

Overly long standups leave people tired, bored, and uninspired. A lengthy meeting will just make it that much harder to achieve any actions assigned — meaning that most of the time spent has been a waste.

If the meeting involves too many people, or the facilitator is not in control, standups can quickly digress. So keep things moving along at all times.

Problem-solving during the meeting

Daily standup meetings are for updates and identifying issues — not for addressing them. Don’t be tempted to troubleshoot during the meeting, as this can lead to pitfalls 1 and 2 above!

Instead, assign problem-solving actions to be carried out after the meeting adjourns. That safeguards the effectiveness and engagement of your daily standup.

Poor scheduling

Making sure your daily scrum meeting works for all the personalities in your team can be tricky, but it’s important to get right. You need to make sure the daily standup is convenient for everyone, otherwise it will always be seen as an annoyance — not an essential.

Failure to listen

We’ve all lost concentration in a meeting before; tuning out what’s being said. We’ve also all spent more time thinking about what we’re going to say, rather than listening to our colleagues.

While they’re understandable, these behaviors should be avoided too. It’s important that the meeting fulfills its basic function of sharing information, so a facilitator should be doing everything they can to keep everyone actively engaged.

Lack of routine

A set routine for your standup meetings not only embeds it in the team’s working process, it also facilitates attendance. If your standups constantly change time or venue, people may end up missing or skipping them, reducing their effectiveness.

Not admitting failure/blockers

When was the last time you admitted to a failure or imperfection? It doesn’t come easily, does it? But leveraging the skills of the entire team to deal with issues is one of the main advantages of daily standups. And it’s vital that people don’t feel embarrassed or uncomfortable when raising their blockers.

3 must-have apps for successful standups

As we mentioned earlier, digital tools can have a huge impact on your daily standup meetings. Using the right app or software can make a real difference to how well your daily standups run, how successful their outcomes are, and how useful they are to all attendees.

In our opinion there are three must-have apps for successful, effective standups. We’ve outlined how they help teams with their daily standups below:

Friday

Friday is designed to automate your regular standup meetings. Users can pre-populate the app with relevant information, and then prompt all team members with questions before the meeting begins.

As well as circulating questions and agendas, the Friday workflow allows remote workers to contribute to the meeting by email or via a Slack integration, too.

Standuply

Standuply operates as an automated digital assistant for your daily standup meetings.

This standup bot uses predefined templates to prompt and run asynchronous or scheduled meetings, as well as attaching reports and follow-up actions. The meetings can be conducted via text, voice, or video as well — keeping off-site teammates in the loop.

Standuply also provides access to a library of mentoring resources, where agile teams can request support or advice from a specific mentor.

Geekbot

Geekbot offers something a little different — perfect for fully remote teams or groups who want to hold standup meetings on the fly.

Hosted entirely in Slack, Geekbot prompts teammates to answer the three standup questions via instant message. The bot can nudge colleagues to respond, and provides an archive of answers and responses — making it easy for Scrum Masters to review previous meetings, actions, and outcomes. Geekbot also provides an exceptional amount of data analysis, so meetings can be continually tweaked, improved, and optimized.

The daily standup meeting is an important aspect of any agile team’s work. It is a simple process, but needs work and constant management to be most effective.

Done right, a daily standup can have a hugely positive impact on your team’s productivity, and drive success in every project you undertake. So why not give it a go — one day at a time?

Top 10 scrum tools to improve your team work

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Scrum is one of the most popular methodologies in product development — and with good reason.

Jira
Monday.com
ClickUp
ProjectManager
Targetprocess
Geekbot
Wrike
Smartsheet
nTask
EasyRetro

Scrum is an agile approach; shaped by a simple set of rules and tools that efficiently, and incrementally, improve how your team works together. One of the greatest advantages of Scrum is its ability to react to sudden change — it’s a highly adaptable framework that’s perfect for product development briefs. Because we’ve all been on a project that’s changed direction at the drop of a hat!

While the Scrum framework is mainly used for software development, companies are quickly realizing the benefits of implementing Scrum within other departments too. And to satisfy these many applications, many new agile Scrum tools have hit the market.

Plenty of project management tools are quick to brag about support for Scrum frameworks, but not all offer the Scrum tools your team really needs. That’s why we’ve compiled the best Scrum tools we have found, comparing each in a comprehensive breakdown below…

Best Scrum tools:

1. Jira

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 70 per month

Originally designed as a bug and issue tracker, Jira has transformed itself into one of the best work management tools around.

Jira features a highly flexible layout to fit any kind of agile workflow and a number of report styles to help push data-driven retrospective. This allows product managers an impartial view on what’s working and what needs to be improved.

Jira’s Scrum board offers some great tools to help make planning Sprints a breeze, with real-time adjustments and drag and drop functionality for quick re-prioritization.

Our favorite feature in Jira

Jira includes a number of agile reports specifically for Scrum teams. Burndown and velocity charts offer an insight into how teams are progressing and highlight any issues that can affect chances of achieving the sprint target.

No wonder then that Jira’s tagline is: “The #1 software development tool used by agile teams”.

2. Monday.com

Price model: 14-day free trial
Starting price: $ 24 per month

Monday.com is a simple tool, offering a level of accessibility not often seen with other Scrum tools.

It’s packed with excellent features to help with time management and automations to fix your focus on what’s important. Despite its simplistic design, Monday.com doesn’t pull any punches, boasting a highly flexible platform, excellent data collection, easy project tracking and simple file sharing.

Visualizing and creating roadmaps is simple and can be done quickly on the dashboard. And sharing between team members is just a quick click away.

Our favorite feature in Monday.com

Monday.com puts an emphasis on its user experience, with a clean interface and 24/7 customer support via email or phone. Monday.com is also one of the better platforms when it comes to integrations, offering a huge range of connectivity with Slack, Google Drive, GitHub and many more.

We believe Monday.com when they say: “One platform, better teamwork”.

3. ClickUp

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 5 per user, per month

ClickUp bills itself as “the future of work” and has an impressive group of companies on its user-list, including Nike, Uber and Google. The platform incorporates everything you could ever need for product development, from easy spreadsheet editing to CRM, and includes a selection of templates to help speed up the planning process.

ClickUp utilizes “Spaces”, which are completely customizable for use in any situation. Sprints are made simple with easy building and automation, while tracking progress is even easier with breakouts, subtasks and easy sorting options. ClickUp also has a number of ways to visualize Sprint tracking with burnups, burndowns and velocity charts, allowing Scrum Masters to monitor the team’s pace at a glance.

Our favorite feature in ClickUp

ClickUp offers a completely free plan, perfect for individuals or SME who are just starting to utilize Scrum tools. It has a brilliant import tool that can bring over data and workflows from Trello, Airtable, Jira and so many more.

ClickUp’s slogan is: “One app to replace them all”.

4. ProjectManager

Price model: 30-day free trial
Starting price: $ 15 per user, per month

ProjectManager is one of the most comprehensive product management tools we’ve seen and has been used by NASA, Bank of America, Volvo and many other household names. Its cloud-based software offers quick access across a range of devices without downloading and installing software, allowing for simple collaboration across the whole team.

While ProjectManager isn’t 100% geared towards Scrum workflows, it has plenty of features that will prove useful to any Scrum team. The Kanban boards with real-time dashboards are particularly useful, enabling easy workflow visualization and automated notifications for time-management.

Our favorite feature in ProjectManager

ProjectManager’s reporting functionality is one of the best on the market, offering real-time dashboards, one-click report creation and simple sharing. The report builder allows a Scrum Master to filter reports and show specific insights or data, to help plan Sprints better going forward.

And with the tagline, “Project management software built for ambitious teams” maybe this one’s for you?

5. Targetprocess

Price model: Free trial available
Starting price: Pricing on request

Targetprocess has been built to support a number of agile frameworks and is the perfect choice for a company with a more varied workload looking to condense their software down to one application.

As you might expect, Targetprocess supports all the standard Scrum practices — from Sprint planning to burndown charts. The Sprint Cadence feature allows Scrum Masters to set up Sprints in advance and compare one team’s progress to another. Backlog management is made simple with color-coded highlights and complies Epics, Features, Bugs and User Stories into one organized list.

Reports and retrospectives are simple to navigate, with the ability to set WIP limits which automatically flags a process that is at or above the limit.

Our favorite feature in Targetprocess

Targetprocess puts emphasis on remote working, with plenty of simple solutions to issues that would normally crop up while out of the office (something we cover in more detail here). One great example is the built in Planning Poker feature which allows a distanced team to put the fun back into the planning process.

Targetprocess call themselves “the revolution of workflow boards”.

6. Geekbot

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 2.50 per user, per month

Geekbot is slightly different to other agile Scrum tools on this list. Rather than helping your team be more organized, it offers a simpler way of hosting Stand Ups, with an emphasis on efficiency and time management.

Geekbot integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams to facilitate meetings and daily reports without pulling team members away from the tasks that are most important. It works by direct messaging an individual and asks them what they did yesterday, what the plan is for today and if anything is hindering progression.

Not only does Geekbot offer fully automated evaluation of team progress across borders and time zones, its clever AI can track team happiness and productivity levels and give Scrum Masters the raw data on how the team can improve.

Our favorite feature in Geekbot

Geekbot offers something that no other application on this list has, fully automated reports and retrospectives that can easily show the areas where things are going well and what needs to be improved. It’s teamwork with no time wasted!

Quite simply, Geekbot’s slogan is: “The Slack Standup Bot - Asynchronous Standup Meetings”.

7. Wrike

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 9.80 per user, per month

Wrike is a simple to use application that boasts 20,000+ happy customers including Airbnb, Siemens, Dell and many more. It’s a comprehensive team-focused tool that’s built to suit any team size with a range of price plans to fit any budget.

Wrike hosts all the key features you would expect from product management software, with task lists, real-time collaboration, one-click Gantt charts and a number of pre-built Agile templates. Users can quickly switch between timesheets, data boards, Kanban and traditional workload views. Wrike is truly an application that can do it all.

Our favorite feature in Wrike

Some product management software (especially Scrum and agile tools) likes to throw you in at the deep end with little in the way of support when it comes to using the software. Wrike is different. They have a huge help center featuring interactive training, video demonstrations and an active community to share tips and tricks with.

In their own words, Wrike lives to “Power the modern, Agile enterprise”.

8. Smartsheet

Price model: 30-day free trial
Starting price: $ 14 per month

At its core, Smartsheet is Excel for users who need more out of their spreadsheets. Dive in a little deeper and you can find a range of features that help improve Agile teamwork, like Gantt charts and automation support.

While Smartsheet may not be the easiest tool for Scrum, it’s a great way to create web forms for your business. It can even double as a CRM, with automations that forward data straight to a customer service agent for quick action. Of course, this isn’t a feature exclusive to Smartsheet, but this application is one of the easier platforms to navigate when it comes to automating customer requests.

If you’re a small team struggling to manage it all, Smartsheet could really help.

Our favorite feature in Smartsheet

Smartsheet has a fantastic range of templates available that allow users to dive right in to their task. While most platforms offer basic templates, Smartsheet has included some very specific frameworks and they update the template library on a regular basis too. This can save a Scrum Master countless hours of set-up, allowing them to focus their energies elsewhere.

Smartsheet’s tagline is: “More than a platform for work, Smartsheet is a platform for change”.

9. nTask

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 2.99 per user, per month

nTask is an extremely accessible tool with plenty of features designed specifically for Agile and Scrum frameworks. The dashboard offers up four different views — list, grid, calendar and Kanban — each providing unique ways of task organization and team collaboration.

nTask is very versatile, handling something as simple as personal tasks to complex product development. The software’s ability to scale is second to none and is perfect for project managers who are looking to increase their workload in a short amount of time, without the hassle of finding new platforms.

Our favorite feature in nTask

nTask has some of the most advanced time management features out of all the software on this list. The platform offers manual time entry, automatic web timers and the mobile app, allowing Scrum Masters to account for every second and accurately pinpoint more time-consuming tasks that could require extra support.

No surprises that nTask’s brand promise is: “Do it right with nTask”.

10. EasyRetro

Price model: Free, with paid upgrades available
Starting price: $ 25 per month
Full features trial: 7 days

More about our plans here

Sprint retrospectives are an essential part in the Scrum framework. But not all product management software offers simple retrospective creation. EasyRetro is the result of countless hours of using sub-par retrospective tools and the realization that retrospectives could be a fun, interesting way of improving your workflow.

Our platform features fully customizable boards, with over 100 pre-defined templates to choose from as a starting point. Cards are placed on the board where collaborators are able to vote or leave feedback, offering a clean, clear view of how team members are managing and what could be improved.

EasyRetro also offers a huge range of resources to help Scrum Masters get the best out of their retrospectives, including a fun Scrum team name generator and simple guides to help newcomers to this way of working.

Our favorite feature in EasyRetro

The last thing anyone needs at the end of a Sprint is a boring meeting full of graphs and charts. That’s why EasyRetro is so focused on putting the fun back into your work.

The retrospective template list includes a host of cool and unique themes. There’s “Lean Coffee” — which pairs lean thinking with the informal atmosphere of a coffee shop — to Harry Potter, where your team can use spells and artifacts to brainstorm and improve.

Take your pick of the best scrum tools for your team.

At EasyRetro, we help to “Improve your team with fun sprint retrospectives”.

Our fun, simple, and intuitive tool will revolutionize your teams collaboration process.

Why not give us a try, for free, today?

Design thinking tools for keeping your team productive

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Design thinking seems like an esoteric practice, but it’s really just disciplined, organized thinking. It can yield insights, solve problems, and even help creativity.

Refiner
GoToMeeting
Userforge
MakeMyPersona
Excalidraw
EasyRetro
Proto.io
Marvel
UserTesting
Usabilla

There are different models of design thinking, some of them with more steps or distinct approaches. In our post today, we will focus on the classic model and present tools that may be able to help you with each step.

Empathize

The first phase of design thinking. Here the designer employs their empathy and tries to understand the experiences and impact offered by your product. The objective is to get much information as possible about the problem and solutions users may have tried. In this phase, ask the right question is essential.

1. Refiner

$ 39 /month
Free trial: 7 days

Refiner helps you understand who your users really are, what they think, and how you can help them succeed.

2. GoToMeeting

$ 109 /month
Free trial: 7 days

GoToMeeting online meetings, video conferencing and web conferencing software enables businesses to collaborate with customers, clients or colleagues in real-time. Try for free today!

Define

Once research into the problem has been conducted, you have an idea of users’ needs and frustrations, you can organize all the information you collected and define the problem looking at it from the user’s perspective.

3. Userforge

$ 29 /month
Full features trial: 7 days
Freemium (free for up to 3 personas and 2 collaborators)

Generate a shared library of effective personas to better understand and reach your customers. Create your free workspace today.

4. MakeMyPersona

Create professional, customizable buyer personas in minutes with the help of our intuitive free generator.

Free

Ideate

In this phase, you collaborate and discuss ideas and solutions to the problem, aim for quantity over quality, and remember to defer judgment of the ideas. Discuss them all and mark the ones you and your team find most effective.

5. Excalidraw

Free

Excalidraw is a whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel to them.

6. EasyRetro

$ 25 /month
Full features trial: 7 days
Freemium

More about our plans here

Our fun, simple, and intuitive tool will revolutionize your teams collaboration process.

Prototype

Prototyping the idea is a vital part of the process. Once you have your best ideas selected, it’s time to bring them to life. You don’t need to make anything perfect here, this is an experimental phase where you’re finding what works and flushing out any constraints and issues you may have overlooked in previous steps.

7. Proto.io

$ 29 /month
Full features trial: 15 days
Freemium

Create fully-interactive high-fidelity prototypes that look and work exactly like your app should. No coding required. Free 15 day full-featured trial.

8. Marvel

$6 /month
Unlimited free version (1 project limit)

The collaborative design platform. Wireframe, prototype, user test, design and inspect designs in one place, for free! Or create an integration with our API.

Testing

The test phase is the last one of the process. It is crucial to focus on real users, validate what you have done, and collect feedback. Find out if you have formulated the right problem and developed a solution that contributes to the user.

9. UserTesting

Paid
On demand pricing
Free trial

Usability testing and research tools to improve your online customer experience from UserTesting, the Human Insight Platform.

10. Usabilla

Paid
On demand pricing
Free trial

Collect user feedback and improve your websites, apps and emails with Usabilla’s Voice of Customer Solutions. Want to see what Usabilla can do for you? Let us show you with our free, personalized demo and get an inside look at our advanced functionality and features.

Take your pick of the best design thinking tools for your project.

What is the goal of the sprint retrospective meeting?

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Few development frameworks are as well-known and widely adopted as Scrum.

A variant of the agile development model, Scrum relies on a process of continuous iteration broken into time-limited sprints. But to make Scrum really work, it’s essential for teams to take the time to review what went right (and what went wrong) during each iteration session too.

It’s here that the sprint retrospective steps in.

What is the goal of the sprint retrospective meeting?

Below, we’ll share not just one, but five sprint retrospective goals and how teams can best achieve them. That way, you’ll know exactly what you’re aiming for in your next retrospective meeting.

Retrospective goal 1: To pinpoint what went right in the last sprint

It’s easy to focus on the negative, so let’s start with the positive.

One of your retrospective goals should be to assess what the team did right in the last sprint. Were any tasks completed ahead of schedule? Were any new solutions found which might help in the future? Did the team reach key milestones?

All of these things should be discussed and recognized to ensure the team knows that their contributions are truly valued.

Retrospective goal 2: To pinpoint what went wrong in the last sprint

Of course, there’s a flipside to every sprint: and things won’t always go to plan.

Mistakes happen. So there’ll almost always be a few things which could have gone better, and the sprint retrospective meeting is the place to discuss them.

Importantly, though, this is not about blame.

Be sure to make that clear up front. It’s easy for team members to feel attacked or singled-out if what went wrong happens to be something they were responsible for. The focus should remain on the project and the roadmap — never on the individual. And to keep the true essence of this retrospective goal in mind: continuous improvement.

If you’re looking for an easy way to unpack the rights and wrongs of a sprint, you can use our Went Well – To Improve template to simplify the process.

Retrospective goal 3: To identify areas that could be improved next time

Even negatives have the power to improve your ways of working — that’s why the template we shared above has a column for ‘To improve’. But it’s not always easy to see the opportunities, when you’re faced with the “failures”.

One handy tool your team could use is the Rose, Bud, Thorn exercise.

How does this help? It’ll create a low-pressure, structured model with which you can identify the sprint’s positives (the roses), the areas of improvement (the buds), and the things which didn’t go the way you’d hoped (the thorns).

If team members are having a hard time opening up, or repositioning their losses as potential future wins, this can really help. So give it a shot.

Retrospective goal 4: Give team members an open forum for expression

Talking of team members opening up, that should be another central goal of the sprint retrospective.

As we mentioned, this isn’t easy for everyone. It’s a big ask to have folks identify areas where they might not have reached a certain standard or milestone, and there’s a balance to be struck.

One way to keep things positive is to allow team members the time to air their feelings — positive or negative — during the retrospective. This helps them feel valued and listened-to, and sometimes that’s all that’s necessary to keep a team from clashing.

(Just don’t forget that open sharing doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Patience is a virtue).

Retrospective goal 5: Create (and commit to) a list of action items

The final, and probably most important, retrospective meeting goal is to distill the meeting down into actionable items.

How many meetings have you attended where everyone agreed a plan but, after the meeting, nothing happened? To avoid this, the meeting’s facilitator — be that the Scrum Master or someone else — documents action points as they arise during the conversation.

If possible, you should try to assign tasks to specific individuals during the meeting, so that they don’t forget as soon as the session ends. In the next sprint planning meeting, you can leverage this list of action items to ensure the iterative spirit of agile and Scrum is maintained for the next leg of development.

Make your retrospectives work smarter (not harder) with EasyRetro

With the right tools, used correctly, retrospective meetings can be an opportunity to improve team unity, motivation, and — ultimately — deliver a better product.

And with EasyRetro, you can make your retrospectives faster, simpler, and, yes, even more productive.

Don’t believe us? Start your free trial today and discover how easy it can be.

What is the scrum master's role in the sprint retrospective?

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Dating back to the mid-80’s, Scrum remains one of the most popular frameworks for software development.

Why? Because it works.

One core tenet of the Scrum methodology is the sprint — a short burst of concentrated work on a specific set of product features. But a sprint isn’t complete without what follows: the sprint retrospective.

Likewise, Scrum isn’t really Scrum without the Scrum Master. But how do these two intertwine?

Let’s find out by shining a spotlight on the Scrum Master’s (often quite flexible) role in a sprint retrospective.

Role #1: The facilitator

Getting the entire team together is often one of the most difficult aspects of applying the Scrum model. It’s here that one of the Scrum Master’s primary roles really comes into play: that of the facilitator.

In this capacity, the Scrum Master is responsible for setting the meeting up, ensuring relevant stakeholders are invited, explaining the goals and requirements of the session and being the point-of-contact for the retrospective.

It’s here that we bump into a minor point of contention which is best framed as a question: Should the facilitator take a neutral position or should they make their opinion heard? As a key figure in the Scrum team, the Scrum Master will have plenty of valuable contributions. So, if other stakeholders believe they should remain neutral, it could be a better idea to nominate someone else as facilitator.

Role #2: The moderator

During the sprint retrospective, the Scrum Master’s role shifts from facilitator to moderator.

What’s the difference? Well, with limited time for the retrospective to take place, the Scrum Master is responsible for keeping the meeting running smoothly moment-to-moment. That means ensuring the team doesn’t dwell too long on a particular topic, making sure that all questions are asked (and answered), and keeping everything running smoothly.

You can ask someone else to take meeting notes, sure. But it’s your responsibility to take the lead and delegate that task out.

And your responsibilities don’t stop there. If you’ve ever participated in a sprint retrospective, you’ll know that there’s a fine line between criticism and constructive criticism. It’s down to the Scrum Master as moderator to ensure that the conversation remains civil and constructive at all times. Nobody should be there to play the blame game.

The Scrum Master will also be responsible for translating brainstorming and discussion into action items which can be used to improve the next sprint.

Role #3: The accountability coach

Let’s face it: we all take the path of least resistance sometimes. It’s just easier and, hey, we’re busy people, right?

When it comes to the sprint retrospective, there’s a temptation to either do the bare minimum just to get through it… or to skip it altogether. This might be fine as a one-off, but it can quickly become a habit. And that’s when the entire Scrum methodology can start to fall apart.

As a leader within the Scrum group, the Scrum Master might choose to take on the responsibility of holding the team to account. Just like organizing the meeting and running the itinerary, the Scrum Master can also act as an “accountability buddy” for the Scrum process itself.

This means that the Scrum Master should ensure that a.) the meeting happens, and b.) it happens by the book so that everyone is accountable for their presence and contributions.

There’s no doubt that this particular role makes the Scrum Master something of a disciplinarian. But, sometimes, that’s exactly what a team needs to keep everyone on track.

Role #4: The occasional problem-solver

With a role as varied as Scrum Master, there’s a secret weapon you should wield at all times: discretion.

In the context of the sprint retrospective, discretion means knowing the difference between when to let group members talk something out, and when to step in with advice. Of course, the Scrum Master’s ultimate responsibility is to the process itself, but they are usually highly experienced members of the team. That doesn’t just mean they know Scrum back-to-front, but most likely the technology and business considerations, too.

As an occasional problem-solver, the Scrum Master should keep their finger on the pulse of the conversation and use their judgement to decide when to step in (and when not to). There’s a bit of a balance to be struck here, because the retrospective is about the team — not about Scrum leadership.

Take your retrospectives to the next level with EasyRetro

Whether you’re a Scrum Master, Product Manager, or business owner, there’s no doubt that Scrum and the agile development model can transform your workflow.

Want to make the retrospective process even easier? Start your free 14-day trial of EasyRetro. With our portfolio of digital tools, you’ll learn how to simplify and streamline your retrospective meetings.

Who should conduct retrospective meetings?

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Here’s a bit of an open secret: success in life is all about learning from the past.

Whether that’s remembering a shortcut that shaves 10 minutes off your commute time, or simply doing things better the second time, it’s a fact of life that helps us all improve.

It’s this ethos that underpins the concept of the retrospective. In the context of agile development, the retrospective takes place at the end of each individual sprint.

But, as a team activity, who conducts the retrospective meeting? Which of your team should you look for a meeting structure, agenda points, and tight time keeping?

Let’s find out.

The conventional approach to sprint retrospectives

Who conducts retrospective meetings in the agile model?

Ask this question to most teams working via the Scrum agile methodology and they’ll likely give you the same answer: the Scrum Master. After all, as described in the official Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master “_is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness_” and does this by “_enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework_”.

It’s only logical, then, that the Scrum Master would also be responsible for managing the sprint retrospectives, at the end of each block of time. That fits nicely into their remit, right?

Right.

But it also makes sense for a Product Owner to host the retrospectives, too. After all, it’s in their interest to have a clean and concise product backlog — one that’s running at top efficiency to reach project goals. But wait… doesn’t that also apply to Product Managers? Or even Project Managers?

Phew! As you can see, there are as many different approaches to the retrospective as there are agile teams.

So what’s the common thread here?

To be clear: in most cases, you’ll find that the retrospective is conducted by the same person. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Scrum Master, Product Owner, or anyone else, most Scrum teams — and agile teams in general — will have the same person host the retrospective meeting every time.

It might be this way is easier, faster, and less fuss to organize… but is it the best way? Could there be a more optimal approach to sprint retrospectives, delivering better long-term results?

You bet there is.

Why it’s (sometimes) okay to break convention with your retrospectives

What if you had no fixed facilitator for your sprint retrospectives? Or what if, every time you finished a sprint and sprint review, you then selected a different person from a small pool of options to host the meeting?

At face value, these approaches may seem messy and illogical. But there are actually several good reasons to rotate or “outsource” the facilitator of your sprint retrospectives:

The team avoids stagnation. When the same person conducts the meeting every single time, you risk uncovering the same tired conclusions or missing things someone else might catch. And that’s a quick way to plateau your progress.
You’ll get a different point of view. Some agile teams actually go entirely outside of their own group to find a facilitator for their sprint retrospectives. Why? Because it brings a totally fresh perspective from someone who might be able to see the wood for the trees.
Your team might lack the necessary skills. Retrospectives are meetings like no other. It’s not just about going through a to-do list. The facilitator needs to know how to conduct a retrospective properly, covering goals, challenges, key take-aways, and more. If this person isn’t in your team, you’re better off finding them elsewhere.

The art of the retrospective — 3 top tips for meeting leaders

Okay, so let’s imagine you’ve decided to mix up your sprint retrospectives by either bringing in an external facilitator or rotating through a small pool of people.

They might just need a bit of help to hit the ground running, so here are our 3 best tips to help meeting facilitators lead a quality sprint retrospective.

#1: Try not to frame the meeting as a product problem-solving session

By their very nature, retrospectives will always involve some discussion of the problems the team has faced during development (and when you do, the 5 Whys can really help). But that’s not an invitation to start troubleshooting specifics of the development there and then. The goal of the meeting is to identify overall trends and bottlenecks, not to start fixing specific product issues.

#2: Avoid playing the blame-game. Always.

Another natural consequence of the retrospective meeting is that it covers things that perhaps didn’t go to plan. This isn’t about pointing out faults, but the facilitator should remember that team members might feel like they’re being accused of some wrongdoing or other. It’s vital to emphasize that the retrospective is about the team — not about the individual.

#3: Retrospect your retrospective

It might sound odd, but it actually makes good sense to do a little retrospective on your retrospective. This is especially valuable when you have rotating facilitators. Just take five minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss your approach to retrospectives and whether or not the team feels like they’re getting value from them. Are they useful? Are they fun?

If not — and in the spirit of a true retrospective — you can tweak the parameters and try again next time with some different sprint retrospective ideas next time to make the session more engaging and effective.”

Looking to level-up your team’s retrospectives?

With EasyRetro, learning from the past is… easy.

Retrospective meetings become treasure troves of actionable insights thanks to our easy-to-use digital platform. Even better, our suite of tools and features means that any member of the team can host the retrospective and still deliver true value and action items for the next sprint.

Not sure that sprint retrospectives could ever really be fun? With EasyRetro, it’s just a few clicks away. Try it now, risk-free, with a 14-day free trial.

Top 10 agile tools for keeping your team productive

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Smart productivity is the key to team success. So the Agile methodology was designed to make teams more effective — to work smarter, not harder.

As you might imagine, Agile teams need Agile tools to do their best work. And there are plenty of brilliant Agile tools that help ease the pain points that arise with even the best, most productive teams.

But these Agile tools can help any team work better together — you don’t need to follow the Agile methodology to benefit. Productivity is a vital part of any team, Agile or not, and the best Agile tools can make working processes easier and more effective for teams of every stripe.

That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the 10 best Agile tools available today, looking at what they do, how they help teams be more productive, and what they require as investment.

EasyRetro
ScatterSpoke
Retrium
Monday
Trello
Asana
Standuply
Miro
Mural
StormBoard

3 of the best retrospective tools

Retrospectives are a vital part of Agile working. Held at the end of a sprint, a retrospective is an opportunity to analyze how the sprint went, and how the project is going. It provides a chance to optimize future sprints and improve the project’s progress as time goes on.

Retrospective tools help create a structured framework; allowing these meetings to be carried out more effectively, and for the lessons learned to be applied with the most impact possible.

1. EasyRetro

Improve your team with fun sprint retrospectives

We’re not trying to show off, but we are pretty proud of our product — EasyRetro offers an exceptional tool for teams looking to optimize the effectiveness of their sprints. The simple, intuitive, and beautiful tool is incredibly easy to use, and particularly handy when dealing with remote or dispersed teams.

EasyRetro also focuses on team morale, looking to improve collaboration and productivity by creating a fun environment to work and feedback in. Dashboards are easy to set up, data from the retrospectives can be exported at the click of a button, and privacy and honesty is guaranteed with a secret ballot option — something that’s vital in order to ensure a productive meeting.

Facilitators are able to stay on top of collaboration channels and brainstorming sessions. And they can benefit from a bird’s eye view of multiple iterations; empowering them with a more holistic outlook of overall progress.

EasyRetro’s ‘Free’ plan makes it one of the best free Agile tools around, and the paid-for options start at $25 per month. Click here to learn more about using EasyRetro in your retrospectives.

2. ScatterSpoke

Online Agile Retrospective Tool

ScatterSpoke is a great option for larger teams, or teams that need to scale up their retrospectives regularly. Designed to handle bigger groups without reducing the facilitators’ oversight, it also works well to collate the work of multiple teams within a single organization.

It is particularly helpful for teams new to Agile and to retrospectives, and makes it incredibly easy for anyone to act as a facilitator. That’s a huge bonus when keeping retrospectives objective.

ScatterSpoke also creates simple, actionable plans to convert ideas into processes; preventing valuable retrospective output from going to waste.

Pricing starts at $35 per month for up to 15 team members

3. Retrium

Retrospectives Made Easy for Scrum and Agile Teams

Retrium is designed to pick up on those annoying, unexpected issues that can disrupt a team’s workflow; helping troubleshoot little issues, before they turn into big problems.

With Retrium, team members post private feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the last round of work. They can vote for items, give priority to important conversations, and track progress based on agreed plans, too. The platform offers some excellent solutions for shy participants, with non-intrusive methods designed to encourage contributions. And everything from the retrospective meeting can be neaty transferred to an action plan, ready for the next sprint.

Retrium prices start at $29 per month and per team.

4 of the best project management tools

Project management tools form the skeleton of the Agile methodology, but they’re also an essential part of any high-performing team. Choosing the right project management tool for your organization — and for the job at hand — is incredibly important, and even more so nowadays when more and more teams are working remotely.

4. Monday

For Scrum teams and projects, Monday.com is one of the best Agile tools around. The platform makes it easy to create clear, understandable roadmaps with bespoke notifications and solid time tracking functionality. The interface is simple and easy to use, making backlogs and sprint planning a breeze, and it’s fully customizable to your team’s needs and preferences.

Monday.com’s reporting and charts allow managers to keep track of progress and effort, and there are a number of functions to facilitate quick, insightful workflow analysis.

Best of all, Monday allows a huge range of integrations, with everything from Slack, Jira, and GitHub to Dropbox, Zapier, and the full range of Google apps included.

Pricing starts at $17 per month for two users.

5. Trello

For the Kanban fans among us, Trello could be the answer. It’s simple to use and immensely functional, with its drag-and-drop, one-click interface. Each task is assigned a board, managed from the dashboard, and can be moved around incredibly easily to reschedule, edit, or re-prioritize as needed.

Trello is best for simple projects (it doesn’t have as much to offer analytically as Monday.com), and relies on external integrations for more sophisticated functionality. But as for day-to-day task management and scheduling it can be a lifesaver — particularly for teams just getting started with Agile or Kanban.

Trello offers a free version for small teams, and the paid version starts at $9.99 per user for larger teams.

6. Asana

Asana is one of the world’s most popular project management tools, used by Agile and non-Agile teams alike. Why? Because it’s a powerfully simple way of improving productivity in any organization.

Asana’s standout feature is its user interface. Fully customizable, you can essentially design it to fit your team’s specific requirements. Tasks and lists can be shifted around the dashboard without a problem, and the running activity feed keeps managers updated on progress. The project timeline feature is also a great addition from this point of view, offering a Gantt chart-style overview of progress.

Asana offers a basic free version, and the paid version starts at $9.99 per month per user.

7. Standuply

Standuply is almost more of a project management assistant than a project management tool. It automates a wide range of meetings, from status meetings to retrospectives and 360 reviews. It also connects your team with experts in the field to provide knowledge and insight. In this way, Standuply combines mentorship with vastly improved communication through process automation, and is a great addition to any team.

Pricing offers a free basic plan for three users, and the paid version starts at $5 per month.

3 of the best collaboration tools

Collaboration and communication are essential for great teams to thrive, and collaboration tools are a great way to ensure that teams are working together in the most effective and productive ways.

The following 3 are our go-to collaboration platforms…

8. Miro

Miro works as an online, collaborative whiteboard, allowing teams to brainstorm, share ideas, and collaborate in real time from wherever they are in the world. Miro’s canvas is infinitely zoomable, allowing you to scale up and down depending on the complexity of the project — seeing the big picture and the small details, all in one space.

It’s brilliant for meetings and workshops, strategy, research and design, and creating Agile workflows. In short, it’s a wonderful way to bring teams together.

Miro starts as a free Agile tool, and offers a paid version from $8 per month per member for larger teams.

9. Mural

Mural offers a digital workspace for visual collaboration, allowing teams to think visually and come together to solve problems. You can use it as a whiteboard, canvas, repository for digital sticky notes, or as a more structured planning tool. Shapes and connectors make it easy to link thoughts, ideas, and projects, while freehand drawing allows for impressive flexibility and creativity if needed.

Perfect for the creative types out there!

Pricing starts at $12 per member per month.

10. StormBoard

StormBoard’s shared workspace helps teams to define objectives, capture ideas, generate discussion, and develop innovative solutions. Better still, while you’re busy with your blue-sky thinking, StormBoard provides the necessary frameworks to capture, organize, and prioritize your thoughts for maximum ease and application.

StormBoard syncs effortlessly to Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Excel to create meeting records in whatever format you need, and makes it easy to build plans and strategies off the back of each meeting.

Teams of five or less can use StormBoard for free, and for larger teams pricing starts at $10 per user per month.

Take your pick of the best Agile tools for retrospectives, project management, and collaboration

As they say, “a man (or woman) is only as good as his tools”. But now you’ve got everything you need to fully embrace Agile ways of working and succeed as a highly-functioning team.

Take a read of the rest of EasyRetro’s blog, for more Agile tips and tricks.

Also, if you are looking for a great timer tool to improve your personal productivity, check out our Pomodoro Timer Online.

5 steps of a retrospective meeting agenda

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In the past, we’ve explored what sprint retrospectives are and why they matter to your business. Knowing that they’re important is just the first step though. Next you need to know how to plan and manage them — and what to put on the meeting agenda.

So today, that’s exactly what we’re going to cover! In the five steps below, you’ll not only learn how to structure a sprint retrospective agenda, but also which tips and activities will help you make the most of the meeting.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Set the stage

Everyone has entered the room, said their hellos, and is taking a seat. Now the spotlight’s all on you — what’s your first move?

The first step in any sprint retrospective is setting the stage. This is of critical importance in your first retrospective, but shouldn’t be overlooked in any other retrospective meetings either.

By setting the stage, you establish yourself as the guide of the event. You should begin by letting everyone know what the goal of the meeting is, what the expectations are, and by helping people to feel comfortable with opening up.

Tip: Set the tone and rules

As a scrum master, you want to encourage freeform expression and allow ideas to surface. But you want to keep your agenda in order, too. Retrospective meetings aren’t blue-sky innovation sessions and they aren’t free-for-all therapy sessions either: you have a set itinerary of points to cover and you don’t want to fall behind. How do you get this balance right? It starts with setting the tone and establishing the rules.

These rules will vary by team, but the general idea is to avoid finger-pointing, excessive negativity, and to keep everything focused on your objective. After all, you only have so much time to dedicate to this meeting, and you want it to be productive.

Activity: One word check-in

The one word check-in is a fast and fun way to open your retrospective meeting agenda. If it’s your first retrospective, you might start with something simple like, “How are you feeling today?” or, “How was your weekend?” As time goes on, you might ask questions that require a little more thought, such as, “What’s your intention for this meeting?” or “How would you describe the productivity of our last sprint?”.

Step 2: Gather data

Step 2 of your retrospective agenda is typically where the whiteboard comes into play. It is also where you, as the meeting leader, take a backseat and let your team hold the discussion.

During this step, you’ll pose questions to your team regarding the sprint or milestone that has just come to an end. For instance, you might ask questions like:

What did you think of that achievement/process?
What were you most proud of?
Was there anything that disappointed you?
What did you learn?

Write down these answers on the whiteboard and draw attention to any that become repeating themes.

Tip: Is everyone participating?

While you won’t be speaking as much during this step, you will still need to be playing an active role as the leader. Part of this responsibility is ensuring that everyone is participating. Otherwise, the data you gather might be skewed or incomplete.

Noticing if someone isn’t contributing to the discussion is only half the battle. You also need to determine why. Is it because they’re being talked over, or because they’re not paying attention? Are they feeling shy, or did they have a bad sprint?

You can solve this problem by gently guiding the conversation. Limit any speakers that are too talkative, and make a point of asking questions to quieter members.

Activity: Rose, Bud, Thorn

A great way to get your team to open up about their experiences over the last sprint is with the Rose, Bud, Thorn activity. It’s a fairly straightforward game and one that will ensure you get an even mix of feedback.

To play, simply ask each participant to cite one Rose, one Bud, and one Thorn from the previous sprint. Roses are anything a person enjoyed over the process (e.g., they learnt a new skill). Buds are anything that a person sees as an area of improvement or opportunity for the next sprint (e.g., they came up with a new way to manage variables). Thorns are anything that they didn’t enjoy during the sprint (e.g., their code was scrapped).

Step 3: Brainstorm

Another word for this step could be “Analyze”. Here, you break down the data you gathered in the previous step, starting with data that was trending or emphasized.

In other words, this is the beginning of your team’s critical thinking. You’re no longer just bringing up points, but dissecting those points and trying to make sense of them.

Tip: Criticize with care

During this step, you (and your team) will have to start looking more critically at your successes and failures during this sprint. There’s no avoiding the uncomfortable truths at this point of the retrospective agenda.

However, this is not a feeding frenzy. Your team should still feel safe and confident in the discussion. When blame starts being assigned and people are singled out for their mistakes, you risk creating animosity among team members, stifling ideas, and hurting your more sensitive players, too.

You can avoid these outcomes by focusing on setting the right tone in Step 1 and by mediating this process. Make sure that failures and successes get just as much screen time as one another, and keep all criticism constructive.

Activity: 5 Whys

Like most of the activities in this post, 5 Whys couldn’t be much simpler than it sounds. You simply pick one of the points brought up on your whiteboard and ask, “Why?” five times.

For instance, if your team missed a deadline, you might ask, “Why did we miss that deadline?” If the answer is, “Because we didn’t communicate enough,” then you would respond, “Why didn’t we communicate enough?” This goes on five times in a row.

You don’t want to do this for every point; maybe limit it to just two or three points during the discussion. When you do use it, however, you’ll find that it forces you to get to the root of an issue or success, allowing you to better understand that situation — and avoid it in the future.

Step 4: Create action items

After you’ve finished breaking down your data, it’s time to turn your insights into actionable steps. Your whiteboard should be pretty full at this point, so choose the items that you can realistically achieve by the end of your next sprint.

For specific tasks, you might assign them to team members based on who is best equipped for the job. For more abstract actions, like “Use Slack more often,” try to come up with an honor system to ensure that members are reminded of this as they go through the next sprint.

Tip: Keep it organized

This can easily turn into the most hectic part of the meeting agenda. Members might be throwing out too many ideas, getting stuck on tangents, or might simply be overwhelmed by the amount of information in front of them.

This is the point where you will want to take on a firmer, more organized role in the discussion. Avoid the temptation to sit back and let the discussion become a free-for-all. Instead, point to who can speak, limit the number of ideas and solutions people can vote on, and do your best to keep things focused.

Activity: Hypotheses and experiments

Having too many ideas at this stage is a possibility. But also is having too few. After all, you’ve already been in the room for a reasonable amount of time now. Energy levels may be dropping. Your participants are looking forward to lunch. To help breathe fresh life into the retrospective meeting agenda, you can rephrase this step as hypotheses and experiments.

This means that instead of asking your team to say, “Let’s do this,” have them say, “What if we tried…?” or, “I don’t know if this will work, but I’d like to give it a try.” This can go a long way towards diffusing the tension of this step. It also acknowledges the possibility — and acceptance — of failure, which is important, especially as a leader.

Step 5: Close the retrospective

With your chosen action items written down, it’s time to close your sprint retrospective. This is one of the only points where you should completely take over as a leader and guide the meeting with totality. Have your agenda in mind and wrap the meeting up as neatly as possible.

In Step 5 of the sprint retrospective agenda, you should recap the key points shared and reaffirm the action items to be worked on. You might also come up with a way to measure the goals you set in this retrospective so that you can track your progress in the next.

Set your next retrospective agenda with confidence

By using this five-step process, you can dramatically increase the effectiveness of your retrospective. You’ll have an easier time generating discussion, executing ideas, and monitoring results.

And if you feel like your retrospectives could use a little more support, you can check out the retrospective services offered here at EasyRetro.

FunRetro is now EasyRetro

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0000

We have some big news to announce today!

FunRetro is now EasyRetro

We have been working for the last few weeks to create a new identity for our website and app. This new identity aligns better with our values of simplicity, easy to use, and effortless retrospectives.

Together with this new identity, we are redesigning our whole website and app to make it modern and give it a fresh look, you will love it! The new app will be live in the coming weeks, but some parts are already implemented and live now.

Our vision

We are commited to keep improving EasyRetro and make it better for all kinds of teams, from small to big companies. We also understand people use EasyRetro for many kinds of activities besides retrospectives.

We will keep adding more features to make it more flexible so you can brainstorm, reflect, and make better decisions with your team and colleagues.

Conclusion

We value your feedback so if you have any comment please send us a message at Contact Us to keep the conversation going.

Thanks for the support all these years, EasyRetro Team

Guide To Virtual Collaboration Best Practices, Software & Tools

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Working from home can be flexible, freeing, and cost-saving for employers and employees.

It can also be a serious pain, especially when you’re new to it. It’s a massive adjustment for just about everyone involved, and the adjustment period usually lasts a reasonably long time.

Fortunately, you can ease the process with the right virtual collaboration tools and best practices. And in this guide, that’s exactly what we’re covering.

What is virtual collaboration?

Virtual collaboration is the process of working with your team remotely. Depending on how your team operates, that might look different from others in your industry. You may simply have teams at separate offices, some members working at home, or possibly even a team spread across several countries and language barriers.

In all of these instances, being able to communicate and collaborate effectively is key. Otherwise, the various appendages of your business won’t be able to act in harmony — and that can hamper your potential for success.

Of course, virtual collaboration is easier said than done. Finding the right workflow for your company will take trial and error, as well as the participation of your managers and employees.

How to make virtual collaboration work: 4 best practices

To help you get through this process of trial and error, here are some of our tips for virtual collaboration best practices. Following these tips should make remote collaboration simpler, regardless of how long your team has been in a remote environment.

1. Meet in-person first

First up, it’s important that your team meets in person if possible. Ideally, you would meet in person with your team before you begin working remotely. This will give everyone a chance to get to know one another in a more personal setting; making it much easier to foster engagement when you’re not in person.

If meeting in person isn’t a possibility, then try to host a casual get together over a video conference. Even though this will feel a little less personal, it can still help your team develop a shared vision and mindset.

After your first in-person meeting, you should try and host occasional in-person meetings in the future, too. These meetings should be spare, especially if it is difficult for your team to meet up; an annual meeting or two should do the trick.

2. Set a communication schedule

Similarly, you should have scheduled online meetings with your team. These meetings can be as often as you need — some teams might meet once a month, while others meet during every sprint retrospective.

There are several reasons why this is important.

First, it ensures that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same shared goals.

Second, it helps maintain routine in a setting where routines are difficult to establish. A regular communication schedule will give your team some sense of consistency, belonging, and professionalism, staving off the pajamas and odd work hours that can come with remote set-ups.

3. Give your team space to chat

Unstructured communication is just as important as structured communication. This is where chat apps like Slack and Skype will come in. Make sure you have dedicated channels available for your teams to talk to one another on topics that don’t directly relate to meetings and current projects.

For instance, coworkers might want to ask each other questions, announce exciting events in their personal lives, or discuss a change within your industry. A casual channel can act as a digital water cooler, giving your team a place to bond and connect.

4. Encourage a regular work schedule

Lastly, try to introduce rhythm into your team’s workflow as much as you can. Sticking to a predictable schedule, giving time off, and communicating during work hours will all help your employees keep a regular work schedule while working from home or satellite offices.

You should also encourage secondary behaviors that can improve your employees’ consistency. For instance, you might invest in tools that help employees stay off of their phones during work and plan out their time more easily. To do this, come up with your own time management techniques and share them with your team, and host one-on-one conversations with your staff periodically about their time management.

The best tools for virtual collaboration in 2020

The above best practices are useful for setting a structure and plan for your work-from-home staff. However, implementing these without any tools is difficult. Below, you’ll find some of our favorite virtual collaboration tools that make use of these best practices.

EasyRetro

In our admittedly-biased opinion, EasyRetro is one of the best tools for improving your virtual collaboration. It takes an underutilized aspect of agile workflows (retrospectives) and makes it a critical and satisfying part of your work calendar.

Retrospectives should happen at the end of a work sprint or team milestone. During this time, your team will discuss what went well, what went wrong, and what should be done differently in the future.

EasyRetro is a board-style application that makes it easy for your team to add, organize, and discuss these aspects of your project. This increases your team’s ability to reflect and improve, which are valuable components of a successful team.

Whereby

Ranked as the easiest video conference app by G2 Crowd, Whereby is an incredibly simple and secure app for staying in touch with your team. It takes all of the superfluous features of platforms like Zoom and removes them so that you can focus on (and pay less for) what matters most.

Whereby doesn’t need to be installed on your computer, as it’s completely web-based. So no one will ever be late to a meeting because the app wasn’t already set up.

It also allows you to create a custom URL for your meetings, which you can reuse as many times as you like. Your team can simply save your Whereby link as a bookmark and join in a meeting whenever you decide to schedule one.

Loom

Few apps are free and still worthy of a “Best Of” title, but Loom is an exception. It’s an app that you can use in a browser or on your desktop to record your computer screen at a moment’s notice.

Screen recording apps are typically complicated and lackluster. Loom, however, offers crisp, simple, and customizable screen recording on all of your desktop devices. You can use it for free (1-10 users) or upgrade to just $10/month for 100 creators and unlimited video lengths.

Walling

Walling is another low-cost solution to a common challenge in virtual collaboration: collecting, organizing, and collaborating on notes. Most note-taking apps tend to become cluttered, unsearchable, and unreadable to anyone other than the initial notetaker.

Walling solves this problem with a few cool tricks. First, you create a new note every day, so your notes never have time to become overgrown and complicated. Second, the structure of Walling is flexible, so you can add anything to a note (images, links, lists, etc.) with ease.

And third, everything is searchable (including images) thanks to a smart AI. This allows your team to collaborate on notes without losing the information you need or being distracted by the information you don’t need.

Improve your virtual collaboration strategy today

We hope these virtual collaboration software tools and best practices help you change the way you approach your remote workflows. Though a digital-only team will face unique challenges, there are plenty of unique solutions to help you over these hurdles.

If you’re interested in EasyRetro and want to make retrospectives a stronger component of your virtual collaboration, click here to start using EasyRetro for free.

Top Agile Blogs You Should Follow in 2020

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Continuous improvement is critical for teams that want to stay one step ahead of the competition. But where do you go to learn about the latest developments in your industry? And what resources can help you put seemingly disconnected ideas together, to create new ways of working smarter, harder, and more successfully as an organization?

Blogs are a great place to start: agile blogs, in particular.

In 2020, countless bloggers are writing about all things agile. So how do you pick the ones to watch this? In this guide, we’ve done the legwork for you: listing the very best agile blogs around.

In no particular order…

26 of the best agile blogs to follow in 2020 (and beyond)

Agile Alliance

A not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting agile teams and practitioners, the Agile Alliance literally wrote the book on agile. Here they provide resources, organize events (virtual or otherwise!, and write articles covering a wide range of useful topics, from step-by-step how-to guides to best practice advice.

Fun Retrospectives

As a concept, “fun” retrospectives are about getting the very best out of your teams, by making processes and systems more fun. This blog is packed with interesting activities and ideas to engage your teams more effectively during retrospectives, as well as team-building guidance and best practices, suitable for the entire development process.

Rebels Guide to Project Management

A Girl’s Guide to Project Management is an unbeatable resource for project managers, offering a wealth of practical solutions and templates that make managing projects simple and easy. The bonus element? This blog is a treasure trove of interviews with inspiring women in the world of project management.

Scrum.org

Scrum.org is one of the best Agile blogs for Scrum training and certifications, with courses in everything from Scrum Mastery to Agile Leadership. As an organization, they’re focused on improving the software delivery community as a whole, making their blog a great platform for community engagement — as well as information.

DZone Agile

DZone is a great portal for programmers and developers to share information, with a community of over 1 million users. Their Agile blog provides advice, guidance, hints and tips for professionals of every level, from veteran Scrum Masters to agile newbies. There’s also a long list of tools and resources for agile teams to use.

Pretty Agile

On her Pretty Agile blog, Em Campbell-Pretty shares a vast amount of experience and knowledge about the world of agile. She has been an active member of the agile community for years, and co-chaired the Agile Enterprise track at the Agile Alliance annual conference three years in a row. In short, this is a one-stop-shop resource for insider agile knowledge and guidance.

Agile Uprising

This one’s not strictly an agile blog, but the Agile Uprising podcast is well worth including in this list. Dedicated to advancing the agile mindset, the Agile Uprising network encourages information-sharing between active agile professionals. And the podcast itself is informative and interesting. Give it a listen today!

RGalen Consulting

One of the most regularly-updated blogs on this list, Bob loves to share his experiences, thoughts and ideas about the agile community. With news, updates, in-depth analysis and general musings, this is a personal — yet highly authoritative — resource for everyone working in agile.

Mike Cohn - Mountain Goat Software

Hands down, this is one of the best agile blogs for training and educational resources. Mike Cohn of Mountain Goat Software is a certified ScrumMaster and Agile trainer, and his tips, techniques and learning resources are a fast-track for building high-performance development teams. Thanks, Mike!

Adventures with Agile

Adventures with Agile takes a holistic approach to agile — focusing on its benefits not just in development, but in working life as a whole. The blog hooks readers up with webinars, podcasts and articles, as well as training, coaching, and a variety of community events to help tap into the wider world of agile approaches.

Agile Pain Relief

Agile Pain Relief runs through some of the most common problems that agile teams face, delivering answers to “frequently asked” dilemmas and questions. The author, Mark Levison, brings a wealth of expertise with over 20 years in the IT industry. And his insights and approach are both practical and helpful.

Jira Align

Now part of Atlassian, the Jira Align blog (previously AgileCraft) explores issues, possibilities and concepts around using agile on an Enterprise level. There are a whole bunch of articles looking at the future of Enterprise-scaled agile development, as well as best practices and interesting thoughts for the sector.

Agile for All

With a focus on delivering maximum impact with minimum time and effort, the Agile for All blog is a practical and specific repository of agile knowledge. The info this blog provides is extremely accessible, so it’s a great resource for anyone new to Agile, as well as older hands. Head here for training courses designed to increase value for your organization.

Kanban Zone

This is the best agile blog for all things specifically Kanban. Regularly updated with the latest insights on Kanban, as well as thoughts on things like Scrumban, Kaizen and Lean Thinking, this is an incredibly helpful resource for anyone looking to use Kanban, or integrate it into their existing workflow.

Digité

Digité provides great insights into agile, Lean, Kanban, and general project management principles. But the real benefit of this blog is its focus on distributed teams. Working remotely is increasingly important for organizations, and this blog shares some great ideas and innovations about succeeding as an agile team across borders.

Ben Linders is one of the most engaging writers in the agile blog world. His thoughts and advice on agile, Lean, and continuous improvement in software development are well worth your time.

3Back Scrum and Agility

3Back’s blog focuses on real-life customer experiences, and exploring practical applications for agile concepts. The blog describes a whole range of ideas, concepts and subjects, and is an in-depth resource for agile teams and leaders.

Fail Fast, Move On

A classic adage, Michael Kusters manages to add to the conversation around “failing fast” with his blog by a similar name; Kusters argues that getting something wrong can be just as important as getting it right. The blog is based on the idea that agile shouldn’t be seen as a silver bullet, and that learning from your mistakes can drive more success in the long run. Sign us up!

Illustrated Agile

A creative look at the world of organizational change, Len Lagestee writes clearly and simply about taking an agile approach to business-wide change. Expect dedicated advice for overcoming the various barriers that present themselves along the way.

Agile Testing with Lisa Crispin

Looking specifically at Agile testing, Lisa Crispin shares her deep experience of this particular corner of the Agile world. Voted “Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person” in 2012, Lisa provides in-depth info and practical guidance on her extremely useful blog.

The Agile Times

The Agile Times does not post a lot (it averages around three posts a year) but their expert advice is well worth paying attention to when it is published. As well as the blog, they share book reviews, software usage tips and recommendations for training.

This Agile Life

Another podcast rather than an actual blog, but again one that more than merits inclusion in our list. This Agile Life discusses what it’s actually like to be agile in the real world, and can be a welcome addition to some of the more conceptual blogs out there.

Center for Agile Leadership

An Agile blog focused on leadership, the Center for Agile Leadership provides inspiration and guidance for the next generation of Agile leaders. The blog is designed to encourage new ways of thinking, and provide the tools to allow Agile professionals to become agents of change in their organizations.

Maurice Hagar

Maurice Hagar is a pioneer in combining agile project management and the psychology of institutional change to affect genuine, sustainable transformation in organizations. His blog provides a great resource for agile leaders looking to make changes in their own teams.

Scrum Log

The real USP of the Scrum Log blog is its author, Jeff Sutherland. The co-creator of Scrum, he is an excellent source for deep thoughts and important insights into using Scrum techniques. If you’re going to learn about agile, you may as well learn from one of the best!

The Poppendiecks

Finally, Mary and Tom Poppendieck are experts and way-finders in Lean Software Development, one of the newer varieties of agile. Although developed separately, Lean Software Development is very similar to agile, and the Poppendiecks’ blog is full of interesting new insights into why agile is so effective.

Which agile blogs are you following in 2020?

Learning from the best and staying on top of new ideas and concepts will ensure that your agile team is constantly improving — while finding ways to work better together. By following the best agile blogs, you’ll always have the inside track on what is happening now in the world of agile.

But are there any of your favorites blogs that we’ve missed? Let us know! And don’t forget to keep an eye on our very own EasyRetro blog, for more insights and practical advice for agile team working.

Project & Agile Retrospective Books Worth Reading

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:18:00 +0000

When it comes to agile working, knowledge is power. The best agile teams are constantly looking to improve, learn from others, and level up their abilities and effectiveness.

Within this, retrospectives are a vital part of the project lifecycle and one of an agile team’s most effective tools for future improvement. Done well, retrospectives lead to success, building on the experiences of every team member and the project as a whole, to improve systems and processes in the future.

But the thing is, there are so many project and agile retrospective books out there — and not all of them are worth reading. Product teams need resources that actually improve their knowledge and understanding… without confusing them or wasting their time. The agile world is full of jargon and complicated vocabulary, and teams need books that cut through the buzzwords and present complex information and guidance in a clear, understandable way.

Luckily, plenty of books do get it right. Written by product development experts and authors with years of experience carrying out successful project and agile retrospectives, these titles provide information that’s genuinely worth reading.

In this blog we will list some of the most helpful project and agile retrospective books around, providing the best resources to help agile teams work harder, better, and smarter.

9 project & agile retrospective books to add to your reading list today

In no particular order, these are our 9 favorite agile retrospective books…

1. Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

Authored by two of the software industry’s leading facilitators, Esther Derby and Diana Larsen, Agile Retrospectives shows you how to take advantage of your team’s experience throughout the life of your projects. Years of retrospective know-how has given Derby and Larsen a deep understanding of the tools and recipes needed to solve problems your teams face with technology, methodology, and trickier ‘people’ issues.

This agile retrospective book is designed to train teams in proper agile retrospectives. That is, not just conducting ‘autopsies’ once a project is done, but creating retrospectives that can work continually, fixing problems on an ongoing basis, and implementing solutions during the project rather than just in the future.

While Agile Retrospectives is obviously focused on agile teams, its lessons are applicable for any team looking to improve their working practices, work smarter, and be more successful. The book provides a solid foundation for teams of all shapes and sizes, and helps improve the effectiveness not just of project retrospectives, but of iterations and release as well.

One of the best aspects of Agile Retrospectives is that every chapter comes with a takeaway, providing real-world solutions for teams right from the start. It’s written in plain, easily comprehensible language, with a fun, lighthearted twist.

2. Fun Retrospectives

Fun Retrospectives is designed to make existing retrospectives more effective, by applying a light touch approach and enabling teams to enjoy the process more. Fun Retrospectives provides a catalogue of activities that use fun to bring a group of people together and mold them into a team.

The fundamental concept behind the approach is that a setting that is lighthearted, enjoyable, and relaxed is more likely to produce good and useful outcomes. Teams that have fun together work more effectively together as well, and so fun retrospective activities can provide a greater focus, as well as producing better, more relevant information.

(And we couldn’t agree more, over at EasyRetro.io!)

The book presents a menu of retrospective activities to cover the entire lifecycle, from initial ‘energizers’ and check-in, to future planning and check-out.

The authors, Paulo Caroli and Tainã Caetano Coimbra, have a wealth of practical experience in project teams and software development. Caroli has over twenty years of experience in software development, working in various corporations in India, USA, Latin America, and Europe, while Coimbra is an expert software engineer with ten years of experience as a developer, coach, mentor, and facilitator.

One of the things that stands out about Fun Retrospectives is that alongside the tools, tricks, and tactics for improving your retrospectives, it also provides specific guidance for optimizing retrospectives for remote teams, an increasingly important element of modern working.

3. The Retrospective Handbook: A guide for agile teams

The Retrospective Handbook is a guide designed to fine-tune existing retrospectives and make already successful processes even more effective and efficient. It distills the author’s eight years of experience designing and delivering retrospectives into practical advice that can be implemented by your team immediately.

This is an extremely comprehensive exploration of the best practices for agile retrospectives, going into significant detail and breaking down every aspect to its fundamentals. There’s loads of really simple steps and explanations of procedures, which makes it a particularly good read for teams just getting started, as well as those looking to level up their current retrospectives.

The Retrospective Handbook covers the best methods to prepare for a retrospective, and what materials to use to get the right results. It offers guidance on facilitation, and how to deal with common issues, as well as providing overviews of retrospectives in different contexts. It also comes with a handy checklist to ensure that your retrospectives result in change.

Patrick Kua has trained hundreds of tech leads around the world, and is dedicated to training and upskilling the next generation of leaders and innovators. He worked as Chief Scientist and former CTO for N26, a challenger digital bank, based in Berlin.

4. Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

Norman Kerth, the author of Project Retrospectives, identifies fear of being held responsible for failure as one of the primary factors in retrospectives not working to the best of their potential.

He accurately points out that retrospectives can be emotionally charged. And if team members don’t feel trusted or respected, they are unlikely to engage fully with the process for fear of recrimination or criticism of their work.

Project Retrospectives is founded on the principle that project and agile retrospectives need to be safe. This agile retrospective book provides guidance on how to make retrospectives more productive and effective, of course, but it goes further, too. It shows retrospective leaders and facilitators how important establishing a solid basis of trust is, and how fear of retribution can hold retrospectives back from achieving their goals.

The most important precept, according to the author, is described as Kerth’s Prime Directive:

“Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand”.

This agile retrospective book is available as a PDF and in hard copy, making it easy to share among the whole team. This means that the lessons and techniques can be successful for all team members, not just the facilitator.

5. Improving Agile Retrospectives: Helping Teams Become More Efficient

In Improving Agile Retrospectives, experienced agile trainer and mentor Marc Loeffler uses a mix of advice, battle-tested practices, and innovative processes and ideas to help teams optimize the value and productivity of their retrospectives.

His retrospective book is packed with powerful techniques that can be used in a variety of professional contexts, agile or otherwise. It is designed to drive continuous improvement with everything from team-level ‘lessons-learned’ workshops to organization-wide change.

The author uses his background in training and facilitation to provide detailed, results-driven examples that allow you to identify and solve common problems, as well as adapt the general principles of agile retrospectives to your bespoke business needs. Loeffler is an advocate of breakthrough concepts and innovative blue-sky thinking. And the book is a treasure trove of small ideas that have a huge impact — largely because they are tried, tested, and demonstrate real-world success.

6. Fifty Quick Ideas To Improve Your Retrospectives

Designed to be super-accessible and easy to get into, this retrospective book provides a comprehensive list of tips and hints designed to make retrospectives more productive. Better still, this title caters for facilitators, scrum masters, and teams of all levels of experience and expertise.

If you’re looking for continuous improvement as a team — in software development or product delivery, and at an enterprise level as well — then this is a great start. The ‘Fifty Quick Ideas’ concept makes it a great jumping-off point for teams new to the concept of agile retrospectives, but the ideas shared are sophisticated and innovative enough to be just as useful for agile veterans, too.

It works particularly well as a reference book, that is something to dip in and out of for specific solutions to specific situations. But it’s also a great overall guide to organizing retrospectives and improving general teamwork, whether your teams use agile or not.

7. Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives - A Toolbox of Retrospective Exercises

This one’s a tight, concise retrospective book, aiming to provide teams with the tools they need to make their current retrospectives more effective — and to help them deliver more value in the future.

It provides a series of exercises for bringing your existing retrospective techniques to life, as well as an overview of the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of agile retrospectives. It goes into detail about the business value and team benefits of effective retrospectives, and helps you develop and apply new ways of working as an agile organization.

This is an agile retrospective book that really shows its value when used alongside other resources, whether training, webinars, or other retrospective books. It’s a great reference point for planning and delivering retrospectives, expanding the reach and productivity of existing retrospectives, and even general project management and software development issues, too.

8. The Scrumban [R]Evolution: Getting the Most Out of Agile, Scrum, and Lean Kanban

The Scrumban [R]Evolution is a more focused guidebook, exploring the combination of Scrum and Kanban together; guiding teams to find the best applications for lean/agile principles.

This essential guide to Scrumban shows you how to free up your agile teams to tailor Kanban systems to your specific business issues — and provide solutions to problems that Scrum hasn’t solved.

The unique blend of Kanban as a catalyst on top of Scrum’s foundations, amplifying and expanding on its benefits, is the focus of this definitive textbook. But it has loads to offer facilitators looking for wisdom on retrospectives as well.

9. Retrospectives for Organizational Change: An Agile Approach

In this retrospective book, Jutta Eckstein takes a look at the history of retrospectives, and explores how they can be reimagined and reapplied today. She argues that retrospectives can now be used as a powerful catalyst for wider organizational change — even though they started as a way of gathering team feedback.

To make this argument, Eckstein draws upon use cases of retrospectives for organizational change and goes into detail about their practical applications. This retrospective book is less concerned with making retrospectives more productive or efficient, and more focused on using them as a far more transformative, enterprise-level tool for growth and innovation.

Which title will you try next?

Retrospectives are a huge part of agile project management. These meetings provide vital feedback and learnings that can guide future iterations and projects, as well as helping teams work better together.

The books in this list provide an array of different perspectives on how to get the best out of retrospectives: how to make them work more effectively and how to apply their techniques in different contexts and for alternative ends as well.

While there’s plenty of books on agile and project retrospectives, not every one is created equally. And these are the ones that we think are the most useful — that will have the greatest impact on the way you, your team, and your organization works.

Hungry for more agile retrospective insights? Head over to our blog, where you’ll find everything you need.

The 10 Most Important Agile Coach Interview Questions

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:18:00 +0000

The agile methodology is one of the most widely used project management processes in the world. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. To keep an agile project on track, from concept all the way through to shipping, an agile coach is often an essential member of the team.

An agile coach will be expected to have a deep understanding of the agile methodology and be able to leverage that experience to provide advice, support, and guidance to team members throughout development. The result? A more motivated team and a better final product. And that’s a win-win for everybody.

So, if you’re looking to step into the shoes of the agile coach at a new company, or hoping to move into the role internally, there’s a lot you need to know to land the job — and preparation is key.

But no pressure! With our comprehensive guide to the 10 most important enterprise agile coach interview questions (and their answers), you’ll be ready for whatever the interviewer throws at you.

1: “What is a sprint?”

Sometimes the simplest of questions are the most powerful.

In this case, the simple question “What is a sprint?” is a bit of a red herring.

In reality, the interviewer probably isn’t angling for the “correct” answer, straight from the Agile Manifesto — after all, that should be a given for anyone with agile experience. What they’re really doing is looking for applicants who can articulate exactly what it takes to be a great agile team.

To save time, an interviewer may ask this zinger early on during an agile coach interview.

Get it wrong, and you might find that the interview is cut short.

Get it right, though, and you’ve passed the first test… but it’s not over yet.

2: “How would you go about choosing the length of a sprint?”

As an agile coach, part of your job will be planning and deploying the agile methodology — from the big picture to the fine detail.

While many development teams already have established processes, implementing a new one creates an opportunity to make changes. One such change an interviewer might challenge you on is the length of a sprint. After all, sprints are the building blocks of the methodology and have an impact on every aspect of product development.

So, what will it be? 3 weeks? 4 weeks? Even longer?

This question is less about the answer you give, and more about how you get there. To help you out, here are a few influencing factors, each of which are worth bearing in mind as you contemplate your response:

Sprints need deliverables. Setting a sprint too short will result in frustration and no tangible deliverable at the end. That leaves the team disheartened and the business falling behind.
Sprints also need regular deliverables. The flipside of the above is a sprint that’s too long, which can result in feature-creep, scope changes, the “too many cooks” phenomenon, and a poorer end product.
Sprints involve more than just dev work. Remember to consider everything other than the development work itself. Planning, stand-ups, demos — these things all take time, and that can impact your sprint length.

3: “Which agile processes have you used in the past and which do you find most effective?”

True, agile philosophies are the same across the board. But there are several different forms of agile development, and you may be required to cover a few of these in your agile coach interview.

Some you’ll have a natural understanding of through your practical experience, but it never hurts to have a passing familiarity with the others.

The most common agile process used in modern software development is probably the Scrum methodology, so you can almost certainly expect questions on this. But, during your interview prep, you should also take a look at Lean Software Development, Crystal, Feature Driven Development, Kanban, and any others you can find.

Don’t worry, your interviewer won’t (usually) expect you to have in-depth knowledge of more than one or two of these processes, but they’ll definitely be impressed if you’re familiar with them.

4: “What’s the difference between an agile coach and a Scrum Master?”

Understanding the role you’re applying for might seem like a given, but in technical fields like software development, that’s not always the way it goes.

Don’t be surprised if your interviewer tests your knowledge of the role by drawing direct comparisons with similar roles in the industry. The most common of these in the context of an agile coach interview is likely to be the Scrum Master.

Not sure how to delineate the differences? We’ve got you covered:

A Scrum Master is a dedicated resource for a single team when working with the scrum agile framework. The role of the Scrum Master is to ensure that the process and principles of scrum are being followed during development and to support individuals within the team.
An Agile Coach is a dedicated resource for the entire organization. They take a macro view of the agile development process and how it’s deployed within the business. An agile coach is not focused on just one team, but rather all teams who are working within the methodology.

5: “How do you manage changing requirements in the middle of development?”

This question might initially throw you off a little bit, but what it’s really doing is exploring your understanding of the agile ethos itself.

Managing changing requirements is an everyday occurrence in software development. Even at a late stage in the process, if there’s enough evidence coming from customer feedback and research, changes may need to be made. As the agile coach, it’s your job to ensure these changes can be adapted smoothly into your agile processes — and that the organization understands the value of adaptability. After all, it might seem counterintuitive to add, remove, or pivot features late in development, but the key point is that it’s better to take the short-term pain for the long-term gain.

Explaining the management of changing requirements in a clear, concise, and compelling way is a key skill for any agile coach.

6: “Let’s imagine some of your teams dislike retrospectives and they always devolve into blaming one another. How would you handle this?”

Retrospectives are an essential ingredient for successful deployment of the agile methodology. Without them, hard-learned lessons are lost and mistakes can be repeated over and over again.

Some teams working the agile model may feel that retrospectives are opportunities to blame others — to point fingers about what went wrong. This phenomenon is quite common, but it’s entirely missing the point.

If your interviewer poses a scenario in which teams dislike retrospectives, the best approach is to reframe the concept. Retrospectives aren’t about the individual, they’re about the team. They’re not about one worker’s performance, but rather the progress made towards the end goal: the final product.

As an agile coach, you need to strike the fine balance between personalities and teamwork, and the retrospective is often where such divisions make themselves known. But it’s your opportunity to improve the process, too.

7: “What is your experience managing agile transformation?”

It’s not always a given that the company hiring for an agile coach already has the agile methodology up and running.

In fact, in many cases, an agile coach is one of the first hires made to begin what’s known as the “agile transformation”. This essentially refers to a fundamental shift in development approach from another framework — usually a form of waterfall development — to agile.

If you’re asked at interview about your experience in agile transformation, the most important thing you want to convey is your deep understanding of the process. Not just how it works day-to-day, but also how it’s applied to an organization as a whole. This includes everything from setting up specific processes (like tracking sprints via Jira) to helping individuals better understand agile and how it will help them in their role.

8: “How would you deal with a team who resists the agile methodology?”

Leading nicely on from our previous question, it’s only natural that some members of a team may resist the introduction of the agile framework.

After all, the status quo is a hard thing to break. But, as an agile coach, it’s really up to you to manage, educate, and calm the concerns of a transitioning team.

If this question comes up in your agile coach interview, be sure to focus not just on the practical considerations of a shift to agile, but also how important it is to fully complete the transformation. Agile-resistant development teams have been known to deploy diluted or half-hearted versions of the agile methodology and, as any agile coach will tell you, it’s an all or nothing game.

Managing agile-resistant teams is about helping them understand the end goal, why it will benefit them as individuals, and why it’s so important to be “all-in” as the organization makes the jump.

9: “How would you assist a team member who is dropped into the agile methodology for the first time?”

Making the move to an agile development environment can be daunting.

One of the biggest shifts is that individual team members may essentially be left to their own devices during a sprint, only to be held to account as the sprint ends. For some people, this change in working methodology can be a bumpy ride.

As the name suggests, it’s the role of the agile coach to assist team members who may be having trouble adapting to agile. If this question makes an appearance during your interview, you’re simply being assessed on your ability to manage individual concerns within a team context.

So how is it done? Here are a few pointers:

Help the team member understand that agile presents new opportunities for personal and professional growth. The trial-and-error nature of the sprint system means that developers can feel free to try something totally new — and that’s really fun!
Focus on the alignment of the team’s contributions to the overall goals of the company. When individuals can see the results of the work they’ve done in action, their motivation will naturally increase.

10: “How would you manage overlapping iterations?”

As we’ve seen, the agile methodology isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

Each development team uses it in a slightly different way, and it’s up to the agile coach to adapt to this in each organization.

One particular topic which may come up is the question of overlapping iterations or sprints.

In a nutshell, this refers to a multi-team organization all working on different sprints at the same time. The lynchpin here is the timing of these sprints. If they’re not broadly aligned, you’ll find that some teams are finishing sprints while others are just starting, some are planning while others are holding retrospectives.

There’s nothing wrong with this approach at all, if the business is set up for it, but an interviewer for the agile coach role may ask you how you’d manage such a setup.

Don’t worry, it’s not a trick question. Just focus on the strategies you’d deploy to ensure team cohesion and motivation despite overlapping schedules.

That’s the agile coach job interview questions and answers taken care of — the rest is up to you

Nobody ever said landing the role of agile coach was easy. That’s probably because it’s not. But it is incredibly rewarding… for the right candidate.

If that’s you, these 10 agile coach interview questions (and answers) will serve as an excellent foundation to prepare for your interview. In the days leading up to your meeting, don’t be afraid to build on what we’ve covered here. Swot up, geek out, and immerse yourself in all things agile (you’ll find plenty more insights on our blog, too!).

From there, take the knowledge you’ve built and channel it into your interview responses on the big day, with confidence and expertise.

You’ve got this! Best of luck.

23 Questions To Ask During A Sprint Retrospective

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 10:18:00 +0000

When it comes to holding a sprint retrospective, the Scrum Master’s primary concern is often what the outcomes of the exercise will be. But concentrating solely on results misses half of the equation — we’d argue the most important half!

To get the best possible information and action items out of a retrospective, you have to start by finding the right sprint retrospective questions to ask. This can (and should) be 50% of the work in running an effective review.

Luckily, in this blog, we’ve done most of that work for you!

A quick recap of sprint retrospectives

If you’re not familiar with the basics of running a sprint retrospective, here’s a quick rundown:

A sprint retrospective is an in-depth review meeting that takes place immediately at the end of a sprint. A Scrum Master will gather together all the critical stakeholders of the sprint and:

Gather data and insights from their team (what went well, what went poorly, etc.)
Discuss the data and insights and make action items around them
Make a plan for improvements on the next sprint

There are four key things to keep in mind in order to run a productive sprint retrospective:

Timing - Sprint retrospectives should happen immediately after the conclusion of a sprint. The length of the meeting will vary depending on the length of the sprint. For example, a two-month sprint might require a half-day retrospective, whereas a week-long sprint might only need 30 minutes.
Model - There are a lot of different models and templates that you can use for sprint retrospectives. Using a model can help keep things fun, organized, and enhance team participation.
Setting expectations and creating a safe space for sharing - Before you begin any retrospective, get everyone in your group on the same page by laying some ground rules. Discuss how the retrospective will run and what the goals are. Make sure everyone knows that there should be no blame, judgmental comments, or blatant negativity. Keep things light but focused. And last but not least (the subject of what we’ll be discussing in this article):
Asking good sprint retrospective questions - What do you say in a retrospective meeting?

Let’s dive in!

The best sprint retrospective meeting questions

We’re going to break these questions out into sections based on each phase of a typical retrospective:

Before you begin the retrospective
Brainstorming and data gathering
Review
Closure

Questions to ask before you begin the retrospective

This is your chance to set the tone for the whole review. Your ultimate goal for questions here is to gauge the team pulse on the project. What you ask here will either start the retrospective off on a positive or more negative foot – so it’s important to get it right. Make sure everyone is prepared to begin, and all relevant agenda items have been added.

Here are some sample questions to start with:

Does everyone feel comfortable sharing today?
Does everyone agree with the agenda and our time limit for today’s retrospective?
Anything you’d like to get off your chest before we begin?
Does everyone fully understand the idea behind the model/template we’ll be using for this retrospective?
Can we all go around and give one compliment about this sprint to another member of the team? (This question will help set a positive tone!)

Questions to ask during the brainstorming and data gathering phase

For this next phase of the retrospective, your questions should focus on making sure the direction and goals of the retrospective are crystal clear to all of your participants.

This section should also undoubtedly include the “big 4” agile sprint retrospective questions.

What are the 4 retrospective questions?

What went right in this sprint?
What went wrong in this sprint?
What can we commit to in our next sprint?
What have you learned from this project?

Consider asking these additional questions as well:

What were our strengths in this sprint as a team?
What were our weaknesses in this sprint?
What were the biggest obstacles in achieving our goal?
What were the biggest enablers?
Who helped you immensely on the team during this sprint?
What pitfalls do we foresee for future projects?

Sprint retro questions to ask during the review phase

The review phase is when your Scrum team looks at all of the data and insights gathered during brainstorming to try and find patterns and discuss solutions. It’s useful during the review phase to use a template or whiteboard to organize action items:

How can we capitalize on what went right in our next sprint?
How can we fix what went wrong in our next sprint?
How can we utilize our strengths better?
How can we help strengthen our weak areas?
How do we overcome or avoid these obstacles in the future?
How can you help your fellow team members?
What’s the most important lesson you’ll take away from this sprint retrospective?

Questions to ask when closing a sprint retrospective

Typically, the closing is one of the most rewarding parts of any retrospective for the Scrum master. Closing the retrospective is a good time to firm up any actionable insights or action items that your team can walk away with to enhance performance on the next sprint.

As with the other sections, clarity is the name of the game for this phase. If anyone walks away from the meeting with confusion about next steps or something that was said, it can lessen the effectiveness of your retrospective.

To prevent that from happening, consider using these questions during the closing phase:

Can you reiterate the most important thing you learned today?
How are you feeling about our next sprint now that we’ve identified these issues?
Is anyone confused or unclear on any of the items we discussed today?
Do all of our next steps make sense?
Are you crystal clear on what action items you are taking away from this sprint retrospective?

Adapt and Adjust

The scrum retrospective questions above can be adjusted to fit almost any style or model you choose. And they should give you a great launch board. But of course, no one knows your team as you do. While these thoughtful retrospective questions are a great start, you may need to adapt them to the vibe of the group.

Consider each of your team members’ personalities and consider what the underlying mood of the project was. For example, you don’t want to ask, “what was the biggest obstacle in this sprint” if the answer is evident (like a member of your team left the company halfway through). You could instead say, “It was tough when our team member left, what obstacles did that place on your role in this project?”

Feel free to copy and paste the list of questions above and tailor them to your next sprint retrospective, and you’ll be off to a great start!

Ready for your Scrum Master interview questions?

Interviewing for a Scrum Master position can be an intimidating process, but it’s vital that you’re a genuine fit. Otherwise, a lack of knowledge, experience, and leadership skills could lead to serious delivery issues down the line.

Take the time to research all key elements/terms covered in our 25 questions to maximize your chances of success. And good luck.

How your team can reduce the scrum retrospective time

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 10:18:00 +0000

No matter what project management methodology your team is adhering to, continuous improvement should always be the focus. And the only way to achieve this is to get together regularly to discuss the project’s strengths and weaknesses. This meeting is called the sprint retrospective.

The sprint retrospective is the last thing done in a sprint and is the time when the team comes together to discuss the performance of individual members as well as the team as a whole. This is an important event for scrum teams since the focus of the agile methodology is continuous improvement.

Different companies call this meeting different names. Sometimes it’s called “sprint retrospective”, sometimes “sprint retro”, sometimes just “retrospective”. No matter what your team calls it, this event serves one purpose and that is for the team to reflect on their way of working, and to continuously become better.

However, the more you do something, the more it becomes a drag. When the team gets bored with this repetitive activity, the process can become dull.

Retrospectives doesn’t have to be a drag. They don’t even have to be long!

Here are some tips on how your team can reduce the scrum retrospective time to make your meetings more productive:

Pre-planning

There are some advice against planning retrospective meetings stating that the conversations during the said event should develop organically. After all, the Agile manifesto clearly states that responding to change should be given more importance over following a plan.

However, there’s just something very assuring to have a plan laid out even if it’s not needed.

If you are in charge of planning the retrospective, keep in mind that there’s a high chance that your team won’t be sticking to your “perfect” plan anyway. You will end up adopting the original plan heavily and adjusting it according to the team’s need as the meeting progresses. But having a plan that could be adjusted as you go is the best way your retrospective can accomplish its goals.

Follow the pattern

Diana Larsen and Esther Derby defined the good pattern on retrospectives as the following:

Set the Stage

Approximate time: less than 5 minutes

Setting the stage helps team members focus on the work at hand and this practice also contributes to setting atmosphere where people feel comfortable discussing issues. The facilitator can start with a simple welcome message and appreciation for people’s investment of time. He or she should state the purpose of the retrospective and the goal for the session.

Gather Data

Approximate time: 10 minutes

Gathering data creates a shared picture of what happened during the sprint. Without a common picture, members of the team tend to verify their own opinions and beliefs. Gathering data expands everyone’s perspective.

Data during this part of the meeting is categorized into two types: facts and feelings.

Facts:

Start with collecting the hard data. This includes events such as meetings, decision points, milestones, celebrations, adopting new technologies or any event that had meaning to someone on the team. Metrics is also considered as hard data and this includes burndown charts, velocity, defect counts, number of stories completed, amount of code refactored, effort data, and so on.

The facilitator can ask people to report verbally on data and events or use the team’s task board and big visible charts.

Feelings:

This is also the time when members of the team share their thoughts and feelings regarding the sprint. Some people don’t actively talk about their feelings about work unless they are encouraged to. Creating an organized way for people to open up makes it easier to raise topics that have an emotional charge. Emotional discontent doesn’t go away - it goes underground and saps energy and motivation. The only way to solve it is to voice it out and let others contribute their input on how to solve the problem.

Generate Insights

Approximate time: 10 minutes

This is the part of the retrospective where the team discusses what to do differently. The facilitator should lead the team to examine the data gathered and look for patterns that can lead to success. This is the time when the team thinks together and consider possibilities, look at causes and effects, and reflect about them analytically.

Decide What To Do

Approximate time: 5 minutes

At this point, the team has already come up with a list of potential improvements. However, there are times when the retrospective has developed a long list of changes that needs to be executed. But keep in mind that too many initiatives can overwhelm your ability to change.

It’s a good practice to focus on one or two improvements for the next sprint. The facilitator should help the team choose items that they can truly commit to and that will have a positive effect that is sustainable over a long time. .

Close

Approximate time: less than 5 minutes

The retrospective should close with an appreciation for the hard work everyone did during the sprint and during the retrospective.

The team should also decide how they will retain what they have learned during the meeting and how they can track the progress of the new practices they are about to implement in the next sprint. All the notes and visual records should be distributed to the team so they have something to look back to after the retrospective is over.

According to the Agile Retrospectives by Diana Larsen and Esther Derby, using this structure will help your team do the following:

Understand different points of view.
Follow a natural order of thinking.
Take a comprehensive view of the team’s current methods and practices.
Allow the discussion to go where it needs to go, rather than predetermining the outcome.
Leave the retrospective with concrete action and experiments for the next sprint.

The Scrum Team of Today

Originally, the scrum framework of Agile project development was imagined for teams physically located together in the same office. But let’s get real, most businesses today have a few distributed teams that work on projects remotely. In fact, a survey found out that 57% of the respondents were having geographically dispersed teams.

What is a distributed team exactly?

As soon as your team is not sitting in the same office building to do your work, you are considered to be a distributed team.

Different companies have different reasons why they chose to have teams work remotely but most of them face the difficulty of coordinating their time-zones, building rapport, collaborating among different development cultures and not having all the benefits one can get when having face-to-face interactions.

It’s a good thing that there are online tools distributed teams can utilize to facilitate retrospectives. A good example is Fun Retro, a fun retrospective tool you can use for your regular sprint session to discuss what went well and what didn’t. You’ll be able to easily identify obstacles and discuss ideas for improvements that will allow you to move forward unhindered.

Tips for Distributed Team Retrospectives

The concept of a functional remote team is still a new one which is why there’s still a lot to figure out. Being on a distributed team is not easy but it’s also not as complicated as many people think! Your team has to make use of tools but the secret in working well with your team (distributed or not), is to focus on self and team improvement.

Here are four tips in making retrospectives with your distributed teams fun and effective:

1. Create a regular schedule

When working with a remote team, it is easy to push back meetings to prioritize other on-site issues. On top of that, coordinating calendars across multiple time zones is a nightmare! But by giving your team a regular time to get together, you are creating a setting ideal for effective collaboration.

2. Be nice

This might sound like such a simple advice but it really does make a huge difference. Even though you don’t see them that much, try to get to know members of your remote team and understand that they probably have a lot more going on in their lives than work.

You can even set up a casual group time outside your retrospectives just so team members can get together and chat casually.

3. Be honest

Retrospectives are pointless if team members aren’t honest in voicing out their thoughts and opinions regarding the recent sprint. Be truthful and also encourage other team members to share their feelings as well. Sprint retrospective is a safe place where team members can share their feedback honestly and everyone should be able to reveal difficult issues.

4. Make actionable commitments

During retrospectives, the team should determine measurable actions that they can implement in the next sprint for continuous improvement. For distributed teams, it’s important the actions are measurable. Again, choose one or two goals that would be achievable in one sprint. Focusing on too many improvements would make the team lose focus.

How to run a sprint retrospective in EasyRetro

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Running retros is not that easy and it can be hard sometimes if you don’t have everything planned and a framework in mind. So this post will help you to do your first sprint retrospective in a few basic steps.

First you should invite everyone involved on the team to participate on the retrospective and assign a facilitator to guide it. The facilitator can be someone from the team or someone from outside that the team is comfortable with sharing details with.

You can start by creating a board on EasyRetro and if you want to simplify things you can select the basic template “Went well - To improve - Action Items“ and select 6 votes per person default option.

A sprint retrospective consist of 5 basic steps:

1 - Review last retro

Before starting the retro you can review with your team your last action items and discuss what was completed and what was not. In this step you can discuss the blockers and if the action item should be moved to the next sprint or not.

2 - Brainstorm

Start your retro by asking your participants to do a brainstorm individually and write cards on “Went well” and “To improve” columns. Those cards should reflect things or feelings that happened on the last sprint and people think it’s worth sharing it.

A facilitator can control this step by allowing people to write for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes is done, everyone should stop writing.

3 - Merge similar cards

In this step the facilitator should read card by card and ask people if they think that card should be merged with another one on the board. If everyone agrees they should be merged, the facilitator can merge them.

4 - Votes

After merging the cards the facilitator can asign 5 minutes for people to vote on the cards they want to discuss, each person will have 3 votes for the “Went well” column and 3 more for the “To improve” column.

5 - Discussion and Action items

After everyone voted on the cards, you can sort the columns by votes and select the top 3 most voted cards to be discussed with everyone. You can start with the most voted card and read out-loud to everyone. After that the team can discuss how the issue can be fixed and what constructive things can be done. After that you can do the same with the other 2 cards, or more, if there’s enough time for it.

When people agree to create an action item, the facilitator can write the card on the “Action items” column and write the name of the person assigned to it.

The action items should follow the SMART format: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

This step should last about 20 minutes or until your team discussed the most voted cards.

This is the most basic format to do a retrospective, it’s not the best one but one that works. You can follow the steps and also customise in order to best fit your team process.

Como fazer uma retrospectiva de sprint no EasyRetro

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Executar retrospectivas não é tão fácil quanto parece e pode ser uma tarefa difícil, especialmente se você não planejar antecipadamente ou não tiver uma estrutura em mente. Esta postagem irá te ajudar a fazer sua primeira retrospectiva de sprint de forma básica e em algumas etapas.

Antes de começar com a restrospectiva primeiramente você deve convidar todos os envolvidos da equipe para participarem. Após isso você deve designar um facilitador para orientar na retrospectiva.

O facilitador pode ser alguém da equipe ou alguém de fora da equipe. Um ponto importante a respeito da escolha de um facilitador é que você e seu time devem se sentir confortáveis ao compartilhar informações com essa pessoa.

Você pode começar criando uma board no EasyRetro. Se você quiser simplificar esse processo, antes de criar um novo board você pode escolher o modelo básico de retrospectiva “ O que foi bom? - O que podemos melhorar? - Ações “ e selecionar a opção padrão de 6 votos por pessoa.

Uma retrospectiva de sprint consiste em 5 etapas básicas:

1 - Rever a última retrospectiva

Antes de iniciar uma retrospectiva, você pode revisar com sua equipe seus últimos itens da coluna de ações e discutir o que foi concluído e o que não foi. Nesta etapa, você pode discutir se há algum bloqueio e se os itens na coluna de ações devem ser movidos ou não para o próximo sprint.

2 - Brainstorm

Comece sua retrospectiva pedindo aos participantes que façam um brainstorm individualmente e adicionem cards (cartões ou post-it) nas colunas “O que foi bom?” e “O que podemos melhorar?”. Esses cartões devem refletir coisas ou sentimentos com base no que aconteceu no último sprint.

Um facilitador pode controlar essa etapa permitindo que as pessoas escrevam por 10 minutos. Após 10 minutos, todos devem parar de escrever.

3 - Juntar cards semelhantes

Nesta etapa, o facilitador deve ler todos os cards e perguntar aos participantes quais os cards eles acham que deveriam ser juntados. Com a concordância de todos, nesta etapa cards semelhantes devem ser juntados. O facilitador pode juntá-los.

4 - Votos

Após a fusão dos cartões, o facilitador pode atribuir 5 minutos para que as pessoas votem nos cartões que desejam discutir, cada pessoa terá 3 votos na coluna “ O que foi bom?” e 3 votos na coluna “ O que podemos melhorar “.

5 - Discussão e Ações

Depois que todos votarem nos cartões, você pode classificar os cartões nas colunas por votos e selecionar os 3 primeiros cartões mais votados para serem discutidos com todos.

Você pode começar com o cartão mais votado e lê-lo em voz alta para todos. Depois disso, a equipe pode discutir como o problema pode ser corrigido e o que fazer para resolvê-lo. Em seguida, você pode fazer o mesmo com os outros 2 cartões (ou em mais cartões) se houver tempo suficiente para isso.

Quando as pessoas concordarem em criar uma ação, o facilitador pode adicionar um novo cartão na coluna “ Ações” e escrever o nome da pessoa atribuída a ele. Os itens da coluna de ações devem seguir o formato SMART: específico, mensurável, alcançável, realista e dentro do tempo. Esta etapa deve durar cerca de 20 minutos ou até que sua equipe discuta os cartões mais votados.

Após passar por essas 5 etapas você pode encerrar sua retrospectiva de sprint. Este é o formato mais básico para fazer uma retrospectiva, não é o melhor, mas funciona de forma simples e prática.

Se gostou desse formato você pode seguir essas etapas e também personalizá-las para melhor se adequar ao processo de sua equipe.

Who should and should not be included in a sprint retrospective

Fri, 22 May 2020 10:18:00 +0000

A lot of things can go wrong in software development and even if the Scrum team had a good sprint, there are always a lot of opportunities to improve. The team should set aside a brief period at the end of each sprint to discuss how they did, inspect the performance of each team member and plan for improvements for the next sprint. This meeting is the sprint retrospective.

Project Management Methodologies

Essentially, a project management methodology is a set of principles for managing a project. The methodology chosen will have a profound impact on how a certain project develops as it defines how each team member works and communicates.

There are tons of project management methodologies. Some have been around for decades such as the Waterfall which is considered to one of the oldest methodologies still practiced today. It was outlined by Dr. Winston Royce in 1970 as a response to managing the increasingly complex nature of software development. Some are fairly recent, such as the Agile which formally came into being in 2001 at the release of the “Agile Manifesto”.

The Agile project management methodology was designed to be flexible and iterative. Agile projects are a series of tasks that are conceived, performed and adjusted as the situation demands, rather than have them go through a pre-planned process. This methodology is great to use in the dynamic environment of software development where there’s a lot potential for changing or evolving requirements. But because it’s just a set of principles, Agile is not considered to be a methodology on its own. The project team still has to define a structured process for delivering projects.

This is where the Scrum framework comes in.

The Scrum Framework

“Scrum” and “Agile” are often used interchangeably, however, the two concepts are not the same. Agile is the defined set of principles, while Scrum is a specific framework of action in line with Agile’s principles. The best analogy to define the difference between the two is to inspect the relation of a diet and a recipe. A diet prescribes what is okay to eat or not okay eat and the recipe is the framework used to apply the said principles of a diet. In this example, Agile is the diet whereas Scrum is one of the recipes.

In Scrum, work is divided into sprints which is defined by the Scrum Guide as “a time-box of one month or less during which a useable and potentially releasable product is created”. Once a sprint begins, its duration is fixed and cannot be shortened or lengthened.

Each sprint is consists of the following events: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

The Sprint Retrospective

The sprint retrospective is the last thing done in a sprint and is the time when the whole team comes together and discusses the team’s performance. The meeting should be a safe place where team members can share their feedback on what aspects of the product development can be improved and have a discussion on how to implement positive changes in the next sprint. Makes sense, especially since the focus of the agile methodology is continuous improvement.

If run well, a sprint retrospective can help the project team identify areas for improvement for individual roles as well as have conversations around how to work better as a team. If run poorly, the meeting can turn into a bashing session which ultimately results to missed opportunities for growth.

Collaboration: The Essence of a Good Spring Retrospective

Let’s face it, not all teams are collocated. Today, many software development teams are virtual organizations. Good thing there are tons of online tools and platforms to facilitate sprint retrospectives for distributed teams. One good example is Fun Retro, which allows teams collaborate remotely. This is an effective tool which have been used by thousands of teams to improve their retrospectives.

The Sprint Retrospective Attendees

Because the spring retrospective is the time to reflect on the project’s development process, the full Scrum team needs to attend. This includes the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the development team.

Scrum Master - The Scrum Master is the facilitator of the team, the person is responsible for promoting and supporting by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
Product Owner - The product owner is the leader responsible for maximizing the value of the products created by a scrum development team.
Development Team - Everyone who is designing, building, and testing the product.

The Scrum Master should always be in attendance during spring retrospectives because he or she is an integral part of the whole process. This person serves as the coach of the Scrum team and points out where the team is not adhering to its rules and values.

There is an existing debate as to whether or not the product owner should attend sprint retrospectives. Some think that his or her presence is vital but on the other hand, some feel that the product owner’s presence defeats the main purpose of retrospective meetings which is to provide a safe and open place for feedback discussions because it might inhibit the team from being completely honest or revealing difficult issues.

However, the Scrum Guide defines the Sprint Retrospective as “an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint”. This means that the event is meant for the Scrum Team as a whole: Development Team, Scrum Master and Product Owner. There is no way that the Scrum team will reach its full potential if only the developers discuss which areas they should improve on.

If the product owner is not considered to be a part of the team, then this is an issue that needs to be overcome; in fact, it is a good topic to be discussed in the retrospective. If you and your team are tempted to hold a sprint retrospective without your product owner, think about why and have a discussion about it. The Scrum team and the product owner needs to have complete trust. This is the only way that the team can perform on its maximum capacity.

Who Shouldn’t Be Attending the Sprint Retrospective

The meeting should be a “safe place” where the Scrum team discusses their recent sprint and the improvements they are going to implement on the next one. According to The Disciplined Agile Framework, the “safe place” is affected by the presence of people with positional authority, potential agendas or other implicit impact. Having outsiders as guests at the retrospective will definitely change the dynamics. However, it is the decision of the team if they will allow outsiders in their sprint retrospectives.

Tips for Product Owners in a Sprint Retrospective

Be part of the Scrum Team

As stated above, there are instances where product owners are not invited in the sprint retrospective. If you are a product owner and you’re not being invited to the meetings, discuss this issue with the team first. If you are deliberately not attending the meetings, you are wasting opportunities to strengthen your relationship with them.

Take part in the discussions

If you are already attending the meeting, make sure to take part in the discussions in the improvement of the team’s work. If you have any concerns, say it in a constructive way. Don’t attend just to tell everybody what to do.

Tips for guiding a Sprint Retrospective

Start, stop continue

Start, Stop, Continue is an action-oriented retrospective technique that encourages participants to come up with practical ideas for team-based improvement. This method is very action-oriented. Instead of asking team members how they feel, they are directed to discuss behaviors they want to start, stop and continue for the betterment of the entire team.

Measure results

In order for the meetings to serve their purpose, there needs to be a measuring of results. The Scrum Master should be the eyes and ears of the team once the meetings are over and analyze if the whole team is implementing the changes they talked about in the retrospective.

Talk about what went well

Most teams only discuss the negative issues during sprint retrospectives but it’s important to talk about the good stuff as well. Dwelling too much on the negative can decrease team morale. “If your retrospective is an hour long and the whole hour is about what went wrong, no one is going to eagerly participate in them going forward.” - Marco Corona for Agile Connection

Quem deve e não deve ser incluído em uma retrospectiva de sprint?

Fri, 22 May 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Muitas coisas podem dar errado no desenvolvimento de software e mesmo que o Time de Scrum tenha um bom sprint, sempre há oportunidades para melhorar. As equipes devem sempre reservar um breve período no final de cada sprint e fazer uma reunião para discutir como eles se saíram, inspecionar o desempenho de cada membro da equipe e planejar melhorias para o próximo sprint. Esta reunião é a retrospectiva de sprint.

Metodologias de gerenciamento de projetos

Essencialmente, uma metodologia de gerenciamento de projetos é um conjunto de princípios para gerenciar um projeto. A metodologia escolhida terá um impacto profundo na forma como um determinado projeto se desenvolve, pois define como cada membro da equipe trabalha e se comunica.

Existem toneladas de metodologias de gerenciamento de projetos. Algumas existem há décadas, como a Waterfall que é considerada uma das mais antigas metodologias ainda praticadas hoje. Ela foi criada pelo Dr. Winston Royce em 1970 para atender a necessidade do crescimento cada vez mais complexo do desenvolvimento de software. Algumas metodologias são mais recentes, como o Agile que surgiu formalmente em 2001 com o lançamento do “Agile Manifesto”.

A metodologia de gerenciamento de projetos Agile foi projetada para ser flexível e iterativa. Projetos ágeis são uma série de tarefas que são concebidas, executadas e ajustadas conforme a situação exige, este não é um processo pré-planejado. Esta metodologia é ótima para uso no ambiente dinâmico de desenvolvimento de software, onde há muito potencial para mudanças. Em função de ser apenas um conjunto de princípios, Agile não é apenas considerado uma metodologia por si só. A equipe envolvida no projeto ainda precisa definir um processo estruturado para a entrega dos projetos. É aqui que entra o framework de Scrum.

O Framework Scrum

“Scrum” e “Agile” são freqüentemente usados alternadamente, no entanto, os dois conceitos não são os mesmos. Agile é o conjunto definido de princípios, enquanto Scrum é uma estrutura específica de ações que estão alinhadas com os princípios do Agile. A melhor analogia para definir a diferença entre os dois é comparando a diferença entre uma dieta e uma receita. Uma dieta prescreve o que é bom comer ou não comer e a receita é a estrutura usada para aplicar os ditos princípios de uma dieta. Neste exemplo, Agile é a dieta enquanto Scrum é uma das receitas.

No Scrum, o trabalho é dividido em sprints que são definidos pelo Guia do Scrum da seguinte forma: “Um período de um mês ou menos durante o qual um produto utilizável e potencialmente liberável é criado”. Depois que um sprint começa, sua duração é fixa e não pode ser encurtada ou prolongada.

Cada sprint consiste nos seguintes eventos: Planejamento de Sprint, Scrums diários, o trabalho de desenvolvimento, Revisão de Sprint e Retrospectiva de Sprint.

A Retrospectiva de Sprint

A retrospectiva de sprint é a última coisa feita em um sprint e é o momento em que toda a equipe se reúne para discutir seu desempenho. A reunião deve ser um lugar seguro onde os membros da equipe possam compartilhar feedback a respeito do desenvolvimento do produto, apresentar melhorias e ter uma discussão sobre como implementar mudanças positivas no próximo sprint. Esse processo da restrospectiva de sprint faz muito sentido, pelo fato de estar alinhado e ter o mesmo foco da metodologia ágil o qual julga necessário a melhoria contínua.

Se bem executada, uma retrospectiva de sprint pode ajudar a equipe do projeto a identificar áreas de melhoria para funções individuais, bem como ter conversas sobre como trabalhar melhor em equipe. Se uma retrospectiva de sprint for mal executada, a reunião pode se transformar em uma sessão negativa que, em última análise, resultaria na perda de oportunidades para crescimento.

Colaboração: A essência de uma boa retrospectiva de sprint

Hoje em dia muitas equipes de desenvolvimento de software são organizações virtuais distribuídas remotamente. Ainda bem que existem toneladas de ferramentas e plataformas online para facilitar retrospectivas de sprint. Um ótimo exemplo disso é a plataforma da EasyRetro, que permite que equipes colaborem de forma remota. Esta é uma ferramenta eficaz que tem sido usada por milhares de equipes de diversos países para melhorarem suas retrospectivas.

Os participantes da retrospectiva da Sprint

Como a retrospectiva de sprint é o momento de refletir sobre o processo de desenvolvimento do projeto, toda a equipe de Scrum precisa comparecer. Isso inclui o Scrum Master, o Product Owner e a equipe de desenvolvimento.

Scrum Master - O Scrum Master é o facilitador do time, é a pessoa responsável por promover e apoiar ajudando todos a entender a teoria, práticas, regras e valores do Scrum.
Product Owner - O Product Owner é o líder responsável por maximizar o valor dos produtos criados por uma equipe de desenvolvimento scrum.
Equipe de desenvolvimento – São todos que estão criando, construindo e testando o produto.

O Scrum Master deve estar sempre presente durante as retrospectivas de sprint, pois essa pessoa é fundamental em fazer parte de todo o processo. O Scrum Master atua como o treinador da equipe de Scrum e aponta onde a equipe não está alinhada com as regras e valores do Scrum.

Existes debates que discutem se o Product Owner deve ou não participar de retrospectivas de sprint. Alguns pensam que sua presença é vital, e outros acham que a presença do Product Owner anula o objetivo principal das reuniões de retrospectivas, que é fornecer um local seguro e aberto para discussões e feedback. Muitos pensam que a presença do Product Owner pode inibir a equipe de ser completamente honesta e de revelar questões difíceis.

No entanto, o Guia do Scrum define a Retrospectiva de Sprint como “Uma oportunidade para o Time de Scrum inspecionar-se e criar um plano de melhorias a ser implementado durante o próximo Sprint”. Isso significa que o evento é direcionado ao Time de Scrum como um todo: Time de Desenvolvimento, Scrum Master e Product Owner. Não há como a equipe de Scrum atingir seu potencial máximo se apenas os desenvolvedores discutirem em quais áreas eles devem melhorar.

Se o Product Owner não for considerado parte da equipe, então esse é um problema que precisa ser superado, na verdade esse seria um bom tópico para ser discutido na retrospectiva. Se você e sua equipe ficarem tentados a realizar uma retrospectiva de sprint sem o Product Owner, pense sobre o motivo e converse sobre isso. A equipe de Scrum e o Product Owner precisam ter total confiança. Só assim a equipe poderá atuar em sua capacidade máxima.

Quem não deveria estar participando de uma retrospectiva de sprint?

A reunião deve ser um “lugar seguro” onde a equipe de Scrum discute seu sprint recente e discute as melhorias que irão implementar no próximo sprint. De acordo com o Disciplined Agile Framework, o “lugar seguro” é afetado pela presença de pessoas com autoridade posicional, agendas potenciais ou outro impacto implícito. Ter pessoas de fora como convidados na retrospectiva definitivamente mudará a dinâmica. No entanto, é decisão da equipe se eles permitirão que estranhos façam parte de suas retrospectivas de sprint.

Dicas para Product Owners em uma retrospectiva de sprint

Faça parte do Time Scrum

Conforme mencionamos anteriormente, há casos em que o Product Owner não é convidado para a retrospectiva de sprint. Se você é um Product Owner e não está sendo convidado para as reuniões, discuta esse problema com a equipe primeiro. Se você deliberadamente não comparece às reuniões, está desperdiçando oportunidades de fortalecer seu relacionamento com a equipe.

Participe das discussões

Se você já está participando da reunião, certifique-se de participar das discussões para a melhoria do trabalho da equipe. Se você tiver alguma dúvida, pergunte de forma construtiva. Não compareça nas reuniões apenas para dizer a todos o que fazer.

Dicas para guiar uma Retrospectiva de Sprint

Comece, pare e continue

Comece, pare e continue é uma técnica de retrospectiva orientada que incentiva os participantes a apresentarem ideias práticas e melhorias para a equipe. Este método é orientado a ação, ou seja ao invés de perguntar aos membros da equipe como se sentem, eles são orientados a discutir os comportamentos que desejam começar a aderir, comportamentos que devem parar de ter e comportamentos que devem continuar a serem usados para a melhoria de toda a equipe.

Medir resultados

Para que as reuniões atendam ao seu propósito, é necessário que haja uma medição dos resultados. O Scrum Master deve ser os olhos e ouvidos da equipe. Após o término de cada reunião o Scrum Master deve também analisar se a equipe está implementando as mudanças sobre as quais foram discutidas na retrospectiva.

Fale sobre o que correu bem

A maioria das equipes apenas discute as questões negativas durante as retrospectivas de sprint, mas é importante falar sobre as coisas boas também. Pensar muito no negativo pode diminuir a moral da equipe. “Se a sua retrospectiva durar uma hora e durante todo esse periodo for discutido somente o que deu errado, ninguém vai querer participar das retrospectivas e todos perderão o entusiasmo em fazer parte delas.” - Marco Corona da Conexão Ágil

Our list of remote work tools

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Here is a list of remote tools we use at EasyRetro. It’s not a definitive list but a list of tools we tried and like to use. Remote work is growing every day and the need for good tools is increasing.

Notion

Notion is a great place to create a workspace for your remote team. You can organize todo lists, notes, roadmaps and more.

Mural.co

Mural is a nice whiteboard tool to use for many different use cases. You can also create templates and select templates already created.

Standuply

Standuply is a async tool for doing standups. It is simple and you use it by creating short videos to give your daily status.

Loom

Loom is a great tool to communicate with your colleagues using video. It can also be used to create support videos for your customers.

Whereby

Whereby is a simple tool to use for video conference.

What are smart goals

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Far too many projects fail due to a lack of clarity. How do you get to your destination if you are not 100% clear on where you are going? Many teams struggle for the same reason. Team members are all working hard. However, they waste a lot of effort due to a lack of specifically defined desired outcomes. The success of a project and the effectiveness of a team is often set before a project even begins. Setting SMART goals upfront will give your team the clarity they need. This will allow them to achieve your desired outcomes. It will also help them accomplish them as efficiently and effectively as possible.

What is a SMART Goal?

SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, accurate, realistic, and time-sensitive. A real SMART goal will incorporate these criteria and will focus the work of your team.

Specific – Ask yourself, is this goal well defined? Is it ambiguous, or is it straight forward? Most SMART goals will be able to answer the who, what, why, and when of the goal.

Measurable – Is there clear criteria to determine the progress towards this goal? Is there a clear metric that can measure whether or not this goal has been reached?

Achievable – Is this goal attainable, or are you setting yourself and your team up for failure? There is a difference between stretch goals that may be difficult and unattainable goals that would be impossible.

Realistic – Is this goal within reach of you and your team? It may be an achievable goal but, is there a realistic chance of your team accomplishing the goal? Be sure to take into account your time, resources, and past performance,

Timely - Is there a definite timeline, including a starting date and a completion date? It is impossible to measure progress toward a goal if there is no expectation of when it should be reached.

Making SMART Goals Count

SMART goals are an essential part of leading your team to a higher level of performance. However, be sure to think through the entire process. Otherwise, these goals can end up as another worthless piece of paper in your files. It is crucial to create these specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals. But, you also need your team to know, understand, and support them.

Start with the Team

One of the best ways to get your team to support your SMART goals is to involve them in creating these targets. Understandably, there may be situations where this isn’t practical. However, most of the time, your team’s involvement in the creation of the goals will improve their quality. This will also ensure that everyone is on board from the start.

Make a Plan and Track It

Once you have set SMART goals and communicated them to your team, you can’t just assume that everyone will get to work on achieving them. You need an action plan. How you develop that plan will depend on the tools that you already use to chart progress. You can use a GANTT chart, project management software, or any other system. Just remember, your goals need to be translated into smaller benchmarks and milestones. Creating these goals adds a new level of clarity. Be sure to follow up with the necessary steps to get there.

There are many approaches to project management. Just be sure to track the benchmarks and milestones along the way. These steps and progress should be available to all members of the team. This way, everyone can see their own progress and the progress of the rest of the group. That way, it becomes easier for team members to collaborate and spot possible issues that may keep them from achieving the next steps.

Follow Up and Celebrate

The use of SMART goals in an organization won’t last long without proper follow up and recognition. Too often, when goals are achieved, the result is simply more goals. When a team achieves its goals, it is essential to pause and recognize the achievement. It can be a celebratory event or just a meeting to acknowledge what has been accomplished. Taking the time for this sort of recognition will help set the stage for whatever is next.

In addition, it is crucial to take the time to learn from the process. Teams always learn lessons when working to achieve SMART goals. By spending some time debriefing the process, the team can learn from their success and failures. This will help them to do a better job setting and achieving SMART goals in the future.

O que é uma retrospectiva de sprint?

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Grandes equipes estão sempre crescendo e melhorando. No entanto, o crescimento e a melhoria constante não pode acontecer sem antes se ter uma pausa e refletir sobre o trabalho que a equipe já fez e o trabalho que vem pela frente. Essa é toda a motivação para uma Retrospectiva de Sprint. Mas o que é uma Retrospectiva de Sprint? O conceito básico de uma retrospectiva pode acontecer a qualquer momento. A Retrospectiva de Sprint é uma ferramenta muito particular usada enquanto um projeto ainda está em movimento. A Retrospectiva de Sprint foi criada para ocorrer entre os processos de Revisão de Sprint e de Planejamento de Sprint.

Quem deve participar da reunião retrospectiva de Sprint?

A Retrospectiva de Sprint é uma reunião geral com todo o Time Scrum e com qualquer pessoa de fora da equipe, lembrando que esta pessoa de fora deve estar fortemente envolvida ou impactada pelo trabalho da equipe. Isso torna crítico que a retrospectiva seja eficaz, uma vez que ela representa um investimento substancial em horas de trabalho.

Qual deve ser a duração de uma reunião retrospectiva de Sprint?

A duração de uma Retrospectiva de Sprint é baseada na duração real de um Sprint. Sprints de um mês geralmente requerem uma reunião de três horas, enquanto sprints mais curtas requerem sessões mais curtas. Por exemplo, 90 minutos são adequados para um sprint de duas semanas.

O que é discutido em uma retrospectiva de Sprint?

Embora existam vários formatos específicos disponíveis, em geral, a Retrospectiva de Sprint tem como objetivo de ser uma chance para a equipe Scrum reservar um momento para a introspecção. Essa seria uma oportunidade de refletir sobre processos, comportamentos e corrigir ou modificar qualquer coisa que melhore a eficácia do próximo sprint. Para facilitar a discussão, a retrospectiva é baseada em três pontos:

O que funcionou bem no sprint?
O que não funcionou bem e poderia ser melhorado?
O que vamos nos comprometer a fazer de maneira diferente no próximo sprint?

Observe que a retrospectiva de Sprint aborda acontencimentos passados e aborda o comprometimento para futuras mudanças, e isso é essencial.

Lembrando que não vale a pena investir tempo revisando o desempenho anterior sem se ter um plano de ação para seguir em frente. Da mesma forma não vale a pena investir tempo em fazer brainstorming de idéias para melhorias sem antes se fazer uma revisão completa de desempenho.

Quais são os benefícios de uma retrospectiva de Sprint?

As Retrospectivas de Sprint aproveitam a natureza iterativa do desenvolvimento Agile. Cada sprint contém a possibilidade de melhorias em relação ao anterior. Quando tiramos tempo para refletir e planejar o crescimento, vamos poder usufruir dos benefícios da abordagem ágil. A melhoria constante só vem por meio de uma autoavaliação consistente. As Retrospectivas de Sprint também são uma oportunidade para reforçar a responsabilidade da equipe sobre o projeto. Ao dar à equipe oportunidade na avaliação do progresso, isso fará com que eles fiquem mais abertos para oferecer suporte a quaisquer mudanças contidas na próxima iteração.

Em um ambiente ágil, a melhoria pode e deve ser considerada em qualquer ponto do projeto. No entanto, o processo da Retrospectiva de Sprint garante que a equipe reserve um tempo intencional para refletir, planejar e continuar melhorando.

Why doing team health checks

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 10:18:00 +0000

Importance of a team health check

Great success and achievements do not come overnight, and are rarely the result of a person alone, but rather by a group of individuals what we commonly call a “team”.

The ability to work together, as a true team, is far better than the expertise of each individual.

But what makes a team great?

For instance, Google did its own research and found these 5 characteristics:

Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high-quality work on time?
Structure & clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans on our team clear?
Meaning of work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?
Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re doing matters?

The Team Health Check is a great way to take the temperature of a team. And that’s a starting point for improvement.

Goals of a Team Health Check

By doing regular checks, teams should be able to:

Increase trust and psychological safety within the team
Have better relationships between teammates
Create a culture of constructive criticism and feedback
Raise issues and fix them quickly
Share their feelings more easily and frequently
Keep your team zen thanks to regular Team Health Checks

How to do a Team Health Check

There are many ways to run a Team Health Check.

Use a Niko-Niko Calendar

A Niko-Niko Calendar is a simple calendar with everybody’s name on it. At the end of the day, each team member is invited to share their mood of the day, sticking smilies happy :-), straight :-, or frowning :-( or color stickers on it.

Create an Emotional Seismograph with the team

During, one of your retrospectives, try the Emotional Seismograph format.

It’s an easy and fun way to get an overview of your team’s health.

Run Team Health Check like Spotify

The Team Health Check has been popularized by Spotify with their Squad Health Check model, where people are asked to score 11 different areas (Easy to release, Suitable process, Tech quality, Value, Speed, Mission, Fun, Learning, Support, Pawns or players) on three levels:

green: good
yellow: some problems
red: really bad

How to leverage a Team Health Check

As James Willis, an Agile coach, told us, “Simply doing a health check things will not change anything, just like looking at a metric every day, won’t improve it”. So, how do you leverage your Team Health Check?

Share the results openly with your entire team. It can be at a weekly, monthly or quarterly meeting, during a retrospective, … By sharing the aggregated results to your team, you show that their mood matters to you, and that’s already more than many managers do. But of course, it’s not enough.

Discuss the issues

If your team is in a bad mood or if a team member is constantly down, you need to raise the issue and try to find a solution. Talking about the “bad” results of a Team Health Check at a team meeting is the perfect opportunity to identify issues and discuss potential solutions. You can trust your team to know what they need to feel better.

Celebrate successes

Team Health Checks aren’t only issues alerts: they can demonstrate that your team is currently in a great mood. Like for bad moods, taking the time to discuss it with your team will help you understand the causes and better know your team. It can also be a great opportunity to celebrate successes or good news.

Your turn!

Run your first Team Health Check, and be amazed!

About the author: This is a guest post by the folks at TeamMood. They know a lot about team health checks, go check them out.

Ideas to make your retrospective more fun

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 10:18:00 +0000

The sprint retrospective is held at the end of every sprint and follows the review meeting. The idea behind the retros is to discuss what went well, what went wrong, and how to make improvements in the next sprint.

Retrospective meetings have their foundations in theory of Agile methods.

Basics of Retrospective

While the sprint review is about discussing the product itself, the retrospective looks at how the team was building it. The retrospective meetings give the team an opportunity to evaluate the results and identify areas that can be perfected.

Challenges of Retrospective

It might seem that the format of the meeting is very simple so it would not require some special skills to hold it but, actually, there are challenges that retrospective facilitators conducting a retrospective meeting come across quite often:

The team is not responsive
The team is not willing to participate
The team focuses on irrelevant topics
The distributed teams lose interest to the meeting quickly
The retrospectives do not bring any changes.

Apparently, most of the challenges pertain to boredom and lack of activities during the meeting. Meanwhile, conducting engaging and consistent retrospectives can bring the eye-opening results and lead to better quality of work, reduce team turnover and unlock productivity.

Are there ways to liven up retros and make them more of interest? Yes, but they will work best if applied relevantly, which means that the different stages of retrospective require different types of activity.

The stages of the meeting look as follows.

To explore the ideas of how to make a retro more fun, let us see what activities can be applied at each of the stages. Prior to the meeting, make sure that team members have the suitable toolkit to write on and present their ideas.

Fun Retrospective Activities: Checklist for Each Stage

Initially, a facilitator sets the stage by explaining the agenda and introducing a goal of the meeting. It will create the proper framework, tunnel the team vision and weed out the unnecessary detail. To make things easier, a goal should be kept shortened to 1-2 sentences.

In addition, it is advisable to start with some ‘ice-breaking’ exercise like ‘weather report’ activity that would let the team feel more at ease. It is simple and suits any team size.

Weather Report

Participants mark their mood by drawing some weather icon. The idea is to reflect their current feelings about the sprint on a flipchart on the whiteboard or a retrospective board.

The other option is to prepare a flipchart with the icons of lightning, sunshine, rain, clouds, snow, etc. Each participant marks their mood on the board.

About the author: This is a guest post by the folks at TMetric. They know a lot about time tracking, go check them out.

How EasyRetro adapted to GDPR

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 10:18:00 +0000

After a couple of months trying to understand GDPR and adapting EasyRetro to it, that’s the summary of things I learned in the process.

Disclaimer: This post is not legal advice and it does not reflect any lawyer information. To understand how to adapt to GDPR the best option is to contact a lawyer specialised in that.

The most important thing that I learned from GDPR is:

The data belongs to the user. So respect it.

That means that you should treat it well, collect only what you really need, be cautious to who you share it with, make it transparent and allow the user to have full control over it.

This is a list of most of the things we did in order to be compliant:

First analyse all the data you are currently collecting and review what is really needed and which data you can stop collecting and stop sharing. If you have data that you no longer need, delete it.
Only store data that you really need (example: avoid extra fields on registration form)
Clean any old data on your database that is not needed anymore
If you have an old mailing list and you didn’t ask for consent, send a consent email and remove everyone that didn’t accept it
Make a list of all data you collect directly and if you can indirectly as well with the reason for collecting that
Make a list of all data processors that you use and the reason, see if you can stop using any data processor
Review your terms and conditions and privacy policy and add the list of data and data processors, if possible create it together with a lawyer
Add a checkbox when people are registering to accept your terms (auto accepting and auto checked is not valid)
Add a checkbox for your marketing consent as well (to be able to send marketing emails)
Allow people to edit their data, that also includes things like email, name, and any other data you collect from people
Make sure people can see and export all data you have from them
Make sure users can delete all data you have from them, and make it clear when data will be completely deleted, also notify your data processors do delete that as well
Do regular encrypted backups and store it no longer than 30 days
Create a process to delete inactive users data after 1 year, send an email first to the user and if it does not login on the app, delete the data from your servers and notify your data processors as well.
Make sure the data is secure (personal data is only accessed by the people that should see it) and if possible create a security page explaining the details
If you use Google analytics or Mixpanel or other tool that has this configuration, disable IP storing
If you collect marketing consent yourself, make sure you send that to your email list provider (like mailchimp) and your other providers.
Save when the user accepted the terms and have a history of the messages you used and your terms
Log access to personal data so you know who accessed it and what purpose. Don’t log personal data, only identifiers if needed

More info

EasyRetro 1 year retrospective

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 10:18:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

One year has passed since I decided to create a pro version of EasyRetro (the free version was already running for 2 years and a half). When I first started EasyRetro back in June 2015 I never thought I would create a real product and I would come this far but here we are.

This past year was very intense and I learned a lot from it, so here it’s a short timeline of everything that happened.

Going Pro On November 27 2017 I launched the pro version of EasyRetro. The launch was very soft and I didn’t do much marketing. It was a very simple version but functional. It had only the basic functionality and it was also missing some things like sending emails to invited members.

My key goal was to launch a MVP fast, get users feedback and iterate rapidly from it.

Trip to Asia In April 10 I went to Indonesia and Thailand for 2 months and a half so I could travel and work at the same time. My idea was to work from coworkings that are famous for the digital nomad scene (Hubud and Dojo Bali) and that I could learn from people there.

First 100 customers and the change to Paddle In the beginning EasyRetro was using Paypal as a payment service. Paypal subscriptions has a very bad user experience, people need to create a Paypal account to subscribe. Despite that I managed to get my first 100 customers but I knew it needed to change.

So I started looking for an alternative, I couldn’t use Stripe because of the country I’m from, so after some research and with the help from Indie Hackers I discovered Paddle. I changed on April 20 and it was one of the best decisions I could have done.

Hubud and Think Thank Hubud was definitely the best coworking experience that I had. People there are very nice, helpful and wanted to share the knowledge all the time. The place had a community spirit to it, with events, meetups, activities almost daily.

EasyRetro participated on the first online Think Thank that Hubud did on May 23. I presented a challenge that I had with EasyRetro. I got really good feedback from people that attended and it was a nice experience overall.

Startup School In August I applied to Startup School and was very happy that EasyRetro got accepted. Startup School is an online free course provided by Y Combinator. I learned a lot from the experience, the best part was the weekly catchup meetings with a mentor from Y Combinator. On this meeting I learned to track one main metric on a weekly basis. This is a very good habit for a company. Another positive thing was the online classes that they shared on youtube, very good content on how to create a startup, how to grow, etc…

End of the Year Results So 2018 has almost ended and EasyRetro has now around 5K MRR, 230 paid customers and 120k/month visitors. I am very happy with these results and I am going continue work to improve it next year.

Grateful I’m very grateful for what I have accomplished with EasyRetro so far. This year would not be possible without the help of the following people/mentors: Paulo Caroli, Joaquim Torres, Haseeb Awan and Daniel Weinmann.

2019 Plans In 2018 I spent almost 2 thirds of it working with freelance + EasyRetro, and only 1 third working full-time for EasyRetro. In 2019 I will change that and work full-time for EasyRetro. I hope this will allow me to improve the product even more and to get it to the next level.

My plans are also to share more what I am learning from this experience so I can give back to the community.

Thanks and happy new year! Glauber

EasyRetro Update 4

Thu, 23 May 2019 10:18:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

I am writing this to talk more about the last change I did regarding free boards on EasyRetro. In resume, now people that wants to create a board needs to have an account as well.

I am committed to continue to provide a free version for EasyRetro, but at the same time I am working to create a sustainable business model that will let me to continue improving EasyRetro and make it a better product.

It was hard to take this decision, because I always try to provide the best experience for my users, but I am also trying to create a sustainable business in the end of the day.

Making people register to create boards allows me to understand who is creating boards and how many people are they, allows me to send emails for the ones that opted-in in my newsletter and also allows me to do better up-sells to my paid plans.

It also makes sense for the users, because all the boards are attached to your account now, and you can delete them and know how many boards you have created so far.

I hope you understand, it is still an experiment, if this don’t work for everyone I will rethink this change.

If you want to see EasyRetro keep improving, you can suggest features and report bugs at https://easyretro.io/publicboard/X1znTznEWWfIWTTAEBq9xoywg1m1/54b1451f-aea4-4de4-9c31-65c0e8565b92 or send an email to us at info@easyretro.io.

Thanks, Glauber

EasyRetro Update 3

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:18:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

This is the third EasyRetro update post. I’m very pleased to share all the new features that were implemented in the last months.

Almost all features were based on feedback from our users, so please share what you think about the product. It’s very important for us to keep improving the product.

User profile

Now there’s a new page on the app called User Profile. To go to this page just click on the user logo on the top right of the screen. You can see your email, change your name, change your photo and subscribe or unsubscribe to our mailing list.

Any team member can create boards

We believe retrospectives should be democratic and anyone should be able to run one. So now any member of the team can create a retrospective and manage it. We think this will improve how teams collaborate and brainstorm together.

Improved invite members flow

We knew that the flow to invite members was one of less polished parts of the app. So we spent some time improving the content and behaviour of this important flow.

We created a new email that is sent to people that you invite. This email now has better content and new design. Also once the person logs in, it will join automatically your team and see a notification.

Board layout options

We now have a new option to display your board. We had previously the column option, now we also have a line by line view. This makes it easy to see all cards from one column at the same time, you don’t need to keep scrolling anymore.

Update payment details

Now after you subscribe it’s possible to change your payment details directly on the app. The new link is located on the billing section of the app.

Enterprise tier

In order to increase the options to our users, we added a third tier for enterprise. With this option you can now create and manage up to 6 teams/projects.

New animated logo

This was a small update to add a little bit of motion to our homepage. We added a new animated logo that keep changing colors.

Loading on buttons

Now buttons on login and register pages have a loading icon to show something is happening on the background.

Removed confusing trial messages

We remove all messages/buttons that contain Start Free Trial text on the dashboard and boards. This was causing confusion because users thought they need to subscribe to be able to use EasyRetro, but only the admin account need to subscribe.

EasyRetro Update 2

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 10:18:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

This is the second EasyRetro update post. I’m very pleased to share all the new features that were implemented in the last couple of weeks.

Almost all features were based on feedback from our users, so please share what you think about the product, it’s very important for us.

Public boards

You can now create public boards without the need to create teams and also without the need for your users to register.

Ctrl + enter

Now if you hit ctrl + enter or cmd + enter (mac), you can save/close a card.

404 page

We added a simple 404 page.

Slack integration

You can now configure to receive a notification in your Slack channel every time a board is created.

Card’s author

You can now see the author of a card. To enable this feature go into:

“Settings” → “Card settings” → “Show card’s author”

Comments

People can now add comments to each card.

Order cards in the same column

This feature was asked many times, sorry that took us so long to implement. But now you can order cards in the same column. This is nice if you have a big list and want to give each card a different priority.

Welcome board

We show a simple welcome board when an user registered. It display a sample of most of the features of the board.

That’s all folks!

EasyRetro Update 1

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:18:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

This is the first EasyRetro update post. I’m very pleased to share all the new features that were implemented in the last couple of weeks.

Almost all features were based on feedback from our users, so please share what you think about the product, it’s very important for us.

Reset Password

This is a helpful feature that we didn’t have yet.

Now it’s easier to log into EasyRetro using your Google login.

User Photo

If you logged using Google you can now see your user photo.

Unlimited Columns

Now you are able to create more than 6 columns :D.

Change Column Color

Now you are able to change the column color.

Change Team Name

Now you are able to change the team name.

Add member to an existing team

Now you are able to add members to an existing team.

Remove Team Member

Now you are able to remove a member from a team.

30 day trial without credit card

This is big news, now you can access the 30 day trial without having to provide a credit card number. Also we added a trial counter on the top of the screen.

User permissions

New an user can only edit and delete cards that he/she created. Now only the owner of a board can edit the columns (add/remove columns, rename it, change color). Also only the owner can view the admin settings (vote, card and delete settings). An archived board now cannot be edit at all.

New subscription tiers

We updated our subscription tiers. This was done because we believe the previous tiers were not sustainable to our business and also to give you more freedom to choose and clarity.

Now it’s clearer which features each tier has and you can also pay per year.

All the existing paid users will not be affected by this change.

Other improvements worth mentioning

When someone is added to a team, we are now sending emails. New homepage design. Lot’s of layout improvements and bug fixes. Check this changes and more at easyretro.io.

EasyRetro Blog

Team Charter: What is it With Examples

What Is a Team Charter?

What Should a Team Charter Include?

The Team’s Purpose

Team Members

Project Scope

Timeline

The Desired Goal

Required Resources

Deliverables and KPIs

Reporting and Communication

Overlapping Links With the Team

How To Make a Team Charter

1. Collaborate

2. Establish the Context Of the Team

3. Establish the Team’s Objective

4. Create an Actionable Plan

5. Get the Entire Team to Sign Off

6. Make it Dynamic

When To Make a Team Charter

Team Charters Examples

Simple Column Team Charter

Team Board

Whiteboard Style Team Charter

Final Thoughts

How Can The Scrum Master Support The Product Owner?

What Is The Role Of The Scrum Master?

Responsibilities

1. Facilitate Events

2. Coach Team Members

3. Remove Impediments

4. Board Administration

5. Internal Consulting And One-On-One Time

6. Other Busy Work

7. Support The Product Owner

How Can The Scrum Master Support The Product Owner?

1. Help Define The Needs Of The Product

2. Convey The Goal And Scope Of The Product To The Team

3. Backlog Management

4. Make Sure That The Team Understands The Product Backlog

5. Help The Product Owner Maximise Value

6. Facilitate The Relationship Between The Product Owner And Other Parties

7. Help With Product Planning In An Empirical Atmosphere

8. Facilitate Scrum Events

9. Help The Team Practice Agile

Final Thoughts

What Are The 5 Scrum Ceremonies?

What Are Scrum Ceremonies?

Who Participates In Scrum Ceremonies?

How Long Should Scrum Ceremonies Be?

What Are The 5 Scrum Ceremonies?

1. Sprint Planning

Time box

Objective

How

Who

Inputs

Outputs

2. Daily Scrum

How

When

Who

3. Sprint Reviews

Who

When

Common Elements

4. Sprint Retrospective

How

Who

When

5. Backlog Refinement

When

Who

Which Scrum Ceremony Is The Most Important

Final Thoughts

Who Ensures Everyone on the Scrum Team Does Their Tasks for the Sprint?

Table of content

What are the Roles in the Scrum Team?

Who Should Make Sure Everyone on the Scrum Team Does Their Tasks for the Sprint?