https://github.com/cmstead/retrospective-smells
Smells and antipatterns which can negatively impact the quality of your retrospectives
https://github.com/cmstead/retrospective-smells
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Smells and antipatterns which can negatively impact the quality of your retrospectives
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/cmstead/retrospective-smells
- Owner: cmstead
- Created: 2019-03-05T17:45:55.000Z (over 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2019-03-05T20:01:28.000Z (over 7 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-18T15:24:28.886Z (over 1 year ago)
- Size: 127 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
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- Readme: README.md
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README
# Retrospective Smells/Antipatterns #
#### Insights On Retrospectives by Willem Larsen [@cascadiaWillem](https://twitter.com/cascadiawillem) ####
## Table Of Contents ##
- [Section 1: Introduction](#user-content-introduction)
- [Section 2: Assumptive Antipatterns](#user-content-assumptive-antipatterns)
- [Section 3: Process Antipatterns](#user-content-process-antipatterns)
## Introduction ##
Editors note: This was extracted from Willem Larsen's Twitter feed and it reflects work he did at the end of 2018 into the beginning of 2019.
Had fun designing a retro-facilitator training, came up with anti-patterns that seem to break retros or smother their impact.
## Assumptive Antipatterns ##
The following are "assumptive" anti-patterns - the expectations that we bring with us into them. I've rendered them as statements of internal dialogue. If you find yourself thinking any of things going into a retro, consider whether or not you can set them aside, or perhaps experiment with testing whether they are truly accurate assumptions.
- **THE SHRUG** - "It probably doesn't matter."
- **TOUGH IT OUT** - "It's not that big of a deal. It'll probably go away on it's own if I ignore it."
- **FATALIST** - "Nobody cares anyway."
- **NICE GUY** - "I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable."
- **PARTY POOPER** - "I don't want to ruin the fun that we are still able to have in spit of our issues."
- **THE DEVIL'S POM-POMS** - "Our team is already great, there's no need to try to improve!"
## Process Antipatterns ##
The next anti-patterns are process-oriented, rather than expectation/assumptions
- **ORPHANS** - Next actions with no courier/handler name attached to midwife their implementation.
- **LOST CAUSE** - When the facilitator is responsible for the effectiveness and outcome of the retro.
- **CONFLICT OF INTEREST** - When facilitator offers data, insights, and next actions.
- **THE BLOB** - A retro with no timebox, or that consistently exceeds its timebox, even with consent of participants.
- **TOLD YOU SO** - A retro that generations next actions that we were going to do anyway, from data and insights we already shared going in.
- **FIRE AND FORGET** - Next actions dropped because they were fundamentally uninteresting - the team agreed on them but didn't believe in them.
### Expansion on Why I Told You So is an Antipattern ###
You’ll note that I mentioned the same data and insights, meaning other options weren’t discussed, and the same action was decided upon anyway in an empty ceremony. In that case a retro is irrelevant. Retros should uncover unshared data, new insights, etc.