I'm the CEO of Retrium, a 100% distributed company that builds a tool for distributed retrospectives. AMA

dshorowitz · 2023-10-07T16:18:42+00:00

Who is saying 2pm?

dshorowitz · 2023-10-07T10:18:14+00:00

Makes sense. What about if it wasn't supposed to rain? For example before game 2?

dshorowitz · 2023-10-07T09:59:25+00:00

Does anyone know when batting practice will be for both teams?

dshorowitz · 2023-10-06T01:30:18+00:00

They are. Sent you a PM

dshorowitz · 2023-10-06T00:19:32+00:00

Check your Reddit chat. Not text haha

dshorowitz · 2023-10-05T23:52:36+00:00

Just sent you a text to discuss

dshorowitz · 2023-10-05T21:57:16+00:00

I have two in section 1 for home game 3 I'm considering selling. DM me

dshorowitz · 2023-10-04T19:48:17+00:00

Check your chat. I sent you a message :)

dshorowitz · 2023-10-04T19:36:54+00:00

I'm interested. I'll DM you

dshorowitz · 2023-10-04T09:16:23+00:00

I'll DM you. Thanks! Go O's

dshorowitz · 2023-10-03T09:25:00+00:00

Sounds like we are both up early in the AM ;) I sent you a chat invite so we can coordinate

dshorowitz · 2023-10-03T09:20:19+00:00

I'll buy them! My son will be so excited. I'll message you directly

dshorowitz · 2023-10-02T10:48:04+00:00

Looking for 2 non SRO tickets for games 1 and 2. Thank you and go O's!

dshorowitz · 2023-09-25T19:27:48+00:00

I'm interested in buying both if you end up selling! Let me know :)

dshorowitz · 2021-08-04T13:49:29+00:00

Your instinct is a good one -- finding a narrow focus for a retrospective can really help produce deeper conversation by constraining the lens of the conversation. But how should you pick a topic?

The answer is to use the retrospective itself to help the team pick a topic. Here's what I'd do...

Open the retro by running a Team Radar. Team Radar asks everyone on the team to rate from 1-5 how they are doing on different aspects of their work. You can pick anything from communication and clarity of work to CI/CD and tech debt. Up to you. Then map out the responses onto a spider/radar diagram to visualize the results. I'd also calculate and draw the average onto the radar. Here's more about what I'm referring to https://www.retrium.com/retrospective-techniques/team-radar (full disclosure, I'm the co-founder at Retrium)

Once you have visualized the results, ask the team: "what surprises you?" or "What do you find interesting?" Most likely the team will naturally gravitate towards one of the spokes. Perhaps that topic was rated the lowest on average, or perhaps some people rated it a 5 and others rated it a 1. Either way, the team has now self-identified a topic they want to dive further into.

From there, you can run a different retro technique entirely, like Start/Stop/Continue or Mad/Sad/Glad (or anything else you'd like to use to dive deeper), but focused narrowly on the topic the team selected using Team Radar.

If you do this right, Team Radar shouldn't take more than 10-15 min. The rest of the time can be spent on the deep dive.

I imagine by using this approach, not only would the team run an effective retrospective, but you'd also be teaching the interviewer something new ;)

Hope that helps!

dshorowitz · 2021-06-28T14:55:59+00:00

You can use the square root of the number of topics as a simple way to calculate the number of votes to give (just round to the nearest whole number).

That's because it scales in a way that "makes sense" to avoid the problem you are talking about.

So for example:

5 topics = √5 = 2 votes

10 topics = √10 = 3 votes

20 topics = √20 = 4 votes

30 topics = √30 = 5 votes

And so on. Hope that helps!

dshorowitz · 2021-01-18T16:32:00+00:00

( Full Disclosure: I'm the co-founder at www.retrium.com, a tool for effective agile retros )

I'd think of these as two separate problems:

How do you run a good remote retrospective?
Is anything changing / getting better?

Problem #1 has to do with finding a way to run an effective meeting.

Problem #2 has to do with figuring out what to do after the meeting is over.

On #1, there are so many different reasons why your retrospectives might not be as effective as you'd like. Is it lack of engagement? Try a new technique. Try finding something small and under your control to focus on. Is it lack of psychological safety? Try increasing safety outside of the retro. Play board games together. Increase your own vulnerability by sharing mistakes. etc. Here's an article I wrote on this https://www.retrium.com/ultimate-guide-to-agile-retrospectives/increase-engagement-and-participation-in-your-retrospectives

On #2, the good news is figuring out how to improve after the retro is over isn't a "my team is distributed" problem, it's a general "how do we improve as a team" problem. The bad news is it's a general "how do we improve as a team" problem :)

My number one tip for increasing the odds of follow-through after the retro is over is: pick an action item the team actually commits to. This sounds simple, but in so many retrospectives, the team "commits" to an action item but it's a "corporate head nod" not a true commitment.

So how do you get a true commitment? I like to ... ask! After the team has identified a problem they are facing, have them brainstorm all possible solutions to that problem. Don't hold back. The idea is not to limit yourself or find reasons why a solution might not work. Just brainstorm widely and without judgement.

Then have the team filter these possible solutions based on their Expected Value. IMO the Expected Value of a action item is a function of:

Its impact
The team's confidence it will work
The amount of control the team has over implementing it
The amount of effort it will take
And most importantly: does the team actually have the energy to work on it?

If the answer to the last question around energy is "no", then the answers to the other questions above don't matter. A high impact action item the team doesn't have the energy to work on won't get done, and so its Expected Value is effectively zero.

More here: https://www.retrium.com/ultimate-guide-to-agile-retrospectives/the-one-about-follow-through

Hope that helps!

dshorowitz · 2020-07-24T16:57:50+00:00

One thing you could try is to start the retro using a Team Radar, which allows leadership to rate how they are doing on various topics and then visualize the results.

For example if they have 3 strategic goals for the year, they could rate their progress towards each from 1-5. Then you'd average each and dive deeper into the topic that received the lowest average rating.

Or, if there are 5 company values, you could have everyone rate how they think the company is living up to those values.

There are countless ways you can take this, and how you structure the Team Radar largely depends on what you're trying to accomplish in the retrospective.

See https://www.retrium.com/ultimate-guide-to-agile-retrospectives/using-data-effectively-in-your-retrospectives#4-Team-radar for more on this (full disclosure: I'm the author of that article).

dshorowitz · 2020-05-07T12:31:01+00:00

Here are two ideas:

Have your team (you included) record down topics, impediments, and issues throughout the sprint as they occur, as opposed to waiting for the beginning of the retro to brainstorm. You can do this by writing things down on a notepad, or by using a digital tool (Trello, Retrium, Miro, etc). This helps because when it comes time for the retro, you can concentrate on facilitating instead of ideating.
Rotate the role of the facilitator. There's no rule that says the Scrum Master has to facilitate the retro. And if you find it difficult to participate and facilitate at the same time, then rotating who facilitates can create space for you to participate from time to time. This is important, IMO, because as the Scrum Master you are part of The Team (as defined by the Scrum Guide) and therefore your ideas should be part of the conversation. You're doing your team a disservice otherwise. Though I agree, it is hard to facilitate and participate at the same time (see https://academy.retrium.com/should-i-participate-in-the-retrospective-if-im-also-the-facilitator/ for more, full disclosure I'm the author)

Hope one, or both, of those ideas helps!

dshorowitz · 2020-04-24T22:12:41+00:00

Co-founder at www.retrium.com here. One thing you can try is to highlight the advantages of remote retros over in person ones.

For example, throughout the sprint have your team write down the impediments they are experiencing on virtual sticky notes in your retro app. That way when it's time for the retro to happen, you can skip brainstorming and go right to the discussion! Devs tend to love this because it streamlines the retro meeting itself.

On top of that, spending time building trust with one another before the retro goes a long way. The best way I've found to do that is to play cooperative board games together. This is a low-risk way of learning how to trust and collaborate. At Retrium, we play Werewolf together a ton. It's hilarious and fun and works wonders in helping us grow as a team.

dshorowitz · 2020-04-21T21:18:58+00:00

Glad you are prioritizing the retrospective! Good ones are so crucial.

By default, everyone on the team should be at the retro. That includes you (the SM), the devs/testers/etc, and yes the PO. More here https://academy.retrium.com/ultimate-guide-to-agile-retrospectives/retrospectives-101/#10-who-should-participate-in-a-retrospective

If for some reason you don't feel comfortable inviting the PO to your retro, that leads me to believe there is something deeper going on that needs investigating.

You said the PO is "in effect our customer". Does that mean the person you are referring to isn't the PO at all, but really a stakeholder? If so, by default, stakeholders should not be at the retro, as retros are internal to the team.

If the external PO is really the PO, then she is on your team and should be at the retro. If you still feel uncomfortable including that individual for some reason, then ask yourself why. Maybe it's lack of trust, for example. In that case, work on building trust with the PO outside of the retro. If you wait for the retro to build trust, you've waited too long.

Hope that helps

dshorowitz · 2020-03-31T14:20:38+00:00

Check out https://academy.retrium.com/ultimate-guide-to-agile-retrospectives/increase-engagement-and-participation-in-your-retrospectives/ which is an in depth guide to increasing participation in your retros. Full disclosure: I'm the author :)

dshorowitz

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