The Retrospective is a critical meeting in the Scrum Framework. As a reminder: The Retrospective in Scrum is a regular event that takes place at the end of each Sprint, which is a time-boxed iteration of work in the Scrum framework. The purpose of the Retrospective is to give the Scrum team an opportunity to reflect on their work and identify ways to improve their process.
During the Retrospective, the team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what didn’t go well, and what can be done differently in the next sprint. The goal is to continuously improve the team’s performance, collaboration, and delivery. The team also discusses any obstacles that need to be removed to improve their effectiveness, and identifies actions to take in the next sprint.
Although the Retrospective is a critical part of Scrum – only a psychologically safe and positive environment can allow the team to reflect, learn, and grow. Useful Retrospectives help the team to identify areas for improvement, plan for future action, and create a culture of continuous improvement. Teams that go through the motions seldom get the benefits they are looking for.
So What is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up, asking questions, or making mistakes. It is a shared belief that the team environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, and that team members can express their opinions, thoughts, and feelings without fear of negative consequences. Which is important because it creates a positive work environment where people feel comfortable, respected, and valued. When team members feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and productive. They are also more likely to share their ideas, offer constructive feedback, and collaborate effectively with others.
Psychological safety is important for organizational performance and innovation. Teams that have a high degree of psychological safety are more likely to produce higher-quality work, make better decisions, and solve problems more effectively. They are also more likely to take risks, try new approaches, and experiment with innovative ideas. So, you can see how essential it is to be continuously creating and maintaining a psychologically safe work environment for building a positive, productive, and high-performing team.
Key Takeaway: Psychological safety is important for organizational performance and innovation. Teams that have a high degree of psychological safety are more likely to produce higher-quality work, make better decisions, and solve problems more effectively. They are also more likely to take risks, try new approaches, and experiment with innovative ideas.
What is the Retrospective Prime Directive?
The Retrospective Prime Directive is a principle that encourages team members to focus on the present and future and using experiece to learn, rather than dwelling on past mistakes or events, during a retrospective meeting. The idea is to create a safe and positive environment where team members can reflect on their work, identify areas for improvement, and plan for future action. This helps to foster a continuous improvement culture, rather than one that blames individuals for past mistakes.
Retrospective Prime Directive: “Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.”
-Norm Kerth, Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Review
By the way if you’re wondering what Captain Kirk has anything to do with this post check out: The Prime Directive – Live long and prosper!
The Retrospective Prime Directive contributes to psychological safety by establishing a positive and non-punitive environment during retrospective meetings. When team members feel safe to speak openly and honestly about their experiences and perspectives, they are more likely to share information, offer constructive feedback, and collaborate effectively to identify and address issues. This helps to create a culture of trust, respect, and continuous improvement.
By focusing on the present and future rather than dwelling on past mistakes, the directive helps to prevent blame and defensiveness, and encourages team members to take responsibility for their actions and work together to find solutions. This creates a supportive and collaborative atmosphere, which is essential for building psychological safety and fostering a high-performing team.
When Retrospectives Go Wrong
There are several antipatterns that can occur during retrospectives and undermine their effectiveness. Some of the common ones are:
Blame game: When team members focus on attacking each other for problems, the retrospective becomes a negative and unproductive experience.
No action taken: When retrospectives only focus on complaining and discussing problems without taking any action to resolve them, they become ineffective.
Lack of participation: When only a few team members participate in the retrospective, the team misses out on the diverse perspectives and ideas needed for improvement.
Not staying focused: When the retrospective deviates from its purpose and becomes sidetracked with irrelevant or unrelated topics, the team loses the opportunity to identify and address important issues.
Same problems discussed repeatedly: When the same issues are discussed in multiple retrospectives without any resolution, it leads to frustration and a lack of trust in the process.
It is important to recognize and avoid these antipatterns in order to make the most of the retrospective and continuously improve the team’s work.
You can see the number one anti-pattern that can really derail a useful Retrospective is the blame game! Lets take a look at how this anti-pattern can kill a team’s ability to reflect and learn.
When team members focus on blaming each other for problems, the Retrospective becomes a negative and unproductive experience that can damage the team’s morale and trust.
In a blame-oriented Retrospective, team members may become defensive and unwilling to participate openly, leading to a lack of meaningful discussion and collaboration. This can create a toxic and unsupportive environment, and make it difficult for the team to identify and resolve problems. This toxic approach can prevent the team from learning and improving, as the focus is on attacking individuals rather than identifying root causes and solutions. This leads to a culture of fear, where team members are hesitant to speak up or uncover mistakes, or try new things for fear of retribution, further reducing the effectiveness of the retrospective.
From your own perspective, if you felt that a Retrospective would result in a witch hunt, how open would you be to admitting mistakes or challenges? Would you want to point out your colleagues mistakes if you thought they would be punished? What would you learn in such a punitive, toxic environment?
a campaign directed against a person or group holding views considered unorthodox or a threat to society.
“he claimed he was the victim of a media witch-hunt”
Overall, the blame game derails the outcomes of the Retrospective by creating a negative and unproductive atmosphere, hindering open communication, and preventing the team from learning and improving. he blame game creates an atmosphere where teams members are protecting themselves through defensive and or aggressive behaviours
The Scrum Values vs The Blame Game
The Scrum values are a set of five principles that guide the behavior of individuals and teams in the Scrum framework:
Commitment: Team members are committed to achieving the common goal and to supporting each other in the pursuit of that goal.
Courage: Team members have the courage to take risks, face challenges, and pursue opportunities for growth and improvement.
Focus: Team members stay focused on delivering valuable products and on improving their processes.
Openness: Team members are transparent and open in their communication and decision-making.
Respect: Team members show respect for each other, for their skills and contributions, and for their diversity.
These values help create trust within the team by promoting a positive and supportive work environment where team members feel comfortable expressing themselves and working together towards a common goal.
For example, openness promotes trust by encouraging open and honest communication. When team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences, they are more likely to collaborate and work together effectively.
Respect helps create trust by recognizing the value of each team member and their contributions. When team members feel valued and respected, they are more likely to trust their colleagues and work together towards a common goal.
Courage helps create trust by encouraging team members to take risks and try new approaches, without fear of failure. When team members are encouraged to take risks and learn from their experiences, they are more likely to trust each other and work together effectively.
Together, the Scrum values create trust by promoting open communication, respecting each other’s skills and contributions, and encouraging risk-taking and continuous improvement.
The “blame game” doesnt work and goes against the Scrum values of focus, openness, respect, comittment and courage. The Scrum Framework values the importance of creating a positive and supportive work environment where team members feel free to express themselves and share their opinions. The blame game undermines this environment by fostering an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and defensiveness.
In a a psyhcologically unsafe space, team members may be hesitant to speak up and share their thoughts, as they are afraid of being criticized or blamed for problems. This goes against the value of openness, as it prevents the team from having open and honest discussions about their work.
Additionally, the blame game can damage relationships between team members and create a culture of disrespect. When team members focus on blaming each other, they are not showing respect for their colleagues or their contributions to the team.
Finally, the blame game can also hinder the value of courage. Team members may be afraid to take risks or try new approaches for fear of being criticized or blamed for failure. This can stifle innovation and prevent the team from continuously improving.
The blame game goes against the Scrum values by creating a negative and unproductive work environment, hindering open communication, damaging relationships, and reducing the team’s courage and ability to innovate.
Back to the Retrospective Prime Directive
The Retrospective Prime Rirective helps to overcome the “blame game” by creating a safe and positive environment for the team to reflect on their work. The prime directive states that “regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.”
By focusing on this positive and supportive attitude, the prime directive helps to shift the focus away from blame and towards continuous improvement. Team members are more likely to participate openly and honestly in the retrospective, as they feel that their actions and decisions will not be criticized or judged.
The Prime Directive helps to create a culture of trust and respect within the team. When team members understand that their colleagues are not being blamed for problems, they are more likely to collaborate and work together to find solutions.
The Retrospective Prime Directive helps to overcome the “blame game” by creating a safe and positive environment for reflection, fostering open communication, and building trust and respect within the team. This enables the team to identify problems, learn from their experiences, and continuously improve their work.
Key Takeaway: Overall, the Retrospective Prime Directive helps to overcome the “blame game” by creating a safe and positive environment for reflection, fostering open communication, and building trust and respect within the team. This enables the team to identify problems, learn from their experiences, and continuously improve their work..
The Scrum Master and the Prime Directive
To create an environment of trust and support, a Scrum Master can use the Retrospective Prime Directive to help the Scrum team in several ways:
Set the tone: By introducing and emphasizing the Prime Directive at the start of each retrospective, the Scrum Master can set the tone for a positive and supportive environment.
The Scrum Master can invite the team to think through how the Prime Directive brings the Scrum Values to life and how living these values can affect the Team
Conversely, the Scrum Master can ask the teams what the effect of a blame filled approach to the Retrospective would impact the team as a whole and team members personally.
In addition the Scrum Master could invite the team to align all their retrospectives to the spirit of the Prime Directive – what would happen if they did or didnt do that?
Encourage open communication: The Scrum Master can encourage team members to share their thoughts and experiences without fear of being criticized or judged, by reminding them of the prime directive.
Facilitate discussions: The Scrum Master can facilitate discussions that focus on continuous improvement and problem-solving, rather than blame, by guiding the team towards solutions rather than blaming individuals.
Promote a culture of trust: The Scrum Master can promote a culture of trust and respect within the team by consistently modeling the Scrum values and ensuring that all team members are aware of their importance.
Address negative behaviors: If the Scrum Master notices any negative behaviors, such as the “blame game,” during the retrospective, they can intervene and redirect the conversation back to the prime directive and the Scrum Values of focus, openness, comittment, courage and respect.
A savvy Scrum Master can use the Retrospective Prime Directive as a tool to help the Scrum team have productive and positive retrospectives, foster open communication, promote a culture of trust, and continuously improve their work!
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