Retrospective Anti-Patterns by Aino Corry at #AgileIndia2019
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The document discusses common anti-patterns that can undermine effective retrospectives. It identifies six main anti-patterns: 1) Prime Directive Ignorance, where the retrospective's guiding principle is ignored; 2) The Wheel of Fortune, where symptoms rather than root causes are discussed; 3) Death by Postponement, where problems are not raised in real-time; 4) Let's Get It Over With, where retrospectives are rushed or abandoned; 5) In the Soup, where discussions get mired in unactionable issues; and 6) DIY Retrospectives, where the facilitation role is not properly handled. For each, it provides the problem, a common misguided solution, the consequences, and a recommended
Retrospective Anti-Patterns by Aino Corry at #AgileIndia2019
- 1. Retrospective Anti-Patterns Aino Vonge Corry, Ph.D Metadeveloper @apaipi
- 2. Denmark
- 5. Goal with this talk Better retrospectives by Awareness of anti-patterns More fun retrospectives Less painful retrospectives
- 6. Retrospective Anti-Patterns Prime Directive Ignorance The Wheel of Fortune Death by Postponement Let's get it over with! In the Soup DIY Retrospectives
- 7. Anti-patterns Example -it seemed like a good solution at the time… Problem You need to figure out where to place the functionality of the class Forces You are using OO. You are experienced in imperative or functional programming Anti-pattern solution You place all your methods in your favourite class – the heart of the architecture. Consequences Your class will become extremely big It will be difficult to understand and maintain the software
- 8. Anti-patterns - The Blob…. -it seemed like a good solution at the time…
- 9. The Blob Refactored solution Refactor the class by merging the methods into other classes. Strategies High cohesion – low coupling Now known as micro services Benefits and drawbacks You will have a smaller class Refactoring takes time up front, but saves time later.
- 10. The Blob - Refactored solution
- 11. Titanic A/S – reliable navigation software Peter Nicky Jim Susan Robert Sarah Scrum Master
- 12. Sarah facilitates her first retrospective - Week 2 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. Norm Kerth
- 13. 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. Prime Directive Ignorance Norm Kerth ~ Developer ~ Norm
- 14. Prime Directive Ignorance Problem: It feels awkward to follow the directive Antipattern solution: Just forget it Consequences: People bring all their assumptions and negative expectations to the retrospective. Anecdotal evidence: People do not really listen. People are afraid to go to retrospectives Refactored Solution: Bring the directive to each retrospective in some way
- 15. 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. Prime Directive Norm Kerth
- 16. Is this a problem for you? Think about this for 20 seconds Please talk to your neighbour (Unless you are shy and would rather just play with your phone) Share
- 17. Think-Pair-Share
- 18. Week 4 The next retrospective
- 19. The Wheel of Fortune - symptoms and problems
- 20. The Wheel of Fortune Problem: We are all busy and retrospectives takes time from coding Antipattern solution: Just skip a step or two in the retrospective and get on with it Consequences: The problems that you find and suggest solutions for are only the symptoms of the real problems. Refactored Solution: Use the phase: generate insight to find the cause of the problems
- 21. The wheel of Fortune Stages and activities Set the Stage – getting ready Closing the retrospective –summary Decide what to do - the future Generate insights - now Gather Data – the past
- 22. Week 4 – 6 Death by Postponement
- 23. Death by Postponement Problem: You notice a problem Antipattern solution: You wait until the retrospective to raise it Consequences: The solution is delayed, too many problems at the retrospective, not enough time to explore what is not known Refactored Solution: Raise the problem, when it occurs. Use the retrospective time to explore
- 24. Death by Postponement - real time Time-Line
- 25. Have you tried this real-time timeline?
- 26. Week 6 – 8 "Time for coding is more important…" "We do not get anything out of them…" "They always blame me for…" "We can do it in half the time…"
- 27. Let's get it over with
- 28. Let's get it over with Problem: Time for coding is more important Antipattern solution: Retrospectives vanish Consequences: The time is saved, but more time is wasted on doing the wrong things or people leaving Refactored Solution: Restart them; get new activities, an external facilitator, follow up on actions, get management backup by pointing out painpoints
- 29. Let's get it over with - ask questions
- 30. Week 8 – 10 "We always discuss the testing framework…" "The boss will never allow it…" "Why can the retrospectives not help us…" "We never get anything changed…"
- 31. In the soup
- 32. In the soup Problem: "We want to work on the big problems”, “ We always discuss the same” Antipattern solution: The actions need management approval/action Consequences: If management has different priorities, nothing happens. Retrospectives degenerate into complaint sessions, and waste of time. Refactored Solution: Stay out of the soup or come up with a least one action that the team can do something about
- 33. Influence In the soup - change, adapt, accept Do "The Soup" The communication with testers is bad Change the location of the company Code review all major changes
- 34. Influence In the soup - change, adapt, accept Do "The Soup" The communication with testers is bad Change the location of the company Come up with reasons for a local hub Code review all major changes Move closer to the testers
- 35. Would this work for you? Please talk to the one next to you and share with the rest if you want to
- 36. Week 10 – 12 "They are a waste of time…" "The retrospectives are boring…" "We should have a better facilitator…" "I would like to get something out of them as well …"
- 38. DIY Retrospectives Problem: Some say the Scrum master is responsible for the retrospectives Antipattern solution: Let the SM facilitate every retrospective Consequences: The SM wears two hats, and none of them get the attention needed Refactored Solution: Take turns in facilitating in the team. Use an outsider as facilitator
- 39. DIY Retrospectives Rotating the Facilitator
- 40. Retrospective Antipatterns Prime Directive Ignorance The Wheel of Fortune Death by Postponement Let's get it over with! In the Soup DIY Retrospectives
- 41. Goals with this talk Better retrospectives Awareness of anti-patterns
- 42. Thank you for your time ☺
- 43. Extra subjects • Distributed retrospectives • Managers in the room • Silent people • Troublemakers • Using the activities for other meetings • Personal retrospectives
- 44. References • http://skycoach.be/2011/05/16/agile-retrospectives- anti-patterns/ • http://iljapreuss.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/ retrospective-antipatterns.html • Agile retrospectives – Diana Larsen & Esther Derby • Anti-patterns – refactoring software, architectures and projects in crisis – Brown et al. • Project Retrospectives – Norman Kerth