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Running my first retrospective from Atlassian Team Playbook

Sayed Bares [ServiceRocket]

How running this session felt:

I felt nervous at first, but I was also excited to learn more about retrospectives and how to facilitate them. I was glad that the team was willing to participate and share their thoughts on a topic we thought didn't need any improvement but it surely did.

What went well:

I think the session went well overall. We were able to identify some key areas for improvement, and we came up with some actionable items to address them. I also appreciated the team's willingness to be open and honest about their feedback.

What I might try differently next time:

I will try to be more structured and focused in my facilitation. I also try to use more visual tools like Confluence whiteboards, Trello or Miro boards to help the team visualize their ideas better.

Tips for first-time facilitators:

Start with a warm-up activity. This will help the team to get comfortable with each other and share their thoughts.
Prepare very well for the meeting. Do your own research on retrospectives and have a plan for how you want to run the session. I found https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/retrospective very helpful. It had all the instructions and the template I needed for the meeting.
Be open and honest, encourage the team to share their thoughts and feedback, even if it's negative. That is how you will find the key areas that needs improvement.
Focus on what you can do to improve the situation, not on who is to blame. That is the only way you can assure that your team is sharing their ideas without backlash.

I hope this helps!

Comments

Sven Peters

This sounds great. Congrats on running your first retro! It can be tough to stay in front of a bunch of people as the facilitator of this meeting.

I love that the team thought they didn't need any improvement but came out of it with some actions. I see this a lot.

Laurie Sciutti

👏🏻👏🏻

Christine P. Dela Rosa

So glad to see you jump in and facilitate your first retro, @Sayed Bares [ServiceRocket]! It takes a lot to get there, but every time you facilitate a Play in the future, it'll take less and less until you feel like it's a regular activity.

Is there anything from your experience that surprised you?

Sayed Bares [ServiceRocket]

@Christine P. Dela Rosa I'm surprised by how many key areas need improvement. I'm glad the team took the time to identify them, and I'm hopeful that we can address them together.