Hi there
Most who read this article will have attended a retrospective before, perhaps even moderated one.
A good overview on retrospectives can be found here: Team Playbook Retrospective
As a Scrum Master, I have facilitated several hundred retrospectives. I try each time to make a game as a starter. Quite a list comes together which I would like to share with you.
Quick answer interview where all participants answer collectively a question which is formed like "A or B?"
E.g.:
All should close their eyes. Someone is saying "Hello", the others has to guess who said "Hello"
3 post-its for everyone. On the last post-it write a sentance. Give to post-it to the person on your right. This person reads the sentance and draw it on the 2nd post-it. Give to post-it to the person on your right. This person just looks at the drawing and write a sentance about it. That's pretty funny ;)
Basically an exercise to remember names.
Combine the name of a participant with an adjective. The adjective should start with the same letter as the name does.
e.g.
All should close their eyes. The target is to count to 10 with the group, but when 2 people say the same number at the same time, it starts with 1 again.
This is a list of my favourites. But there are a lot more, just search the internet and be creative! :)
Have fun a your next retrospective!
Dominic Lagger
Scrum Master / Confluence Administrator
Switzerland
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