Retrospective: Set the stage examples

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.

Black or White

Quick answer interview where all participants answer collectively a question which is formed like "A or B?"
E.g.:

  • Mineral water: sparkling or still?
  • Justin Bieber or Robbie Williams
  • ...

Say Hello

All should close their eyes. Someone is saying "Hello", the others has to guess who said "Hello"

Visual Phone

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 ;)

Punctual Pete

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.

  • Punctual Pete
  • Crazy Chris
  • Bossy Boris

Count to 10

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. 

Other games

  • Guess songs
  • Guess film music
  • Guess country flags
  • Guess country outlines
  • Guess company logo
  • Pictionary

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! 

2 comments

Deepanshu Natani
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
March 5, 2021

Thanks for sharing this @Dominic Lagger I would suggest few of these games to one of our customer.

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Prashant Sangappa Shivashimpi March 8, 2021

Hello @Dominic Lagger ,

 

Great to see these nice notes about retrospective.. It is indeed a team connect initiative and must be done in Fun way to engage team members effectively. The insights from your article are really very good.!

Thank you very much..!

BR,

Prashant.

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