As the execution of the iteration (sprint) is completed and the iteration review meeting is conducted, the last activity to conclude the iteration is to conduct the iteration retrospective.

Iteration retrospective (sprint retrospective) is a meeting that takes place at the end of the iteration with the participation of all the agile team members (product owner, team facilitator and the development team) to inspect how well the iteration was executed with regards to quality and effectiveness in order to discover better ways of performing the future iterations. The iteration retrospectives are periodically conducted at the very end of each iteration after the iteration review meeting.

The iteration retrospective is one of the two inspect-and-adapt activities that is conducted at the end of each iteration. The first inspect-and-adapt activity is the iteration review meeting, which takes place after the iteration is executed. The iteration review meeting focuses on the product increment created during the iteration and the whole product itself. The iteration retrospective on the other hand focuses on how the agile team performed the iteration in order to find better ways of doing something by improving effectiveness and quality.

The Details Of The Iteration (Sprint) Retrospective

In the iteration retrospective, the agile team will evaluate what went well during the iteration, what didn’t work well and what should be improved. The processes, tools, communications and the individuals will be inspected in order to discover ways of improvements. As the agile team agrees on the areas of improvements, a plan will be created on how to implement those improvements.

From this point on, it is important that the agile team members follow up on the planned improvements to ensure that turn into reality. As the improvements are made, the agile team should measure how they affected the quality and effectiveness of future iterations and act accordingly.

How Long Should The Iteration (Sprint) Retrospective Be?

Iteration retrospectives are time-boxed events and the duration of the meeting vary according to the duration of the iteration. For a four-week iteration, a maximum of three-hour retrospective can be scheduled, whereas for a two-week iteration, an hour and a half meeting duration would be sufficient. The team facilitator keeps the iteration retrospective meeting within the time-box and ensures that the retrospective meets its purpose.

What Is The Purpose Of Conducting The Iteration (Sprint) Retrospective?

The goal in conducting the iteration retrospectives is to make frequent and continuous improvements. Discovering ways for improvement is only possible when all the team members actively participate and freely express their opinions. The atmosphere of the retrospective should promote active participation of all the agile team members and the facilitator should ensure that the meeting does not turn into a complaining or a blaming session. There is no way to make a progress in the retrospective if the team members start blaming each other for the things that didn’t go well. A positive and a supportive atmosphere is crucial for having a successful retrospective.

Making frequent improvements is an important part of the agile framework. The reason that the retrospectives are held at the end of each iteration is because making improvements more frequently will provide earlier results and will have a bigger effect on the project’s success. If the agile team waits for the end of the project to conduct retrospectives, no matter how valuable improvements are discovered, they can only be applied to the future projects, not to the current project. In addition to conducting the iteration retrospectives, it is also important to note that agile team members can conduct retrospectives whenever they find it valuable to do so.

What Happens After The Iteration Retrospective?

With the completion of the iteration retrospective, the iteration is concluded and the agile team proceeds to the next iteration with the iteration planning.

PMP And CAPM Exam Tips On The Iteration Retrospective

With the changes in the exam content, half of the questions on the PMP and CAPM exams are on agile project management. Without throughly knowing the events of agile project management, such as the iteration retrospective, there is no way to pass the exam.