The Sprint Retrospective is one of the five official Scrum events (alongside the Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, and Sprint Review). It is held at the end of each Sprint, after the Sprint Review and before the next Sprint begins. According to the Scrum Guide, its purpose is to inspect how the last Sprint went with respect to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and the Definition of Done, and to identify improvements for the next Sprint.
Timebox and Participants (Scrum Guide)
· Timebox: Up to three hours for a one-month Sprint, shorter for shorter Sprints.
· Participants: The entire Scrum Team (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers).
· Goal: Identify at least one concrete improvement that can be implemented in the next Sprint.
Official Scope (Scrum Guide)
· Reflect on people, relationships, processes, tools, and the Definition of Done.
· Identify opportunities to improve effectiveness and quality.
· Commit to actions that can be addressed in the next Sprint.
· Responsibility lies with the entire Scrum Team, with the Scrum Master facilitating and ensuring psychological safety.
Good Practices from the Field
While the Scrum Guide provides the framework, many facilitation techniques have emerged in practice to make retrospectives more engaging and impactful:
· Start–Stop–Continue: Discuss what the team should start doing, stop doing, or continue doing.
Example: “Start: regular pair programming. Stop: unprepared reviews. Continue: rotating the Daily Scrum facilitator.”
· Mad–Sad–Glad: Team members share what made them angry, sad, or glad during the Sprint.
Example: “Mad: unstable build pipeline. Sad: little feedback from PO. Glad: the Daily was highly effective.”
· Timeline Retrospective: Visualize Sprint events chronologically to detect patterns and turning points.
· 5 Whys (Root Cause Analysis): Drill down into recurring issues by repeatedly asking “Why?” until the root cause is found.
· Appreciation Round: Each team member thanks another for a specific contribution or support.
· Experiment Board: Define concrete experiments with hypotheses and metrics rather than vague improvements.
Example: “Hypothesis: If we introduce a dedicated bug Kanban board, we will reduce open tickets by 30%.”
These methods are not part of the Scrum Guide but are widely recognized as best practices for making retrospectives more effective in real-world environments.
Common Misconceptions
· “Retrospectives are optional.” Incorrect – they are a mandatory Scrum event.
· “Retrospectives are just feedback sessions.” Their focus is on actionable improvements and experiments.
· “Only the Scrum Master benefits.” In reality, all roles benefit from improved collaboration, transparency, and performance.
Practical Relevance in Transformations
The retrospective is a cornerstone of a learning organization. It strengthens ownership, exposes dysfunctions, and enables incremental improvement. In agile transformations, it acts as a multiplier: small, regular changes accumulate into sustainable cultural and organizational shifts.
CALADE Perspective
In practice, retrospectives are often conducted superficially or treated as routine. CALADE helps teams and Scrum Masters turn retrospectives into a powerful engine of cultural change and systemic improvement. Through coaching, training, and method diversity, we ensure retrospectives go beyond rituals to become strategic levers for continuous learning and improvement.
Related Terms
· Sprint
· Sprint Review
· Scrum Master
· Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)
· Psychological Safety
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