A good way to increase long-term efficiency is by running a 30 minute retro at the end of every project.
Why do retros
Retros are the best, structured, way to continuously improve by building on successes and learning from mistakes. They should be treated as an essential part of a project, similar to the investment in project management time.
The way we improve is to:
- keep doing what’s working well;
- stop or change what’s not working well (by doing something about it).
Retros work by driving change in people and processes, and by building better shared understanding within the team. They help improve trust and psychological safety, and demonstrate the value of feedback. Every retro ends with deciding on a small, cheap, experiment: we agree to try something to see if there’s an improvement or not.
This results in higher quality, more efficient, work and better team communication and collaboration. Running retros regularly is best because it means more opportunities to improve.
Often there are items in company values or business objectives that match up well with doing retros, such as improvement and efficiency.
Ways to support running regular retros
- Adding a retro as a item in templates
- Scheduling the retro when scheduling the work
- Templating the process and the outcomes, with some room to improvise
- Being flexible on the timing