Continuous improvement is a fundamental tenet of today’s agile teams. Retrospectives serve as the medium through which teams collaboratively examine and expose opportunities for improvement in terms of process and practices. Just like iteration planning and release planning, retrospectives take place in a regular rhythm. Many of the more effective agile teams conduct retrospectives at the conclusion of every iteration.

Retrospectives afford the team a dedicated opportunity to collectively evaluate their overall effectiveness by examining their planning and estimation processes, coding and testing practices, support systems, and communication effectiveness. During a retrospective, specific impediments, action items and/or stories are identified and prioritized. Very often, the highest priority items are scheduled and dealt with in the following iteration.

Retrospective meetings are best facilitated by someone with the experience to ensure participation by all on the team. On teams new to the agile process, it is very often useful to tackle low-hanging fruit early in the project in order for the team to gain confidence. Once a team gains success with the continual process improvement cycle, and both the team and the organization have more confidence, then they can take on take on the more complex and challenging issues. There are many different techniques to consider, depending upon the maturity and transparency of the team.

The key benefits agile teams derive from holding regular retrospectives include improved quality, improved capability, improved productivity and higher trust and morale.