How to Conduct Remote Retrospectives and Enjoy the Process

Let’s face it: Agile was not created for distributed teams. Early Agile teams were mostly co-located, mainly because video conferencing, chat, and other technologies that make remote work possible were primitive and clumsy at that time. Nowadays, with so many people working remotely, gathering a team in one room is unrealistic. However, this doesn’t mean that remote retrospectives are impossible; they are just a bit different.

Moreover, regular retrospectives are particularly important for distributed teams. Without everyday chatter by the coffee machine and lunchtime conversations that typically happen in the office environment, problems affecting team productivity and morale might go unnoticed until they become severe. Retrospectives are a tried-and-tested way to address these issues.

What is a Remote Retrospective?

A remote retrospective is simply a remote variation of the classic Agile retrospective (or “sprint retrospective” in Scrum terminology). Using video conferencing, team members reflect on what is working well and what isn’t, and then, with this in mind, determine how they can improve the situation. It’s classic continuous improvement: duplicate successes and learn from failures.

Don’t forget about team cohesion. While retrospectives are not “team-building” per se, finding solutions to problems you face together and celebrating your victories does help team members bond.

How to Conduct a Remote Retrospective with Your Team

Step 1: Create a Atmosphere of Psychological Safety

For the retrospective to be worth the effort, the entire team must be involved. As challenging as it may seem, for example, due to time zone differences, it is essential to have everyone present because every voice deserves to be heard.

Ensure that everyone is comfortable sharing their opinions without fearing judgment or punishment. While the retrospective should be effective, the goal is not to point fingers but to figure out how the team can get better.

Step 2: Set the Agenda

Retrospectives rely on a sense of interconnectedness and collaboration among team members, but this is often lost in a distributed environment. To address this, use Zoom or a similar video conferencing tool, and make sure everyone has their cameras on. Remember that face-to-face communication is the most practical and effective way to exchange information both within and outside the team. We communicate more efficiently when we can see each other’s faces, and since retrospective discussions can sometimes become intense, maximum team engagement is needed.

Why not experiment with virtual backgrounds on Zoom? You can even choose a session theme: colors, places you want to visit, favorite movies, etc. If virtual backgrounds aren’t popular with your team, you can try other methods:

• Ask everyone to wear their favorite hat during the conversation.
• If you use a format involving individual brainstorming, take turns choosing music for background playback during that time.
• Open the retro with a short icebreaker. Even a mundane question like “What did you have for lunch today?” can elicit a smile and make team members feel more connected.
• People might turn off their microphones when not speaking to reduce background noise. Still, encourage (or require) everyone to turn on their cameras to maintain a high level of interaction and facilitate closer communication.

You will also need to record all the ideas you share. In the office, boards are usually used for this purpose, but in a virtual retrospective, you’ll need some digital equivalent. Miro, Jira or Confluence plugins, Trello, or Mural are good options.

As for the agenda, there are many retrospective variations, but the basic format is: what went well, what didn’t go well, and what changes we’ll make in our work. However, any format gets old after a while, so don’t forget to change it. Be inventive and surprise your team. And don’t forget to ask for feedback afterward. You could even have a retrospective of your retrospectives once a year!

Step 3: Review the Recent Past

Most teams conduct retrospectives every two weeks or monthly, with an additional retrospective after completing a major project. At the beginning of the retrospective, refresh everyone’s memory about the planned work, what was accomplished, and any surprises or significant events along the way.

If you have time, do this part together. Instead of reading a list you prepared before the meeting, ask team members to recall what they remember from the past weeks. Simply hearing what they consider “significant” can be enlightening.

Step 4: Discuss Candidly but Respectfully

Discussion is the most piquant part of any retrospective. Here are a few popular formats:

• Start, Stop, Continue – Encourage your team to think in action-oriented terms.
• What did we do? Result? What to do? – Suitable for teams that need practice with analytical thinking.
• Liked, Didn’t like, Would like, Learned – excellent for quarterly or annual reflections on an individual level.

Each of these formats works well on electronic boards. Create a board and lists before the retrospective. Then, during the meeting, team members can add cards to the lists in real-time. You can all see each other’s ideas in real-time.

Step 5: Decide What You’ll Do Before the Next Retrospective

What have you learned? What do you want to change? Decide everything together, then assign owners and deadlines for each task or action item. In distributed teams, it’s easy to lose sight of who is doing what, so finding ways to assign responsibility is crucial.

Also, try to define success criteria for each item. This way, you can easily determine whether the goal has been achieved. For example, “review all code changes within 4 hours of submission.”

Make sure you prioritize and identify tasks that need to be addressed within one sprint. Ideally, you should focus on one or two tasks and give them attention in the coming weeks.

Be sure to brainstorm solutions to the problems you encounter so that the retrospective doesn’t turn into a mere discussion.

Step 6: Discuss Your Retrospective

Take a moment at the end of the retro to discuss how everything went. Be open and encourage feedback from the team, looking for ways to improve the retrospective next time.

The fact that the project is behind schedule doesn’t mean you should abandon the retrospective to save a few person-hours. The time you spend on a retrospective is an investment, not a burden.

Retrospectives are like Vegas: “What happens at the retrospective stays at the retrospective.” If team members violate this agreement and share information without the team’s consent, take immediate action. Otherwise, discussions will dry up (just like trips to Vegas).

While the idea of conducting a remote retrospective with a distributed team may have caused you nightmares and fear in the past, we hope this article has changed your mind. Conducting a retrospective with a distributed team can be fun, so keep experimenting to keep the team engaged and energized.