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<org.eclipse.epf.uma:ContentDescription xmi:version="2.0" xmlns:xmi="http://www.omg.org/XMI" xmlns:org.eclipse.epf.uma="http://www.eclipse.org/epf/uma/1.0.6/uma.ecore" xmlns:epf="http://www.eclipse.org/epf" epf:version="1.5.1" xmlns:rmc="http://www.ibm.com/rmc" rmc:version="7.5.1" xmi:id="-i-UeSpBxKd6YtGLz_NW8GQ" name=",_277QEA4gEdy63f1yVoPyfA" guid="-i-UeSpBxKd6YtGLz_NW8GQ" changeDate="2008-07-11T11:25:08.000-0700" version="7.5.0">
  <mainDescription>&lt;h3>&#xD;
    Participants and facilitator&#xD;
&lt;/h3>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The participants that gather in the context of a Retrospective constitute more than a &quot;working group&quot;. The participants&#xD;
    should be thought of as &quot;a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose,&#xD;
    performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.&quot; [&lt;a&#xD;
    class=&quot;elementLinkWithUserText&quot;&#xD;
    href=&quot;./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KAT93&quot;&#xD;
    guid=&quot;_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg&quot;>KAT93&lt;/a>]&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The participants should consist of individuals representing cross-functional groups, having been involved in the&#xD;
    project period or project incident for which the Retrospective will be conducted. The size of the team is important,&#xD;
    for the rigorously participative environment of the Retrospective may be difficult to achieve with an overwhelmingly&#xD;
    large group (25+ individuals), and a set period of time in which to conduct the Retrospective. Conversely, a small set&#xD;
    of participants that is under-represented by the appropriate functional groups will limit the benefits and productivity&#xD;
    of team collaboration and self-organization. Although a Retrospective achieves productive results by actualizing team&#xD;
    responsibility and self-organization, and opposing traditional imposed authority, the work conducted in a Retrospective&#xD;
    (involving the members of cross-functional groups) demands the presence of a designated facilitator.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The individual that is designated to assume the role of facilitator, or Retrospective leader, should possess&#xD;
    fundamental skills of a facilitative management approach:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;blockquote dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px&quot;>&#xD;
    &lt;p class=&quot;quote&quot;>&#xD;
        &quot;A facilitator is an individual who enables groups and organizations to work more effectively; to collaborate and&#xD;
        achieve synergy. She or he is a &quot;content-neutral&quot; party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point&#xD;
        of view during the meeting, can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group's work. A&#xD;
        facilitator can also be a learning or dialogue guide to assist a group in thinking deeply about its assumptions,&#xD;
        beliefs and values and about its systemic processes and context.&quot; [&lt;a class=&quot;elementLinkWithUserText&quot;&#xD;
        href=&quot;./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KAN07&quot;&#xD;
        guid=&quot;_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg&quot;>KAN07&lt;/a>]&#xD;
    &lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;/blockquote>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The facilitator can be expected to allow the participants to exercise a sense of ownership in the operating mode of&#xD;
    thought, act to remove impediments to the team's effort to reach targeted goals, foster an environment of trust and&#xD;
    thriving collaboration, and support the team in a manner that allows the team to achieve its best thinking. Ultimately,&#xD;
    the facilitator focuses on managing the format of the Retrospective, while the participants hone their skills in&#xD;
    managing the Retrospective content and maintaining a high-performance, participatory group dynamic.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;h3>&#xD;
    Establish norms and agreements&#xD;
&lt;/h3>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Begin the Project Retrospective by establishing the duration, goals, and expectations of the session. The following are&#xD;
    typical durations for various Retrospectives:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;ul>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Iteration:&lt;/b> 2 to 4 hours&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Incident:&lt;/b> 15 to 45 minutes&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Project:&lt;/b> 1 to several days&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
&lt;/ul>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Select the facilitator of the Retrospective.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    If the team is gathering to conduct the first Retrospective, the group will need to create the cultural norms that will&#xD;
    be used in the future Retrospectives. If the team is regrouping to conduct a Retrospective, the existing cultural norms&#xD;
    will be used. Norm Kerth's Prime Directive is an excellent and widely referenced guiding principle for each&#xD;
    Retrospective:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;blockquote dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px&quot;>&#xD;
    &lt;p class=&quot;quote&quot;>&#xD;
        &lt;strong>Prime Directive&lt;/strong>: &quot;Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone&#xD;
        did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available,&#xD;
        and the situation at hand.&quot; [&lt;a class=&quot;elementLinkWithUserText&quot;&#xD;
        href=&quot;./../../../core.tech.common.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/references.tech_6CCF393.html#KER01&quot;&#xD;
        guid=&quot;_9ToeIB83Edqsvps02rpOOg&quot;>KER01&lt;/a>]&#xD;
    &lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;/blockquote>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Remind the team that the Prime Directive and cultural norms of the Retrospective are in place to establish an&#xD;
    environment in which the members can safely expose sensitive topics and manage meaningful, if provocative, dialogue.&#xD;
    The cultural norms guide the team by a &quot;social contract&quot; that clearly outlines the &lt;i>team values and working&#xD;
    agreements&lt;/i> that have been established by the team. The social contract needs to include organizational value&#xD;
    statements that govern acceptable behavior and interactions, supplemented by inviolable principles that govern the&#xD;
    conduct and ethics of the team. The team must establish these rules of group engagement before the Retrospective&#xD;
    continues to the core of the group's intended gathering. Examples of working agreements include:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;ul>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Tardiness is not acceptable&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Mobile phones must be powered off during the session&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        All participants must be in attendance throughout the duration of the Retrospective or ask permission from the&#xD;
        group for early departure&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        All opinions are welcome&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        The team must strive for healthy, high-quality interaction&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
&lt;/ul>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The team's working agreements (and&amp;nbsp;the Prime Directive statement) should be displayed prominently in the&#xD;
    Retrospective session, so that they are clearly visible to all members of the team and, if required, easily accessible&#xD;
    so that the team can edit the content. After it is defined, future Retrospectives can begin with a review of these&#xD;
    working agreements.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    After the team has established a safe environment in which to conduct the Retrospective, the facilitator of the&#xD;
    Retrospective should elicit participation from the group, thereby granting tacit permission to members who are hesitant&#xD;
    to participate immediately.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;h3>&#xD;
    Collect and analyze data&#xD;
&lt;/h3>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The team begins this step of the Retrospective with a review of the meaningful characteristics of the iteration,&#xD;
    release, incident, or project period. The focus of the team's work in this step includes:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;ul>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Critical developments,&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Notable discoveries&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Work completed&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Project metrics (velocity, number of defects, and so forth)&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Review of project artifacts (requirements artifacts, project plans, and such)&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
&lt;/ul>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Encourage the team to capture all information (project data, opinions, and so on) by using various tools (white boards,&#xD;
    charts, timelines) that provide a visual representation, so that the team can identify relationships and emerging&#xD;
    patterns.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The team uses guiding questions to collect and analyze meaningful project data. You can use these examples of key&#xD;
    questions to elicit relevant information:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;ul>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Were the defined goals and objectives met? Did the release meet its functionality and quality goals? Did the&#xD;
        release meet performance and capacity goals?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Were risks reduced or eliminated? Can we identify new risks?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Were all planned work items addressed? What was the team's velocity relative to the plan?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Did the end users provide favorable feedback on what we built in this iteration?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Are changes to the project plan required?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        What portion of the current release will be used to establish the baseline? What portion will need to be reworked?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Have there been external changes, such as changes in the marketplace, in the user community, or in the&#xD;
        requirements?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        Was the development process appropriate? How can it be fine-tuned for the specific needs of this project?&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
&lt;/ul>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The team has generated a list of candidate topics to focus on for its collective inquiry, or heightened analysis. The&#xD;
    team's methods of analysis need to facilitate a deepening understanding of the events characterizing the iteration,&#xD;
    incident, release, or Project Retrospective. The team will be evaluating these driving factors, which ultimately&#xD;
    documents a roadmap for the next cycle:&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;ul>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Success:&lt;/b> &quot;What worked well for us during the past iteration (or project or phase)?&quot;&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Failure:&lt;/b> &quot;What did not work well for us during the past iteration [or project or phase)?&quot;&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
    &lt;li>&#xD;
        &lt;b>Opportunities for improvement:&lt;/b> &quot;What should we do differently, or what improvements should we undertake&#xD;
        during our next iteration (or project or phase)?&quot;&#xD;
    &lt;/li>&#xD;
&lt;/ul>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    With increasing emphasis, the thread of team collaboration continues throughout the Retrospective, thereby fostering an&#xD;
    environment conducive to candid, unimpeded examination by the team: a rigorous style of examination that will be&#xD;
    required to unearth the details lurking in the interactions of the team, the conditions of the project, fortuitous&#xD;
    events, failures, risks, and examples of flourishing success.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    After the team has collected and analyzed the key data in the Retrospective, the team will have evaluated key project&#xD;
    content. For each item evaluated, they will have established a root cause. The team will know what worked well, what&#xD;
    did not, and what to do differently this time, so that they can carry forward a list of suggested improvements that&#xD;
    will be prioritized by the team.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;h3>&#xD;
    Set priorities&#xD;
&lt;/h3>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    By referencing the project data collected and analyzed in the Retrospective, the team now creates a list of suggested&#xD;
    improvements, assigning a priority to each item on the list.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The selection of improvements should be limited to a subset that will be applied in the next iteration cycle. This list&#xD;
    should be considered as input to update the next Iteration Plan, so that you can ensure an integrated relationship&#xD;
    between the changes identified in the Retrospective and the normal course of the team's work plans.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Get commitment from members to complete, the suggested improvements that have been chosen for application in the next&#xD;
    iteration cycle. The visibility and commitment among the members of the team imbue a sense that the Retrospective was&#xD;
    worthy of the team's investment of time, and that the results of the work on the Retrospective will be tracked in the&#xD;
    next iteration cycle.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    Maintain a backlog of the suggested improvements that were not chosen for the next iteration cycle. This will preserve&#xD;
    the work of the Retrospective. The selected content will be available for convenient access and monitoring for&#xD;
    progress, and the unselected items will be available for consideration during future iteration cycles.&#xD;
&lt;/p>&#xD;
&lt;h3>&#xD;
    Conclude and document the process&#xD;
&lt;/h3>&#xD;
&lt;p>&#xD;
    The team's honed methods of investigation and analysis&amp;nbsp;are now applied to the Retrospective itself. During the&#xD;
    evaluation of the Retrospective, the team considers the moments of empowering thought and interaction, considers ideas&#xD;
    for improving future Retrospectives, revisits the team's social contract, extends appreciation throughout the group,&#xD;
    and preserves the discoveries of the team (for example,&amp;nbsp;through the use of Retrospective documentation,&#xD;
    or&amp;nbsp;pictures from a digital camera taken during the Retrospective).&#xD;
&lt;/p></mainDescription>
</org.eclipse.epf.uma:ContentDescription>
