In Part One we looked at the my very basics for helpful, effective retrospectives. Today we put variety [0] in the spotlight.

Listening to Gitte Klitgaard on the TIRF podcast reminded me of things I struggled with in my earlier Scrum Master's and Agile Coach's days. Things that I wish I would've known way earlier in my career - or even better: I would have already been comfortable with back then.

After listening to aforesaid episode I finally had words to summarize what was missing back then: it is a gut feeling about the "right" amount of variation.

Of course, as usual in complex adaptive systems like teams, organisations or even single individuals: there is no such thing than THE one right thing. Same goes for the amount of variation when facilitating retrospectives.

Variation bascially can be found in three areas:

1. the timeframe we look at
   (e.g. the iteration)

2. the people taking part
   (e.g. the team we work with or also a group of people)

3. the chosen activities / formats

My number one learning our of experience is: let your style vary in terms of the analysed timeframe and people who participate in the retro.

Variety in timeframe

Varying style regarding the timeframe means first of all: don't mechanically look back only one iteration "because Scrum says so".

Go with your human intuition if you see that a bigger timeframe than just one iteration might be a good idea: go for it.

Go with what you observed and processed as their Agile Coach: if you think a retrospective framed around a certain topic (e.g. trust or unaddressed matters [1]) might be a good idea, then go for it!

Go with the team if they request to look at a certain area. Ask people what they need if you (think that you) have no idea - or if you're in doubt.

Variety and people

Varying style with regards to people means first of all: don't do anything "just because method/framework xyz says so"!

Invite other folks as needed e.g. for a single retrospective. That could be another team your team collaborates closely with or it could be people from the customer's side.

And even if you (feel you) are a beginner in the field: go with your human intuition. You go this!

Even 'being in doubt' is a form of intuition. Your guts are telling you: "look, I don't see the way clear enough, and that makes me feel uncomfortable.... but I so want to make a good decision".

Being in doubt let's you choose THE Agile Coaching joker you always have: ask the people you work with! 

Or the second best Agile Coaching joker: ask peers in your professional network for help.

Variety in activities

When it comes to variety in activities or retro formats, my number one advice (that might be almost too obvious) is: be conscious with choosing and varying your retro activities.

Do NOT vary just for varieties sake. Do NOT vary because you feel you need to prove your value by showing (off) e.g. with your "agile toolbox".

Two things I truly learned over the years by feedback from the people I worked with (and which I am eternally grateful for):

1. variety in terms of retro activities is fun and inspiring….

2. ... and: it can be straining too.

Variety can become straining

Too much variety in activities can be straining for the team especially if already too much change is ongoing within the whole organisation that you're accompanying on their transformational journey.

Too much variety in activities can also be straining for yourself because YOU need to be prepared, YOU need to be truly comfortable with the activities you want to do with the team. That takes time and it takes energy.

And you?

What is your kind of "secret sauce" when it comes to retrospectives and variety or variation? 

I am very curious to hear from you!

Footnotes

[0] As a non-native English writer, I learned that "variety" is more suitable than my initially chosen "variation". So I changed that compared to the very initial version of this article.

[1] As for addressing the unspoken matters (what we usually call "an elephant in the room") there's e.g. Willem Larsens Elephant Safari format

[2] If you're looking for connection to other professionals and don't know where to go, where to start: I am happy to help. Just drop me a line.

[3] Rubber Duck Debugging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging ; Rubber Duck Coaching: https://notebook.cosima-laube.de/blog/rubberduckcoaching-intro/ 

See you for part three.