Sprint Retrospective: How to Conduct a Calm and Flowing KALM Retro with Your Team

Conducting a sprint retrospective can be a daunting task, especially when working as part of an agile team. The last thing you want is for the session to become overwhelming or chaotic, causing your team's energy to dissipate instead of focusing on improvement. That's where the KALM retro comes in – a technique designed to keep your team calm and focused while ensuring that your business progresses smoothly.

What is a Sailboat Retrospective?

A Sailboat retrospective is an effective technique used by agile teams to reflect on their past performance and identify areas of improvement. It uses a sailboat as a metaphor to visualize the team's journey, with the wind representing factors that support the team, and the anchors representing the factors that hinder their progress.

How to Conduct a Sailboat Retrospective

Conducting a Sailboat retrospective is relatively simple. Here are the steps:

1. Draw a sailboat: Start by drawing a sailboat on a whiteboard or use an online tool like Slatebox.

2. Group observations: Once everyone has shared their observations, group them into categories like 'Sail', 'Wind', and 'Anchor'.

3. Discuss grouped observations: Discuss the grouped observations and identify the ones that need improvement.

4. Brainstorm ideas: Brainstorm ideas to address the identified issues and assign action items to team members. Encourage them to be specific and provide examples.

5. Visualize the wind and anchors: Draw the wind as a vector and the anchors as a symbol.

Benefits of a Sailboat Retrospective

A Sailboat retrospective offers several benefits, including:

* Increases the team's awareness of their progress

* Helps teams identify areas of improvement

* Encourages open and honest communication

* Fosters a sense of teamwork and ownership

Tips for Conducting a Smooth Sailboat Retro

To ensure that your sailboat retro runs smoothly, here are a few tips:

* Review the action items in the next sprint retrospective

* Ensure each team member writes down their observations on sticky notes and sticks them on the sailboat

* Encourage specific examples when brainstorming ideas

By following these steps and tips, you can ensure that your Sailboat retrospective is both calm and flowing, allowing your team to reflect on their past performance and identify areas for improvement. So, next time you're preparing for a sprint retrospective, consider using the KALM retro technique to keep things moving smoothly.

Sprint retrospective sailboat