Introducing the Chill Retrospective

Remember the good old days when airplanes did not have electricity or internet connectivity? I had just gotten on a flight over the ocean. I had been working like crazy, trying to get everything done, so I could go on vacation with a good conscience. I didn’t quite succeed, so here I was, on the plane, with about 2 hours to finish things before the battery died. Eventually, what had to happen did happen, the battery ran out, and I closed the computer.

I closed my eyes, really relaxing for the first time in who knows how long. Some moments of nothing – I don’t  really know how long – then Woosh! A flood of ideas came flowing through my brain. Things I could do, products I could create; people I could talk to. Everything seemed possible in that moment. Turning off unleashed my creative juices.

“Do. Do! Do! Do! – It’s all about doing in the Agile movement. Even retrospectives are gamified, but people need downtime to be healthy and creative.” 

John Styffe, Neuro Coach Trainer

Today, we hardly turn off at all. Especially not a work. We all have too many meetings and too much to do, and our devices are always available to entertain us and give us dopamine fixes.

This came up at a conversation about retrospectives with Ziryan Salayi, Ilija Popjanev, Nancy Beers, and Charles-Louis de Maere at Agile Day Kaunas. Could it be a basis for a retrospective?

How to do a chill retrospective.

Personal / Personal Agility Version

1. Leave your phone and other devices in the office.
2. Take a walk outside for about 10 minutes, ideally in a park.
3. Sit down somewhere. Close your eyes, watch the river flow, or watch the world go by. Whatever. Let yourself come down. Let the ideas flow when they are ready.
4. After 10 minutes, walk back. Let the ideas percolate in your mind.
5. Write down your key ideas and insights. Use “Celebrate and Choose” to update your Priorities Map, even your What Really Matters column if that is the right thing to do.

Team / Scrum Version

1. Leave your phone and other devices in the office.
2. With your team, take a walk outside together for about 10 minutes, ideally in a park.
3. Sit by yourself. Close your eyes, watch the river flow, or watch the world go by. Whatever. Let yourself come down. Let the ideas flow when they are ready.
4. After 10 minutes, walk back together and discuss the ideas you want to share.
5. Optional – continue with your team retrospective to identify what measures you want to implement together.

Results from the chill retrospective

Yesterday, I invited my CSM students to do a Chill Retrospective. The biggest impediment was that most people were not wearing watches. How to tell time without a phone? Fortunately, one person had a watch, so everyone else could orient on her.

People greeted the idea of leaving their phones at the office with a mixture of trepidation and delight, perhaps because even turning off their phones after business hours is such a challenge. They could have taken their phones if they wanted to, but everyone decided to leave theirs in the office.!

People came back on time, which I guess wasn’t surprising. They appreciated the calm, which is a rare experience these days. They had clear ideas about what they wanted to do moving forward.

Integrating with other types of retrospectives

I have always been a fan of Boris Gloger’s Heartbeat Retrospective. This format takes you through five steps, in which you mostly alternate between writing your ideas on sticky notes and sharing them with your team:

• Shared Understanding. What happened? Write down key events on stickies, visualize them on timeline, and then each individual shares their perspective with the whole team. 
• Potential Improvement. What could we do differently? Again: write stickies and share your ideas.
• Consolidate. Identify which ideas are present on more than one card; remove the duplicates.
• Jurisdiction. Which of these can we do on our own authority? For which do we need help? Divide the ideas into two columns.
• Convergence – select a few ideas to implement in the next sprint.

The Chill Retrospective would simply add 30 minutes of chilled reflection to the potential improvement step. Chill, then write your ideas, then move on to consolidate and converge like you always do.

How does this resonate with you. You can give it a try by yourself or try it with your team. Either way, I’d love to hear how this works for you! join the conversation on LinkedIn, or post your experience and tag me to start the conversation!