Retrospective: Look back with some structure and process

The end of a project, calendar year or quarter and there can be lots to wrap up, finish up and look back at. 

For some of us, things just keep on keeping on. The calendar or end of project may be irrelevant; perhaps there's not even a whiff of time to slow down to review anything. 

When you do have a moment to pause, reflect, gather some thoughts or input or review in readiness for what's ahead, here's a little something for you. It's for you or for your team, unit, project, organisation...

A Template for a Retrospective

Retrospective. It's a word that comes from Latin roots meaning 'I look back at.'

So get together and start looking back. That is, have a conversation or meeting to talk about what went well and what didn't go so well and how you can make the best of all of that. You don't need to dwell on it all for hours and hours; in fact this tool helps you take what happened and shift it forward for change. 

Rather than a dull meeting based on vague questions or a meeting where loud mouths reign and interrupt quieter members of the team... here's a tool for you to lead the conversation with. 

A Visual Focus

The power of visuals in meetings, conversations and communication are undeniable. They help people hear each other, they help us focus, they help us stay on track because we can actually see the work to be done.

Use this template to not only lead the meeting or conversation, but to capture some of the content that's contributed by the team.

I've put together some instructions if you need 'em in a PDF here or a little video here. 

Alone or together

Whether you do it alone, in a team (or a family, yeah that's a great idea), with the project team or across units and divisions, spend just a little valuable time looking back and reviewing with a more formalised structure and process.

A retrospective view helps give people the opportunity to contribute, to participate and voice their thoughts. Plus it gives you a rich trove of insights and sensemaking from which to do more or to make some changes and adapt for what's up next. 

Review and Reflect ... alone or with the team

The end of the calendar year brings many people to the point of wrapping things up, reviewing the year that's been and thinking about the year ahead. 

(That is... if you can break from the cray-cray of deadlines hitting before holiday time or having less people in your team or on the task than you'd like!)
 
Whatever your state of mind - and work - this week and the next few,  I've collected a few resources for you to review, reflect, read and ponder... when you're ready.

If not now, bookmark and save for when you're travelling, waiting, distracting yourself or wanting some insight.


thinking
I love me a visual map; and many a group or team I've worked with have benefited from being able to capture their story, the facts, their issues or the current situation too.

Once it's down on paper (or digital) they're able to see it. Once they can all see it, it's remarkable how quickly resolutions and fixes present themselves in the conversation. It's also way quicker to get people together and focused on something. 

Here's one I prepared earlier! For you. 



I use this type of map and the headings of 'Less Same More' in workshops and keynotes to help people get actions down from their thinking and ideas. (This handles overwhelm and chaos well too!)

What do you want more, less or the same of...?

• LESS: stop or drop this stuff. Wind back, remove and reduce it.
• SAME: keep on truckin', keep going, keep moving with this stuff.
• MORE: ramp it up, do more of this, get or have more of this. 

This is about you  - what do you want less, same or more of in your life, in your work. It can relate to anything at all. 

Fill in the spaces. I use dot points or key words to prompt me and capture my ideas. It becomes my personal visual plan and idea collection place just like a 'plan on a page'. It then goes up on the wall in my office or in digital/photo form on my phone. 
 
Oh and there's a cheeky light bulb on the bottom right. I call that:

• AND, dot dot dot :... it's a little like 'How about this?' as if you were pitching to some big-time investor or director. What are some random, hopeful or dreamy things that would be interesting to look at or pursue further? Capture them right there.

Use this page with the team. Or use it alone. Perhaps with a partner or friend or the family. Chilled out one Sunday afternoon, fill it out. Kicking off a project with a new team, get them to tell you what they want more, less and same of.

It's a great way to review, it's a sweet start to planning; it's an even better conversation starter.

For all the times you think you can't get engagement with people, ask them to jot a few points down under each heading and you can have a conversation from there.  

Review, reflect and then do something with this and the other resources here, below. In your own time....

Leaders who look back : Hindsight, Retrospectives & Backcasting

Some well regarded psychological advice for happiness is to avoid dwelling on your thoughts or living in the past; in the words of Dr Richard Carlson, it's best to Stop Thinking, Start Living.    But in a business and commercial sense, it can indeed be helpful to look back so we can make sense of what’s been going on.  Sensemaking That’s how us humans make sense of things and connect the dots; we look back. Hindsight; it’s 20-20 vision after all!    As little events occur through life, we often don't make connections between them as they’re occurring, but when you look back, you can see with hindsight that there is sense to be made. A BIG sense. It's known as 'sensemaking'.    You’ll often hear people exclaim ‘I KNEW that was gonna happen’ or ‘you could SEE what was going on from the get go’.    We pick up clues and cues and our minds do the figuring out and the connecting of facts and happenings to make a plausible, possible explanation.  In a world of constant change, being able to make sense quicker becomes a strong competitive advantage.    Back to the Future With Back to the Future day happening recently it's a sweet reminder of past, present and future. This is when Marty McFly and Dr Emmet Brown in the film 'Back to Future Part II' went back in time and then forward to the future (which occurred in real time on October 21, 2015). We can apply a similar way of thinking in our own lives and businesses... even if we don’t quite have the time machine… yet.    Make Sense So yes, go back in time; look at what happened, and make sense of it.    In a while you’ll be able to make progress, then look back, make sense and learn again.    In agile software development, it’s known and adopted frequently as the Retrospective. This is where the team discusses what was successful, what could be improved and how to incorporate that into the future. In planning and strategy circles, an approach called backcasting is used.    Make Decisions Then you can go forward and because you know what you know, you can make decisions about the best steps forward for you and the team.  Make Progress While it’s easy, fun and distracting to look at bright shiny objects, cat videos and dogs in swimming pools, unless you’re learning and reflecting on what happened, you won’t make sense and you won't make progress.   You’ll get a sad case of FOMO. You’ll miss out on picking up trends, joining dots and making sense… and you won’t be prepared for the VUCA  (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) of now and the crazy future that continues to roll out up ahead.    Set your time machine mind to make sense regularly, so you can reflect, learn and get ready for the future.