Wooden Tower Retrospective

Wooden Tower Retrospective

Time to run it: 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the number of participants

This retrospectives template can be used for identifying ways to improve interactions and processes within sprints, as well as for the phases of a bigger project.

Ice Breaker - 15 minutes

I always start my retrospective with an Ice Breaker that helps me set a good tone for the discussion that will follow and for giving everyone a chance to speak and get involved in the meeting as early as possible.

For this retrospective, I have used as an Ice Breaker the question: What do you do for fun?

This helped the team think of funny activities, which triggered a cheerful and relaxed yet serious meeting.

Furthermore, the answers to these questions might be very useful for me when planning fun activities for the teams I am working with, so the benefit is doubled.

After the Ice Breaker, we went deeper into the core of the retrospective.

Data Gathering & Sharing Insights - 45 minutes

For this template, I was inspired by the Wooden Tower game I played with my son a few days before by associating the sprint with the wooden tower. As such, we answered the three questions:

a) WHAT MADE THIS SPRINT STABLE AND STRONG?

b) WHAT SHOOK THE FOUNDATION OF THIS SPRINT?

c) HOW CAN WE MAKE NEXT SPRINT/S UNSHAKEABLE?

After silently answering these three questions (I have set the timer for 10 minutes), we shared each other's answers and perspectives for each question at a time (around 30 minutes).

Actions for the next period - 15 minutes

We saved the last 15 minutes for identifying which are the Steadiness bricks that we want to carry in the next sprint/s, and that will help us have a better sprint in terms of outcome, processes, and/or interactions.