I was facilitating a retrospective today with a small group that had successfully completed a software package upgrade project. The goal was to create a “starter” checklist for future upgrade projects based on what they had learnt. As a resonable period of time had passed since the project had completed the project manager kick started the retrospective by walking through the project plan and highlighted what she saw as the initial ups and downs. We used our standard 4 quadrant retrospective approach to capture feedback;

1. Worked well and we want to keep.
2. Didnt work and we want to dump or change
3. New ideas to that would be worth trying
4. Things that still puzzle us

The beauty of this process is that it draws to the surface real gems you would not otherwise identify. If you can create a safe and trusting environment, allow people time to warm up to the sharing and then engage them.

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