---
name: retrospective-facilitation
description: >
  Facilitate effective retrospectives to capture lessons learned, celebrate
  successes, and identify actionable improvements for future iterations.
---

# Retrospective Facilitation

## Table of Contents

- [Overview](#overview)
- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [Reference Guides](#reference-guides)
- [Best Practices](#best-practices)

## Overview

Retrospectives are critical ceremonies for team learning and continuous improvement. Effective facilitation creates psychological safety, encourages honest feedback, and drives tangible improvements.

## When to Use

- End of sprint (regular cadence)
- Major milestone completion
- Project closure
- After significant events or incidents
- Team transitions or staff changes
- Technology implementations
- Process evaluations

## Quick Start

Minimal working example:

```yaml
Retrospective Planning:

Event: Sprint 23 Retrospective
Date: Friday, Jan 17, 2025
Duration: 60 minutes
Location: Conference Room B / Zoom

Facilitator: Sarah (Scrum Master)
Participants: 8 team members
Invite: Product Owner (optional)

---
Retrospective Goals: 1. Celebrate sprint successes
  2. Identify what went well
  3. Identify what could improve
  4. Commit to specific improvements
  5. Build team cohesion

Format: "Went Well / Didn't Go Well / Ideas"
Tool: Miro board for virtual collaboration

Pre-Retrospective Preparation:
  - Send survey: anonymous feedback (24hrs before)
  - Gather sprint metrics (velocity, bugs, etc.)
  - Review sprint goals and outcomes
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)
```

## Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the `references/` directory:

| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| [Retrospective Planning](references/retrospective-planning.md) | Retrospective Planning |
| [Facilitation Techniques](references/facilitation-techniques.md) | Facilitation Techniques |
| [Action Item Tracking](references/action-item-tracking.md) | Action Item Tracking |
| [Retrospective Templates](references/retrospective-templates.md) | Retrospective Templates |

## Best Practices

### ✅ DO

- Hold retrospectives regularly (every sprint)
- Create psychological safety upfront
- Use varied formats to maintain engagement
- Include the whole team
- Focus on systems, not individuals
- Convert insights to specific action items
- Assign clear owners and due dates
- Track and celebrate completed actions
- Review previous actions at start
- Thank people for participation and honesty

### ❌ DON'T

- Blame individuals or teams
- Let dominant voices control discussion
- Create action items without owners
- Have retrospectives without follow-up
- Ignore difficult feedback
- Focus only on what went wrong
- Hold retrospectives when people are tired/stressed
- Skip closing/celebration
- Mix retrospectives with status meetings
- Ignore patterns across multiple retrospectives