Retro recipe

Merry Retromas

Posted on the 6th of December 2022 by

It's that time of the year, a period with a lot of gifts and that particular music. Yeah, it's CHRISTMAS TIME!!

Ingredients

Retrospective (1h30)

Icebreaker: It's gift time! (15min)

When you say Christmas, you instantly think of gifts! That's why we will start the retro with a lighthearted game.

What you need for this game:

  • A small gift wrapped in several layers of paper
  • Oven gloves
  • A dice
  • A Santa/elf hat

Explanation of the game:

  1. Put the wrapped gift in the middle of the room with the hat and gloves next to it.
  2. Have players sit in a large circle around it.
  3. The first person rolls the dice. If they roll a six, they run to the gift, put on the hat and gloves, and start unwrapping the gift one layer at a time.
  4. The dice gets passed on until someone else rolls a six.
  5. When someone rolls another six, it's their turn to run to the gift. The player unwrapping the gift must stop and give the hat and gloves to the new player, who then continues to unwrap the gift.
  6. The person able to remove the last layer of paper gets to keep the prize.

This game is meant to boost the trust and happiness of the team so that we are ready to start the next part of Merry Retromas.

Mariah Carey season has begun (45min)

This is the part where we add topics and dive in.

There are many ways to structure this retro. In this example, we divide the team over break-out rooms where these now smaller groups discuss the different topics for a set amount of time (e.g. 30min). After that, everyone returns to the big group, where they can share some topics from the breakout room with the whole team, so that those can further be discussed in the remaining time.

Part I: Christmas songs (30min)

It's that time of the year: Mariah Carey's season has begun!

The different smaller teams go to breakout rooms where they will answer some questions with the help of famous Christmas songs.

While the songs are played, the team discusses the topic related to the song.

  • Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Steve + Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano
    • What went right during this iteration?
  • Last Christmas - Wham! + You're a mean one Mr. Grinch - Jim Carrey
    • What did you invest your heart in last sprint, only to be let down? What (unexpectedly) went badly?
  • Christmas lights - Coldplay
    • What are you waiting for? What caused you to reach deadlock?
  • All I want for Christmas is you - Mariah Carey + Underneath the Tree - Kelly Clarkson
    • What do you wish for/want for Christmas this year? What could improve your next iteration?

The songs are played in the background so that people can hear them and get in the Christmas mood, but make sure to adapt the volume so the teams can still comfortably discuss the given topics.

Part II: Christmas dinner (15min)

The whole team comes together again at a big table where they bring up some of the topics discussed in the break-out rooms to now discuss with the whole team.

Christmas tree (30 min)

For the remaining time of the retro, the team will build a Christmas tree with topics they want to discuss within the team.

Everyone has 3 minutes to write down topics and add them to the board. After those 3 minutes, everyone has 2 minutes to vote on a topic. Every member has 2 votes.

After the voting is done, we put the topic with the most votes at the top of the Christmas tree and topics with fewer votes go underneath it, creating the shape of a Christmas tree.

We start with the topic at the top of the tree and discuss this for 5min. After those 5 minutes have passed, everybody puts their fist in front of them, and on the count of three everyone either gives a thumbs up, if they want to further discuss the topic, or thumbs down, if they want to move on to the next topic.

If the majority chooses to give a thumbs up, we extend the time spent on the topic with 3 minutes and vote again afterward.

This part of the retro is included to also spend some time going over topics that are not necessarily related to the previous iteration or the questions related to the Christmas music.

Rate the Retro

Last, but not least, we rate the retro. Hopefully, this retro was a success for your team, which you can then see by the way they rated it.

They stick a post-it note to the right number of Christmas trees, hereby giving the retro a rating. This indicates how they feel it went. Optionally, they can add feedback on the post-it to improve the next retrospective.

Follow-up

For most intents and purposes, your eventual board will contain a lot of info all over the place. Often, your team will already have a main location to place retrospective notes. Pay particular attention to the action points. Highlight them or put them in a separate section. Do not forget to follow up where necessary in your next retrospective and/or daily!