Track: Developer Feedback

Abstract: Project Retrospectives are an important part of any software development process. The Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto state that: "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly". How can this be done? By taking the time to reflect and learn and proactively determine what should be done differently in the next iteration, release, or project. Linda's presentation will introduce techniques for project retrospectives, whether they are agile or not. The techniques help teams discover what they're doing well so that successful practices can continue and identify what should be done differently to improve performance. Retrospectives are not finger pointing or blaming sessions, but rather a highly effective process in which teams reflect on the past in order to become more effective in the future. Linda will share her experiences with leading retrospectives of several kinds for dozens of projects; both successful and unsuccessful, small and large, in academia and industry. Her lessons learned can be applied to any project to enable teams and organizations to become learning organizations.