Retros are a great tool for a team to focus on continuous improvement. However, if you always run a retro in the same way, it runs the risk of becoming a chore for the team and you might see the value of them reduce over time.
So I like to run retros in different formats. Still with the aim of giving team members a space to share their thoughts and look for ideas for improvement, but trying to keep the sessions interesting. This is a format that I’ve a lot of fun running.
The format
If you’ve ever played the game two truths and a lie, it’s a rip off of that! It’s a very simple retro format.
Go around the group and ask each team member to write on post it notes 2 truths and 1 lie about how they have found the teams’ efforts since the last retro. Once everyone has written their post its, pick a team member who will start the game. The person chosen will read out their notes and answer any questions about them. Then the rest of the team will guess which one is the lie. Then repeat for each team member.
Once everyone has had their truths and lies worked out, the team can then dot vote on what tickets they would like to discuss further.
When I’ve run retros in this format in the past, it’s nice to break out of the more common formats. I find that the limited number of tickets can also help focus the conversation rather than having a full board of tickets that need to be discussed and grouped.