Don’t misuse reviews and retrospectives to establish your authority under the banner of Agile

Don’t misuse reviews and retrospectives to establish your authority under the banner of Agile

Don’t misuse reviews and retrospectives to establish your authority under the banner of Agile

Agile teams are keen on learning from successes and failures. Regular informal team, stakeholder, and customer reviews and retrospectives are important enablers in this process which cultivate a mindset that is driven by continuous improvements.

Agile adaptors who maintain the conventional approach of managing by control tend to misuse reviews and retrospectives to establish their organizational authority. You can easily identify this by behavior that represents the authority based structures. Like for example sending out review forms with a set deadline, and the instruction to return the filled form to whomever believes to be in charge. Another example is that the team lead will decided on which feedback will be discussed with the team and by doing so, imposes the filter of authority.

Reviews and retrospectives in an Agile setting are done in the same way that the daily standups are done. As a team, and with full respect for each other. There is no need to agree on everything as a team, but there is the requirement to also do the reviews and retrospectives as a team!

Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag – CEO Spearhead Management

Leave a Comment