I love SyFy's Shark Week, and counted down the days until the premiere "Sharknado 5 - Global Swarming." Of course, I couldn't resist creating a retrospective...no...a SHARKTROSPECTIVE!
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Supplies

1. Printouts of a handful of your favorite shark movie posters (as seen to the right).
2. Post-Its, or better, 20 cutouts of sharks.
3. Sticky notes and pens, of course!
4. Tape

Setup

1. Tape the shark posters to a white board or large sheet of paper, spaced out.
2. Create your own titles for each shark poster. For instance, because "Sharknado" is so awesome, I labeled that one, "What Went Well."  The label on "Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf" reflected the mashup of the title characters: "Integration Points." Use your creativity and knowledge of the team to put significant labels on each shark poster. 

Activity
1. Hand each team member a handful of shark cutout (or Post-Its) and have them write a subject on each one: something that went well, something that revolved around integration points, etc. 
2. Tape each shark cut-out to the appropriate shark poster, grouping as needed.
3. Discuss, dot vote, or prioritize the items until one or two clear action items come out of the retrospective. 
4. Write the action items on shark cutouts, and hang them in the team area as reminders. 

 
This fun retrospective is based on a popular 80s video game. There's an element of chance, a little skill, and lots of opportunity for celebrating successes and identifying team improvement points. 

Supplies: 

1. Make the DIY Tetris Game from Handmade Charlotte. I used a glue stick to back it with cardstock, but that is not necessary. 
2. Sticky notes and pens, of course!
3. A pouch, envelope, basket - anything to put the pieces in so that they can be drawn out randomly.



Setup: 
1. On a white board or other display, put up the following categories: 

• Green
• Yellow
• Red
• Orange
• Blue 
• Aqua

Activity:

1. The first team member closes their eyes and chooses a piece at random, then places it on the board. Based on the color of the playing piece, the team member writes on a sticky note and places it on the board using the following categories. Feel free to change them to make them more applicable to your team.:

Green: Things that went well
Yellow: Things that were good, but could have been better
Red: Road blocks
Orange: Things that were fun
Blue: Things we did to help others
Aqua: Things others did to help us

If a team member can't think of any one item to go in the category that matched their piece, they can choose to put two items in any of the other categories. 

2. Each subsequent person draws a piece, and places it on the grid, fitting in with the other pieces. 

3. When no more pieces can be fit in, the focus turns to the board. Each team member can vote for up to three board items that they think are the top priority for the team to address.

4. Discuss based on the priorities, and identify any actionable items.  
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Background: The Three Wise Monkeys originated, by some accounts, in Nikko Japan on the temple Tosho-gu. They are named Mizaru (See No Evil), Kikazaru (Hear No Evil), and Iwazaru (Speak No Evil). They often refer to turning a blind eye to current happenings, but also a nod to clean living. Representations of the monkeys are sprinkled all over the world’s culture in various ways: statues, t-shirts, travel souvenirs, and Christmas ornaments, sometimes with the addition of a fourth monkey, “Have No Fun.” There is even a wine whose label features the monkeys and the name “Pinot Evil.” Mahatma Gandhi's one exception to his lifestyle of non-possession was a small statue of the Three Wise Monkeys.

Supplies:

Sticky notes
Pens
Three Monkey graphic cut in three

Activity:

1. Tape each monkey to the wall, whiteboard, or large piece of paper.
2. Create a columns that labels each monkey. You can use “Saw, Heard, Said,” or “External, Internal, Action,” or anything else that seems appropriate to you.
3. Create rows for “Went Well,” “Didn’t Go Well,” “What We Can Do Better.”
4. Hand out sticky notes and pens and ask participants to write anything of note in the sprint that they can think of to fit in the grid.
5. Group sticky notes and discuss successes and potential improvements.

Choose one as an action item to work on during the next sprint. Hang it in the team area along with the appropriate monkey.

Download the file for directions and monkey graphic.

Four years ago, when I first became part of an agile team, we had very deliberate scrum retrospectives every sprint. We were new to agile and scrum, so we had a lot (A LOT) to work on, and a lot of new-found autonomy to stretch. Years later, when the original teams became autonomous to the point where they could facilitate their own retros, it was a breakthrough in autonomy.

There are a lot of things good about team-led retrospectives. The teams were used to hashing things out and coming up with action items, so they didn't need anyone to prompt them. Team members know right where the weak spots are, and don't have to use crafty measures to get there - they walk right in and go for the elephant in the room. Since many of the teams rotate the responsibility, they each participated heavily in retros facilitated by other, since they want others to participate heavily when it's their turn.

There are also several watch-outs for team-led retrospectives. While teams know about the elephants in the room, they are often too close to see the little elephants lurking in the corners. In addition, development led retros usually end up focusing on development and technical issues and only touch the surface of team and relationship related issues.

When you add in factors like time crunches, reluctance of teams to "play games," and just a plain boredom with retrospectives in general, I saw a need for a compact, flexible, effective way for teams to pick up a retro idea and run with it....get the action items on the table, then move on.

Rapid Retros is just that kind of kit. Stay tuned for further developments!