40. (with egg)

Today, as we do every 3rd Thursday, Pivotal Labs has our Retrospective, a beer-aided romp though the last 3 weeks of Smilies, Quizzicals, and Frownies: that is, the Good, the Questionable, and the Bad.

Retrospectives are a core practice of many Agile teams, since they represent a dedicated time and place to discuss those exact topics: core practices. We try (and often fail) to stick to non-technical issues, but hey, we're geeks, and discussions often dissolve into passionate PC vs. Mac vs. Linux debates and the virtues of specific keyboard mappings. But, I digress. Here's a quick narrative about our Retrospectives and what we try to accomplish.

On day 1, the day after the last Retrospective, we place a large, sticky-backed sheet of paper against the Whoo-Ha wall (don't ask). This sheet has 3 columns: one marked with a large Smiley face, one with a quizzical/not-happy-but-not-sad face, and the last column topped with a frowning face. Over the next 3 weeks, as various successes, happy events, questionable activities, and frustrations arise, we write them down in the appropriate column. For us, perfectionists that we are, the Frownie column fills up fast and occasionally requires extra paper. Quizzical is close behind, also filling its space. The Smiley column usually has a sorry few examples of good events, and not because they don't happen, but because we are so self-critical that we feel the need to fix any problem that arises. On retrospective day, folks tend to dredge their memories for those happy bits, say, for example, the launch of our largest customer project in history; oh yeah, that was kinda nice!

And now, finally, it's Thursday, at 4:00pm, and 3 weeks since the last Retrospective... beer run! The nearest Tenderloin liquor store owner loves us.

Upon returning with several cases of brewskies, the Moderator, whom was usually reluctantly elected at that day's stand-up meeting, is trying to get the show on the road. Tops are popped and we're under way. The Moderator reads through the list of ToDo items resulting from the last Retrospective: have those assigned specific tasks followed up on them? Have items assigned to the group as whole been addressed? Discussion enssues.

Now, on to the Big Retrospective Paper: do we start with the Smilies or the Frownies? The Moderator decides. Either way, the Smiley topics go fast, with clapping and laughing involved. Everyone's happy!

Now, the Frownies and Quizzicals. In a company of elite geeks, everyone has an opinion, even if they don't voice it loudly. When I moderate, I try to call on folks that I notice do not speak up much, but it's hard -- assertive and opinionated attendants can dominate the conversation. We've made a lot of progress in this area lately and the results are promising: more voices heard. We spend a lot of time on the Frownie and Quizzical topics: when should we hold stand-up, and what should happen when people are late? What is the best way to roll clients out of our continuous integration environment after they spread their wings and fly off with their own development teams? What's the best way to deal with the fact that developers with laptops "pillage" workstations of monitors, keyboard, mice, etc.? And how about stand-up again? Oh yeah, and about the stand-up meeting...

It's both an science and an art to figure out how much time to spend on each issue, especially those that affect the entire group. Some people just want to move on, while others are far more invested in the same issue and wish to really hash it out. For the most part the group and Moderator combine to decide when to finish a discussion (at least for the time being) and address the next. In the end, every issue raised has a ToDo item directly addressing it, with someone assigned.

After the last item is addressed, everyone feels great on several fronts: We talked about a lot of deep topics! The meeting is over! Beer! It's definitely a group-hug moment.

Now, if we can just figure out a way to get everyone to show up at the stand-up meeting on time...