Retrospectives(or“retros”) can be a great tool for reflection and evaluating the success of a project, initiative, or process. The term has been borrowed from agile/scrum processes, where retrospectives are held at the end of each cycle or sprint.
Goals for a retro
Collaborative learning. If things went a little sideways, a retro is never a finger-pointing or blaming exercise. We may disagree, and that’s okay!
Get feedback from all the people/teams involved(marketing, design, engineering, product, legal, IT, etc.) on how we can work better together
Evaluate the process/project against stated goals(or did we set goals at all? did we agree on those goals?)
Consider how or if the project/process influenced other areas. Sometimes this happens unintentionally. For example, the marketing goal may have been to sign up more trials, but it may have generated more interest(or questions) from current customers. Or maybe we made a mistake along the way due to a miscommunication between teams that led to a poor customer or employee experience.
Document the process/project for learning, future goal-setting, and to educate new team members as part of a historical record, making it easy to answer“how did that process go last time?” or“what were the results when we did that in 2022?”
Walk away with takeaways and learnings that will influence the next time we do the process/project
The basic retro template follows the simple“What Went Well? What Didn’t Go Well?” format, but you’re welcome to explore others, or combine them as it makes sense!
Retro timing
It’s never too early to start a retro. For instance, you may be a week into a project when you recognize an opportunity to streamline a process. That’s a great time to start jotting down notes and insights so we don’t forget them along the way.
There are different techniques for holding a retrospective. We may want to hold a meeting and bring the team together to discuss it. Sometimes an asynchronous retro via Google doc and/or Slack channel may be appropriate. I've also used a tool called Retrium in the past, which automates this process and is kind of fun to use.
Retro expectations
Every campaign or project should have a retro, even if that’s just a few bullets
The driver is responsible for setting up and running the retro, whereas the project contributors are responsible for, well, contributing.
This template lays out two types of retrospectives. Feel free to choose one or the other, or blend the two together.
Summary 📊
A quick recap of the goals, objectives, or key targets/KPIs for the project or campaign along with any Mode dashboard screenshots, etc. Did we meet our goals? You can also provide a summary of how we achieved qualitative objectives(like wanting to improve or establish a process).
What worked well? 💪
Celebrate the success!
What was tricky? 😵
Any gotchas we didn’t anticipate or challenges along the way?
What can we improve on? 🛠️
What would we do differently next time?
Warm fuzzies 🌈
Celebrate and give a shout-out to folks who were helpful along the way.
Template
Summary 📊
What worked well? 💪
What was tricky? 😵
What can we improve on? 🛠️
Warm fuzzies 🌈