I always found that without retrospectives persistent, recurring and systemic problems that the team could easily solve would not be addressed until somebody go

I always found that without retrospectives persistent, recurring and systemic problems that the team could easily solve would not be addressed until somebody got hopping mad. There's always something else to do. Retros are often useless though, especially in environments where people feel awkward about speaking their mind. They also have a tendency to degenerate into whinge sessions about things the team has little to no control over. Other than being a bit cathartic this is usually pretty useless.