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It's another meeting on my calendar potentially interrupting whatever deep focus I was in. Alongside standup, sprint planning, demo, sprint review, backlog groo

It's another meeting on my calendar potentially interrupting whatever deep focus I was in. Alongside standup, sprint planning, demo, sprint review, backlog grooming, and whatever other non-agile meetings there are. It's an hour plus of sitting there mostly listening to other people complain about stuff, which bums me out even if I was otherwise generally happy. It is a ceremony without actual purpose because usually the deeper things that people bring up are not within that team's power to control. It gives leadership an excuse for not fixing things or listening because retro is supposed to be the outlet for gripes about the process (despite everyone knowing that major changes never happen coming out of retro).

azangru 4y ago
> It's an hour plus of sitting there mostly listening to other people complain about stuff, which bums me out even if I was otherwise generally happy. > It is a ceremony without actual purpose because usually the deeper things that people bring up are not within that team's power to control. From what you said, it sounds like there are already several things that are making you miserable and that could be addressed in a retrospective. First, remind each other about the intended purpose of a retrospective, and compare this with how you conduct your retrospectives. Read up on what retrospectives are intended to be. Notice any discrepancies with your retrospectives. Second, talk about what it would take to make retrospectives a useful event. Maybe, agree that you don't discuss things that are out of your control. Or maybe have a retrospective specifically addressing the things that are outside your immediate control, and ask your scrum master to figure out ways to bring at least some of them under your control. After all, that is scrum master's role, not the micromanagement of the team. Third, if your retrospectives are an irredeemable waste of time, and there is no way to improve them, agree within your team that you will stop having them. This is probably a last resort — but it's better than to waste your time.

azangru 4y ago

> It's an hour plus of sitting there mostly listening to other people complain about stuff, which bums me out even if I was otherwise generally happy. > It is a ceremony without actual purpose because usually the deeper things that people bring up are not within that team's power to control. From what you said, it sounds like there are already several things that are making you miserable and that could be addressed in a retrospective. First, remind each other about the intended purpose of a retrospective, and compare this with how you conduct your retrospectives. Read up on what retrospectives are intended to be. Notice any discrepancies with your retrospectives. Second, talk about what it would take to make retrospectives a useful event. Maybe, agree that you don't discuss things that are out of your control. Or maybe have a retrospective specifically addressing the things that are outside your immediate control, and ask your scrum master to figure out ways to bring at least some of them under your control. After all, that is scrum master's role, not the micromanagement of the team. Third, if your retrospectives are an irredeemable waste of time, and there is no way to improve them, agree within your team that you will stop having them. This is probably a last resort — but it's better than to waste your time.