The Values Driven Retrospective

The other day I was going through the Software Engineering Values and Principles defined by the client for which I work with, and a statement caught my eye. It said, “All teams should abide by these values and principles unless there is an exceptional condition.” It also mentioned that all teams are in agreement of that. This statement made me think, does each member of my team agree to these values and do we use it in day to day work or decisions? These values usually are heavy words which we may or may not understand or there could be different interpretations of those.

I was thinking what can I do to make sure that my team don't only have a fair understanding of these values but also use them to our advantage in day to day work. I also wanted to understand what we are already doing to fulfil the Values and in which area we are lacking. Luckily, it was my turn to moderate the Sprint Retrospective for the team. I thought why not run the retro in a different style this time? I called it, “Values Driven Retrospective”.

Before I go into details about how to run the activity, let’s first understand what Software Engineering Values means and why it is important that everyone in the organisation understands it.

Software Engineering Values

Every person has a set of values in which they believe and their entire life revolves around those values. You feel bad if those values are compromised and at the same time, they inspire you to do better in life. Similarly, every Software organisation has values which describe the core ethics and principles that organisation values the most and which guides decisions in day to day work. Software engineering values, when executed consistently and properly, ensure that your software development process continually runs smoothly, efficiently and delivers high-quality applications.

Why is understanding Software Engineering Values important for the team?

1. They inspire individuals to do better.
2. They guide individuals in daily work and when decisions have to be made.
3. They help individuals to make conscious decisions about their actions.
4. They define what’s important to the organisation, things they value

Some of the examples of software development Values

1. Full Ownership
2. Move fast, fail fast
3. Low technical barriers
4. Customer Obsession
5. Autonomous teams
6. Security and reliability

You can also refer to Scout24 Values & Principles to get a better idea about it https://github.com/Scout24/scout24-engineering-values-and-principles/blob/master/poster/20.03.23_Engineering_values_principles.pdf

How to run a “Values Driven Retrospective”?

1. Prepare the team members for Retro: Make sure that everyone gets sufficient time to go through the values and understand them because if they are not even aware of it then it will be a difficult task to get good output from this retrospective. In my case, I announced it in the standup meeting 1 week ahead of the retrospective and repeatedly asked people to go through it before the retrospective.
2. Prepare the Retro board: You can use the plus delta template to collect constructive criticism from a team. The plus/delta format focuses on what went well and should be repeated in the future as well as which areas should be changed in future activities or iterations. Create a matrix with a list of values on the left-hand side and next to it three more columns with “Plus” and “Delta”. In my case, I added one more column to the plus/delta template which is “This puzzles me”. Below is the sample board.

To make it easy for you, I have prepared a Mural template which you can use to run the Values Driven Retrospective

https://app.mural.co/invitation/mural/twma7655/1604172590247?sender=priyankakotwal4589&key=2cd59269-0330-47f4-9d04-a3633fb9d09f

3. Generate Insights Activity: Give 10–15 mins and ask your team members to put their points in all the sections.

• Plus — Areas where we are doing great
• Delta — Areas where we need to improve
• This puzzles me — Any confusion related to value or if the team member thinks that this value is of no importance.

4. Voting session: Like any normal retrospective, go through all the points and do a voting session. You can restrict the votes, 3 per person or depend on your preference and time.

5. Action Items: Discuss the most voted points which team thinks are important and address those. Create the “Action Items” which can be worked upon by the team later on.

The Outcome

You might wonder what the outcome of this retrospective is and what you might gain out of it. Below are some benefits that my team got out of it.

1. Everyone is not only just aware of the Organizational Values but they understand the importance of it.
2. Cleared any doubts related to the Values
3. Highlighted the areas where we are lacking as Team and gave concrete action items to improve
4. Knowing the organizational values is helping us in decision making by addressing the particular value

My team found significant value in doing it and we have decided to do it more regularly. I am also planning to do a similar activity for the Principles.

This activity is not restricted to only Software Development Values, you can also run it for Scrum values, Extreme programming values or general organizational values.

Having this type of activity regularly will make sure that the Organizational Values is not just a thing which is defined at the start but it is deeply rooted in the individuals of an organization and practised in a day to day work.

Did you find the Values Driven Retrospective Idea helpful? Do share how it worked for you.