December is the month of joy and celebration. From kids waiting for Santa Claus to the grown-ups waiting for holidays and parties, everyone looks forward to this month for their wish fulfillment.
As a change agent, I never missed a chance to utilize the spirit of festivals in my retrospectives. In order to keep that practice alive, I usually go with a year-end retrospective in the month of December.
The year-end retrospective
As we know that the end of a year is as well the beginning of a whole new year. Year-end retrospective helps us to determine the long-term approach for our future. At the same time it is an opportunity for us to pause for a moment and pat ourselves for the good work we did.
My favourite is the timeline technique for a year-end retrospective. Which goes in below phases –
The Past: Looking back to move forward.
It makes a huge impact if we look back deep in the last year.
For this activity, ask your team members to share how was the last year. Team can collectively identify if there is anything they could have done differently. It makes a strong base to understand how they want to plan their moves in the future.
The Present: Heart full of gratitude.
In the year-end retrospective, it makes sense to show our gratitude towards one another for all the support and contributions.
As part of this phase, ask your team members to dedicate one word of appreciation to every other member. All the words of appreciation are presents from the entire team to the each individual.
This is a very light and magical exercise. You may discover some hidden gems in this activity.
The Future: The Wishlist.
Ask the teammates to prepare their wish list for the future. The team can wish for anything what can improve their work-life or improve the effectiveness of their work.
The wish list need not be something very serious. Also, keep reminding the team that we may or may not be able to get everything we want. This will help you to set right expectations.
Final thoughts
This is the crux of what I have tried as my year-end retrospective. I try this every year with a different set of people and I am always amazed by the results. Walking through the timeline really helped me in many ways.
It feels good to bring the fervor and zeal of festivals into our work. I am sure you have done some creative and fun-filled year-end stuff as well. Do share your stories with us. We love to hear those. 🙂
Suggested read : How to conduct sprint retrospective.
