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I've always despised cookie pop-ups. While the legislation that requires them was well intentioned it's implementation has done nothing to make the web a better place and has, on the whole, made websites much worse. Cookie popups are there to offer website customers information and choice, and it's a rubbish choice, if it was offered honestly with an easy opt out then everyone would click the opt out button. Is it time to explore the alternatives to using cookies in the first place.

For teams that are doing the basics right, focus allows you to dig into the process in ways that general retros just don't allow. They can unlock an additional level of performance, trust and happiness within a team. Going deep on a specific area allows the team to really think hard and explore new ideas about a part of the agile process which they'd perhaps not considered before. Over time a number of these focused retrospectives can establish really strong levels of consistency and clear expectations for the team.

I’m very grateful that I worked with a group of people that were able to be completely honest with me about how my behaviour was affecting their performance. How I communicated, how I worked, how I explained the activities of our team to others, how and when I made myself available, how I got involved in the problems the team were facing or didn’t, all these things were having an impact on the way the team was able to execute.

Retrospectives aren’t just about checking in and patting ourselves on the back when things go well, they are a tool for improvement both individually and as a team. If we don’t use the foundation we’ve built to challenge ourselves to be better, then we miss an opportunity.

Humans are social animals, even in work. When we allow the focus to be solely about the work we miss the fact that the work is being done by people with lives, feelings, relationships, challenges, characters and perspectives of their own. Deliberately creating space for a team to enjoy each other’s company deepens connections and reminds us that in any system of work with people, processes and tools, it's people that come first.

In this 2^nd post about retrospectives, I’ll explain why taking time to regularly review the process of work is important and in many way the keystone habit of a happy and productive team. Lock them in the diary and let the rhythm of improvement get your agile toes tapping. 

If we want a retrospective to generate useful improvements, then everyone on the team needs to feel like that can talk about the things needed to make improvements. Some of the things might be tricky topics, and involve changes to deep rooted organisational norms, ways of working that haven't been challenged before. 

In many ways DJing is the polar opposite of my day to day work and yet there are some things that link the two worlds aside from the laptop. There is of course the relentless focus on user needs, with the constant feedback loop of the dance floor as barometer for performance.