4 interactive Icebreaker Games for any Retrospective

1. As a moderator, you explain the rules to each team member: In front of you on the Echometer Whiteboard are some pictures of kittens. From the gut, which one best fits the last sprint? The reasons for choosing a picture are relatively irrelevant.
2. Everyone chooses a picture by creating a sticky on the whiteboard by double-clicking.
3. Now everyone briefly explains in one to two sentences why they chose the respective kitten. The decision may consciously not be entirely "logical" - it's just about capturing the mood and creating a good discussion atmosphere.
4. The respective check-in of the team members is neither evaluated nor commented on. At most, something interesting is written down in order to use it again in the later part of the retrospective.
5. Now we continue with the next phase of the retrospective, the "Data Collection" (To the article: 5 Phases of a Retro Are Not Enough). Alternatively, you can also look at the measures of the last retrospective together (for example in the Echometer tool).

You can see the basic idea of this retrospective game well on the online whiteboard above.

1. In each of the gray boxes there is a joke hidden. If you click on the button below it (visible when you hover over it with the mouse), the joke for the entire team that is online becomes visible. Now read the first joke.
   
   Of course, you can also deliberately read the joke in an entertaining or very dry way, depending on your own style.
2. During or after the joke is read, no one on the team is allowed to smile (let alone laugh out loud). Accordingly, everyone should turn on their camera to identify potential losers.
3. Next, either the moderator can read the next joke. Or, and I would recommend this, one of the team members reads the next joke after it has been revealed by the moderator. In this way, everyone participates, and the likelihood of a laugh is even higher.
4. You can certainly point out that team members are welcome to read the joke in peace first before reading it out loud (even if other team members may have already seen it).
5. If you want, you can count who laughs most often or least often and award points based on that. You can simply create a circle as a point in the Echometer Whiteboard.

The following jokes have deliberately not been translated, as most of them only work in English. Basically, however, jokes in other languages can be found very quickly by Googling for bad jokes.

1. What did the fish say when he swam into a wall? Dam.

2. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

3. What kind of shorts do clouds wear? Thunderwear

4. There are three types of people in the world: Those who can count and those who can’t.

5. Did you hear about the Italian chef who died? He pasta-way.

6. What is Forrest Gump’s email password? 1forrest1. (Run Forrest, Run)

7. Did you hear about the guy who invented the knock-knock joke? He won the “no-bell” prize.

8. What is Forrest Gump’s email password? 1forrest1. (Run Forrest, Run)

9. Two windmills are standing on a wind farm. One asks, “What’s your favorite type of music?” The other says, “I’m a big metal fan.”

10. I like elephants. Everything else is irrelephant

11. What’s red and bad for your teeth? A brick.

12. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.

13. Did you hear the story about the claustrophobic astronaut? He just needed some space.

14. What do you call an alligator in a vest? An in-vest-igator.

15. What kind of tea is hard to swallow? Reality.

16. A man and a giraffe walk into a bar. After a few drinks, the giraffe falls over and dies. The man begins to walk out when the bartender stops him. “Hey, you can’t leave that lyin’ there!” The bartender yells out. The man turns around: “It’s not a lion. It’s a giraffe.”

1. As a moderator, you explain the rules to each team member: Based on the emojis and the associated questions, each team member reflects on the last Scrum Sprint.
   1. Dolphin: What made you happy?
   2. Shark: What scared you?
   3. Octopus: What confused you?
2. Ideally, the feedback is first collected individually and anonymously on the whiteboard (for example in Echometer). You can use the timer and set it to 3 minutes, for example, so that this part doesn't take too long. By the way: With Echometer, this part, the "Data Collection," can also take place asynchronously before the retro in the form of a digital survey.
3. In the next step, each team member individually presents the results and the further phases of the retrospective are continued: Topics are discussed, prioritized using a voting system, and measures are derived (To the article: 5 phases of a retrospective). The Echometer Retro Tool can help you with all of this.

1. You choose a series of statements about behaviors that the team thinks it could improve (see second toggle below). These are, for example, the things asked in the Spotify Health Check.
2. Of course, you can modify these questions and make some of them funnier or more creative.
3. Everyone indicates how much they agree with these statements on the Echometer scale from 1 to 7.
4. The results are shown in the graph. Now everyone is asked to explain the results:
   "How do you personally explain the highest level of agreement? And the lowest voting?"
5. Once you have gone through all the points of the Health Check and discussed them, continue with the typical 5 phases of an agile retrospective.
6. Explain thoughts: After everyone is done with this part, everyone shares their thoughts (and notes) in turn. There is no discussion at this point.
7. Prioritization: Each team member has 3 digital points to vote. Now put the points where you see a need for improvement.
8. Discussion: Discuss the areas that received the most votes. Would you like to write down an action item?
9. Actions: Name a specific person who is responsible for this action. I recommend not recording more than 3 measures - focus on quality rather than quantity (more on this in our post 7 Tips for Good Measures).

1. We deliver great results! We are proud of it and our stakeholders are very satisfied.
2. Our way of working suits us perfectly.
3. We get things done really fast. No waiting, no delays.
4. The planning of our sprints is always based on achieving the greatest possible customer benefit in the given time.

5. We also share unfinished work early with stakeholders to get feedback as quickly as possible.

6. Every member of the development team is appropriately involved in the sprint plannings.
7. We are open to constructive feedback and can grow from it.
8. Courage: We appreciate it when someone shows courage.
9. Respect: We value each other's ideas, even if we disagree.
10. Commitment: Each team member is committed to keeping promises.
11. Focus: We do not allow ourselves to be distracted from pursuing the sprint goal.
12. Openness: We are open to constructive feedback and can grow from it.
13. We have a constructive exchange of knowledge between newer and more experienced colleagues.

1. Each team member marks the place where they were born and another place (if necessary on a digital whiteboard, see above).
2. Timebox 5 minutes: The team member then comes up with an explanation for both places as to why they were born there.
   
   For example, Julia Rodriguez might say the following:
   A) As you all know, I was born just around the corner in New York. That's why I'm working here and visiting my family every weekend.
   B) As you all know, my last name is Rodriguez. I'm actually from Mexico, where I was born 39 years ago. My family moved to the USA shortly after my birthday because my father started working here.
   Sounds both logical - which fact is true?
   
   
3. 1 minute timebox per person: The explanation for the two places is given one after the other. After a person has told the truth and a lie, everyone on the team guesses which place is the real place of birth.
4. In the end, you can delete the "lies" from the map - and you have a beautiful map with the team's places of origin, which you might even be able to save on your shared team page.