Retrospective forecast 2024 - You should take a look at these retrospectives.

The year 2024 is drawing ever closer. Having only just survived the pandemic, the economy is now struggling with rising interest rates and a decline in consumer spending. There are also new hotbeds of war and, just under a year after the launch of Chat-GPT, the pace of innovation in this world does not seem to be slowing down.
And even if one thing is perceived as rather positive and the others as rather negative, they all create uncertainty.

The good thing is that agile working methods are precisely designed to deal with this uncertainty. But despite this, some topics will become more relevant in 2024 and you can find the right retrospectives for this here.

Note: Classics such as the “Keep Stop Start Retro” will continue to be state of the art, but if you have these retrospectives in mind, you and your team will gain an unfair advantage.

For more classic retrospectives, you can read this article: 26 Refreshing Agile Retrospective Templates

Due to the massive cost savings that many companies are currently making, the topic of “Agile Delivery” is becoming increasingly important. Use this retro to check how your team is positioned in this regard.

If you want to find out more about this trending topic, take a look at this article: Increase your agility in 2024

Health Check Questions (Scale)

We get things done really fast. No waiting, no delays.

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We are able to estimate exactly what we can deliver in a given cycle and with the given resources.

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Our sprint results do not require any post sprint rework to be delivered.

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We limit our 'work in progress' to be focused at all times.

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Open questions

When has our way of working led to a suboptimal workflow? (e.g. unclear, unsuitable or unheeded guidelines)

When has our way of working worked well?

What are recent examples for an increment that wasn't working / shippable at the end of the cycle?

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The current challenges require exceptional teamwork. Check whether your team is pulling together with this retro:

Health Check Questions (Scale)

As a team, we share a common understanding of what "good work" is.

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Handling of contradictory priorities: ‘When I encounter contradictory priorities, I …’

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Communication of blockers: ‘When I am stuck on a task, I announce this by …’

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Navigation of conflicts: ‘When I notice a conflict start to build up in our team, I …’

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Especially in tough times, low-conflict collaboration is crucial. But for this, everyone must dare to talk about friction points before they get out of hand. Having the security in the team to always be able to express yourself is also known as “psychological safety”. See how you are doing on this topic:

Health Check Questions (Scale)

I regularly receive useful feedback on how good my performance is and how I can improve.

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If a team member makes a mistake, they are not judged for it.

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You're allowed to not know things in our team.

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In conflicts, we talk on a factual level, so that no one feels personally attacked or judged.

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Open questions

What else do we want to talk about?

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Difficult times also put a strain on personal batteries. It is particularly important now to keep an eye on the team’s energy levels:

How full is your personal battery as a percentage right now?

What has drained your battery recently?

What has recharged your battery recently?

What would help you to save energy over the next few weeks?

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In rapidly changing environments, you should not only reflect on what has happened, but also dare to look into the unknown. How do you want to act in the future?

What is the most important milestone you would like to see us achieve as a team in the next week(s)?

Which hurdle should we focus on overcoming in the coming weeks?

What would you be particularly grateful for in the coming week(s)?

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The days of an abundance of money are over. This often results in new bottlenecks to which work must adapt:

What options are there for eliminating this one bottleneck?

Conclusion - Retrospective forecast 2024

Even if this article casts a rather gloomy light on the year 2024, there are many opportunities right now. Those who can handle this time well will rise from the ashes as winners.

To achieve this, however, you have to adapt quickly, especially NOW. Retrospectives are an essential tool for this. And with the retrospectives presented here in particular, you already have a competitive advantage.

If you now want to prepare professional retrospectives in under 2 minutes and have a choice of over 50 retrospectives (constantly increasing), then try out the Echometer tool free of charge: