The Retro without a Scrum Master? 5 Tips & Templates

You are used to the Scrum Master leading the retrospective, but what happens if he is not available? Don’t worry, we have some tips and templates for you here to successfully organize the agile retrospective without a scrum master.

Retrospective without Scrum Master template

Tips for good retros without a Scrum Master

Here are a few thoughts in advance that will help you to conduct a good retrospective without a Scrum Master.

A volunteer moderator would be ideal

In a retrospective without a Scrum Master, it would be ideal to have a voluntary moderator from the team. This not only promotes the empowerment of the team members, but also enables a fresh look at the retrospective method. If the moderation is voluntary, it will also tend to take place with more enthusiasm.

Focus on a good conversation, not on time

Without a dedicated Scrum Master, time constraints can sometimes be overlooked because the priority is on a qualitative conversation. This can have advantages and disadvantages. Just set yourself one goal: That the team’s core challenge is discussed, and that there is enough time to develop measures…

Take enough time to brainstorm good action items

Developing meaningful and actionable measures is a central component of every retrospective. Take enough time to develop high-quality action items together as a team. It is important to consider the perspectives of all team members and ensure that the measures are realistic. A thorough creation of the action items leads to sustainable changes - and that’s what it’s all about.

Promoting active participation

Without a dedicated Scrum Master, participation in the retrospective can wane. Encourage everyone to actively participate. If your team seems less motivated, emphasize the following: This is not about you, it’s about the team. If the retrospective only lasts 20 minutes, that’s perfectly okay. The main thing is that the most important topics have been discussed.

Rule of thumb: If the retrospective is perceived as boring, then the right topics will not be discussed.

Focus on positive aspects

Agile project management means not only identifying problems, but also seeing strengths or positives. If that otherwise falls by the wayside, steer the retrospective without a Scrum Master in a positive direction by focusing on successes. Example question: “Share your personal highlights of the last sprint work and let’s talk about how we can build on these successes.”

Agile Retrospective without Scrum Master Reddit: Exchange and inspiration

For further input and the exchange of experiences around the agile retrospective without Scrum Master, I recommend a visit to Reddit, you may even ask questions yourself on Reddit. This is where Agile enthusiasts share their best practices. So why not use the collective intelligence of this community to refine your retrospectives.

Use tools

Of course, digitalization does not stop at agile teams. Without a scrum master, you can fall back on tools to make the retrospective a success. Echometer, for example, enables virtual collaboration and the sharing of ideas in real time. These tools make it easier to document discussions, record action items and provide a clear way to keep track of progress. The right tools can help to focus on content and strengthen team collaboration, even when physical presence is not possible.

Retrospective without Scrum Master template

Templates: Good retrospective questions make the difference

The selection of the right questions is crucial for the success of a retrospective without a Scrum Master. Make sure that the questions encourage the identification of concrete opportunities for improvement. For example, questions like “What worked particularly well?” and “What obstacles did we experience?” could form the basis for an effective discussion and inspire concrete action items.

As a retrospective tool, we at Echometer naturally have many more templates in stock. Here are a few examples. If you want to go even deeper: Here are 54 creative retrospective templates .

The “What Went Well” retrospective is probably the most popular and well-known of all the templates for retrospectives. It’s based on the pattern we find in many other retrospectives, but simply without all the bells and whistles around it:

What went well?

What went not so well?

How can we improve?

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The retrospective “Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for” is called 4l retrospective. The reason why this is so, I think, is clear:

Like: What did you like?

Learned: What did you learn?

Lacked: What did you lack?

Longed for: What did you long for?

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Sailboat Retro is the first image-painting retro in this list of Agile Retrospective Templates. So get ready and weigh anchor:

⚓️ Your anchor: What holds us back?

🦈🧊 Your shark/iceberg: Which dangers or obstacles approach us?

💨 Your tailwind: What drives us forward?

🏝💰 Your paradise: What achievement or milestones are we working towards?

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Michelangelo was a great artist, known for his artistic paintings. You as a team are basically painting a painting as well. How can you ensure that it will be a masterpiece?

What is the big picture we are working on?

Which details should we focus on in the next weeks?

Where do we have difficulties finding the right color?

Which new brush should we use, which new approaches should we try out in the next few weeks?

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Mario Kart is as unpredictable as today’s work. You never know when a banana peel will be thrown, but you can mentally prepare for it. This time it goes as both a “futurespective” and a retrospective:

What bananas on the track do we have to look out for?

What’s an upcoming shortcut we could take advantage of?

What powerup could we pick up to ensure our win?

What shortcuts helped us win?

Which bananas did we slip on?

What was the powerup that gave us an edge?

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"Many team members are afraid to speak up!"

Solve this challenge

"We discover too many unexpected issues & bugs at a late stage!"

Solve this challenge

"Why does it sometimes take me hours to prepare a simple retrospective?"

Solve this challenge

Retrospective without Scrum Master template

Your savior: Agile Retrospective Tools

As probably became clear above, we can highly recommend that you take advantage of existing digital tools - such as Echometer.

Echometer is a digital tool that helps agile team leads with agile retrospectives and team Health Checks. Whether remote, hybrid or on-site: it makes team coaching measurable and professionalizes your work while saving you a lot of work. Just take a look at our website to find out more: www.echometerapp.com.

Retrospective without Scrum Master template

Conclusion: Good retros without a Scrum Master

The agile retrospective without a scrum master can be just as effective if you focus on empowerment, positive aspects, active participation and the right questions. Dare to do more rather than less!

Finally, a reminder: If you would like to try out how it feels to develop your team further with our tool: You can start an agile retrospective without logging in, in the following, in this case the “Keep, Stop, Start” workshop. 

Alternatively, simply forward our website to the responsible colleagues: www.echometerapp.com.

Continue: What should we keep?

Stop: What should we stop doing?

Start: What should we start doing?

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