Should I do retrospectives in non-agile teams or projects without Scrum?

Only a few companies work in a truly agile way.
However, most companies usually only have individual areas or projects in which they work more or less “agilely”. 
Perhaps you are also working on a semi-agile project and are asking yourself: Should I do retrospectives here?

Retrospectives are an integral part of Scrum for good reason. See also: Scrum Guide

However, retrospectives are also often used independently of Scrum in projects and teams. If you do not yet have any experience with retrospectives, take a look here: Quick guide for retrospectives

The advantages of retrospectives in project teams without Scrum are:

• Ensuring regular reflection on the collaboration
• Strengthen team spirit and trust in the team
• Continuous process improvements

With a retrospective tool such as Echometer, it is also very easy to carry out a retrospective in a structured and goal-oriented manner in project teams without Scrum. 

You can simply try it out for free and evaluate whether it has helped your project team at the end of the retro via the team feedback on the “Return On Time Invested” (ROTI for short).

Retro to try out - Psychological safety Retro:

Health Check Questions (Scale)

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

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Strongly disagree Strongly agree

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?

Open this retro now

Should I also use retrospectives in non-agile teams?

Although retrospectives are an agile format, they can be used in virtually any non-agile team.

After all, every team should have a routine in which they critically reflect on their collaboration and initiate improvements.

See also: The unexpected added value of retrospectives

Some teams already have routines such as “Team Meeting”, “Team Weekly” or “Team Jour Fixe”.

Supporting these regular meetings with the structure of a classic retrospective can lead to better results and more commitment from the team:

• Meetings follow a clear retrospective structure
• The retrospective’s ice-breaker lightens the mood
• All team members have their say and share their feedback
• Measures are recorded (ideally in the retro tool) and are not lost

So if you want more team engagement in your team meetings, you should definitely try out retrospectives in a non-agile team.

Echometer offers you a very simple retro tool suitable for beginners, with which you can also try out retrospectives in non-agile teams free of charge.

Retro to try out - the battery retrospective:

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?

Open this retro now