Retrospective

The Retrospective screen

NeedsView view

Open the project. Click Retrospective. The page title is the project key and then Retrospective. Everyone who can see the project can read the whole screen, the cards and the notes of other people included.

The screen follows one session. A canceled Retrospective never appears. When the address names a Retrospective, the screen shows that one, even while another session is open. Otherwise the screen shows the open Retrospective. When no Retrospective is open, the screen shows the last one in the project's list.

A line of links under the title appears when the project holds two or more Retrospectives that nobody canceled. A canceled Retrospective does not count, so a project that canceled two of its three Retrospectives shows no links at all.

The links name each session: Sprint 3, Sprint 4 and so on. The links run in order of the scheduled start of each Retrospective. A Retrospective with no scheduled start comes last, whatever its dates. Click one to switch. The address then names the session you chose.

Each link shows the number of its sprint only. One sprint can hold more than one Retrospective, so two links can read Sprint 4. The screen puts no visible mark on the link of the session you are on.

A band under the title reads Retrospective and Looking back on Sprint 4. When the session names a facilitator, the band adds their name and facilitating. The facilitator is a label. It gives no extra right. While the session is open, the band says Open — every card is attributed, and everybody writes their own. Otherwise it says This session is closed. Its board is a record now, not a workspace.

Before the project holds a Retrospective, the screen shows the title and this text: No Retrospective has been held yet. One is scheduled per sprint and inspects how the team worked, not what it built — so it has nothing to show until a sprint has run.

When a card request fails, the screen shows the reason in one line under the band. The product refuses a request that breaks a rule. The screen gives no warning first.

The board does not refresh by itself. It reads every card again after each card request you make, or when you reload the page. A notes save reads the notes again, not the cards.

Open, close and cancel the session

No screen creates, opens, closes or cancels a Retrospective. The product does each of those through its API only. This screen shows a session that already exists, in the state it is in. The Daily Scrum is the one session you start and close from a screen. See Scrum Events.

The product creates a Retrospective in one request. The request names one sprint. It needs View on the project and Run sprints on the team that owns that sprint. The new Retrospective is scheduled, not open.

The product opens it in a second request, which needs Run sprints on the same team. The product opens a scheduled session only. For a session in any other state it answers This session is already closed., with that state in place of closed. One sprint holds one open Retrospective at a time. The product refuses a second: Another session of this kind is already open. Close it first.

The product closes and cancels a session under the same right, Run sprints on that team. A canceled Retrospective leaves both the screen and the line of links. An address that names one shows another Retrospective instead, and reports nothing. When a project cancels every Retrospective it holds, the screen shows the empty text again.

The four columns

The board has four columns side by side, in this order. Each column shows its name, a count of its cards, and a hint under the name.

Went Well

Keep doing it.

Didn't Go Well

Name it, then decide.

Action Items

Converts to backlog work. Only this column offers Convert to item.

Lessons Learned

No action — worth remembering.

An empty column says Nothing here yet. Each card shows its text and the name of the person who wrote it. When the product cannot find that person, the card shows Someone. A converted card also shows a pill with the key of the item it became. Cards stay in the order people added them.

This screen has no control to move a card to another column, and none to reorder cards. A card stays where its author put it.

Add a card

NeedsWrite in Scrum Events event_write

Each column ends with a box named after it, from Add to Went Well to Add to Lessons Learned, and a button Add. The box and the button are absent for people without Write in Scrum Events.

1. Type in the box under the column you mean.
2. Click Add under that column.

The card appears at the bottom of its column with your name. The count rises. The box clears whether the product saved the card or refused it. If the screen shows a refusal, type the card again. Each column keeps its own draft, so text in one box stays while you add to another.

A card holds up to 2,000 characters. The product trims spaces at the start and the end. The author is always you. Nobody writes a card in the name of another person.

You cannot click Add while its box is empty, or while the product saves another card. While the product saves a card, it also disables Save in the card editor, Convert to item and Remove. While the product saves your notes, it disables Save my notes. A notes save does not disable Add. The product never disables Edit or Cancel.

Edit or remove a card

NeedsWrite in Scrum Events event_write

Edit and Remove sit at the foot of your own cards. With Manage the project they sit on every card. On any other card they are absent.

A card carries no version, and this screen has no conflict dialog. Most people edit their own cards only. A person with Manage the project edits every card, so that person and the author can save one card at the same time. The later save then wins. The earlier text is gone, and the product shows no warning and no message. See Editing conflicts.

Edit a card

1. Click Edit on the card.
2. Change the text in the box.
3. Click Save.

To keep the old text, click Cancel instead of Save. One card is in edit mode at a time. You can change the text only. This screen has no control to move the card to another column. The limit of 2,000 characters applies here too.

Remove a card

1. Click Remove on the card.

There is no confirmation and no undo. The card disappears and the count falls. When you remove a converted card, the backlog item stays. The product removes only the link from the card to it.

Convert an action item into a backlog item

NeedsWrite items item_write

Each card in Action Items that is not yet converted has a button Convert to item. It needs three things: Write items, Write in Scrum Events, and an open session. Without all three, the button is absent. It is absent from the other three columns for everyone.

1. Click Convert to item on the card.

The product asks for nothing else. It creates the item and links the card to it in one step. The new item:

• Has the item type with the key task. Every project starts with that type under the name Task. A project can rename it, and the new item then shows the new name. See Project settings.
• Has the status Draft.
• Sits in the default phase of the project, after the last item of that phase, and in no sprint.
• Takes its name from the text of the card, on one line. The product cuts a name over 200 characters and ends it with ….
• Takes a description in three parts: the line Action item from the Sprint 4 Retrospective., a blank line, and the full text of the card.

The card then shows a pill with the key of the item, such as PROJ-42, in place of the button. The pill links to the Product Backlog screen, not to the item itself. See The Product Backlog. The pill stays after the session closes.

The item carries no link back to the Retrospective. The description of the item names the Retrospective instead. You edit the item in the backlog like any other. See Backlog items.

This screen never asks you for the item type. It always uses the type with the key task, whatever the project calls it. Write in Scrum Events does not include Write items, so a person who can write a card cannot always convert it. See Roles and permissions.

Notes

NeedsWrite in Scrum Events event_write

The section Notes sits under the four columns. Each person writes one block of their own. Blocks from other people appear above Your notes, each under the name of its author. When the product cannot find that person, the block shows Someone. Your notes is absent for people without Write in Scrum Events.

Your notes opens with the block you saved before. While the box is empty it shows the placeholder Anything the four columns did not hold. Everyone writes their own block.

1. Type in Your notes.
2. Click Save my notes.

The product saves on the click, not on each keystroke. A save replaces your one block, so you never get a second one. Your notes keeps your text after the save. A block holds up to 20,000 characters.

If Your notes is empty when you save, the product deletes your block. When a notes save fails, the reason appears inside Notes, above the blocks of other people, not under the band.

Nobody else can change your block, so a colleague can never conflict with you. The one conflict is with yourself, when the same session is open in two tabs. The screen then says You have this session open somewhere else, and it has newer notes. It reloads the notes and keeps your draft in Your notes. See Editing conflicts.

What the screen records

Each card you add, edit, remove or convert writes one entry in the organization's activity feed. A notes save writes one too. The entry names you and the session. It holds neither the text of the card nor the text of your notes. People with Manage the organization read the feed. See The activity feed.

A conversion also writes a line in the History of the new backlog item. The line gives your name, the time and the words created the item as with the key of the item. Anybody with View on the project reads that line, not only people with Manage the organization. See Backlog items.

The closed session

After the session closes, the board is a record for everyone, the facilitator included. The cards, the item pills and the notes of other people stay readable.

A closed Retrospective does not reopen. While the session is not open, people with Write in Scrum Events read this under the notes: Reopening is not a thing a Retrospective does. What the team decided is in Action Items, and the work it made is in the backlog.

Who may do what

View

Open the screen and read the whole board, the notes of other people included.

Write in Scrum Events

Add a card, edit and remove your own cards, and write your notes. You must also be on the team that owns the sprint, or a guest with the capacity Participant.

Manage the project

Edit and remove any card, when you also hold Write in Scrum Events.

Write items

Convert an action item into a backlog item, together with Write in Scrum Events and the same team or guest rule.

Run sprints

Create, open, close and cancel a session, through the API. No control on this screen uses it.

See Roles and permissions.