What is a Plus Delta retrospective?
A Plus Delta retrospective is a great retrospective idea for newly formed teams and or inexperienced meeting facilitators. formats. During the meeting the agile team captures the positive aspects (“pluses”) of a project alongside areas for improvement (“deltas”) with a view to enhancing their future performance.
When should I use a Plus Delta retrospective?
For newly formed teams or inexperienced meeting facilitators, this format is a great tool to start with as it drives productive discussions by simply asking each team member to share what they think are the pluses and the deltas of the last sprint or project. From there, we can then identify areas of improvement and create action plans to make sure those agreed-upon ideas are executed and achieved.
Here are some common scenarios where a Plus Delta template can be helpful:
- To assess the effectiveness of a new process or system
- To evaluate the results of a project
- To review the performance of a team
- To highlight areas of success for a process
Alternative to Plus Delta Charts
- Plus Minus Delta
- Using a chart for a retrospective
- Do again /Do better and Plus/Change
Plus Delta Retrospective Format
Plus
Participants share what worked well in the last sprint. Write down everything that is going well. What are the things that you want to say the same? What strategies are working? What processes run smoothly?
Delta
What are the processes or activities that you want to add, change or improve? Write down everything that could be more effective. Is there a way to make a process more efficient? What wouldn’t be and would be done next time?
Suggested Icebreaker questions for Plus Delta retrospective
- What is one habit would you add for yourself this year?
- What is one thing you would add or change in your room? Why?
- Would you rather add or remove some friends on Facebook? Why?
Retro Rehearsal
Invite your team to rehearse the retro referencing something they recently ate.
For example, thinking about your last home cooked meal, what were the positives about it and what is one change you would make?
Ideas and tips for your Plus Delta retrospective
- Encourage people to provide both Pluses and Deltas. Both have value in the continuous improvement of processes. Keep an open mind when receiving feedback and record all pluses and deltas provided.
- Give people the time and space to open up and share. And, as long as they are not making derogatory remarks and understand the no-blame principle, then each idea should be discussed.
- No need to label Delta negatively: refer to it as ‘Delta’ (change). These are changes that could be made if redone, and improvements to be made in the future. This allows us to grow from past errors while looking towards the future with optimism.
- Anonymity. Names are not required. All opinions and ideas are equally valid.
- Use the way teams vote to manage culture. You’ll get interesting insights when people vote individually. A suggested improvement may need to be agreed afterwards at a future meeting.
- Follow up with an action list that you will check off at the start of the next team retro.
How to run a Plus Delta retrospective in TeamRetro
Start your retrospective in a click
Log into TeamRetro and choose your sprint retrospective template.
Discuss the most important things first
You and your team discuss the top voted ideas and can capture deep dive comments. Presentation mode allows you to walk your team through ideas one-by-one and keep the conversation focused.
Review and create actions
Easily facilitate discussion by bringing everyone onto the same page. Create action items, assign owners and due dates that will carry through for review at the next retrospective.
Share the results
Once you have finished your retro, you can share the results and actions with the team. Your retro will be stored so you can revisit them as needed.