#5 Running a project retro - Template 🧰
A 90 minute retro session designed using the six thinking hats as a framework
In the previous issue, I introduced Edward de Bono's six-hat thinking tool, a powerful technique for exploring multiple perspectives and generating new ideas. I’d strongly recommend you read that issue before digging into this template. In this issue, we will dive deeper into how to apply the six thinking hats in the structure of a project retrospective.
Note from John; this has been a hard one to write, balancing readability with all of the information I want to share. I’d love some feedback on how accessable this is, and how I can make the next one better. You can give me feedback here.
A project retrospective is a meeting held at the end of a project to reflect on what went well, what didn't, and what can be improved. It's an opportunity for the team to learn from their successes and failures, identify areas for growth, and improve the process of future projects. The six thinking hats are a valuable tool for structuring a retrospective. As a reminder, each hat represents a different perspective or way of thinking. In a retrospective, we'll use the hats to help the team explore the project from multiple angles and generate insights they may not have otherwise considered.
Here is my suggested structure for a retrospective using the six thinking hats.
Preparation
As ever, the preparation lays the foundations upon which you'll build your workshop and will dramatically increase your session's impact.
Create a copy of the retro template in your chosen collaborative software, or draw it on a whiteboard. Though less than ideal from a collaboration point of view, you could do this in a shared document as long as everyone can edit at once. You want to ensure everyone can edit so that no one can gatekeep what input into the documentation is.
Ensure your team can access and use the tool you choose. We'll go into a few options for tooling and how to introduce your team to them in a few weeks.
Share a top-line agenda with them, along with a 90-minute calendar invite. Try to involve everyone who worked on the project in the session. If that's not possible, you can carry out a short interview with teammates who will miss out to ensure they're included in the documentation.
White hat: Before the session, ensure you have the white hat facts; these are your organisation's objective success metrics to track projects. I've included the three I most commonly see in agencies (margin, timeline and client satisfaction), but your organisation will likely differ.
In the session
The session breaks down into two phases. First, a mapping phase, which is white, blue, red, yellow and grey hats. In which you're collecting information and then a dreaming phase with the green and second blue hat. In which you're interpreting your shared knowledge and creating new ways of working to move forward. We'll visit the four potential phases you can have in any workshop in a future issue.
Top tips
Ask everyone to use the same colour of stickie to reduce visual clutter and keep things even.
Remind people how to add information to the canvas (using [n] in Miro or [s] in Figjam). Ask people to create a new sticky each time rather than duplicating existing ones, you get a uniform size, and you don't accidentally end up moving things or deleting other people's work.
Setting the scene (5 minutes)
Start by introducing the purpose of the retrospective and the six thinking hats. Explain how each hat represents a different perspective and how the team will use them to explore the project.
Mapping (55 minutes)
In a mapping phase, we're collecting information and laying it out for all. You should be asking "Why" a lot in a mapping phase.
White hat (2 minutes): Introduce the pre-collected white hat facts; was the project objectively successful?
Blue hat (10 minutes): To set the scope of the conversation, ask each collaborator to take five minutes and silently create a set of stickies, each representing a memorable moment in the project, and add them to an evolving timeline.
When people's contributions have slowed, ask them to review the timeline.
Based on those contributions, your team should answer the following scope questions:
What timeframe will the retro cover
Is the sales process included?
How about post-handover or launch activities?
What teams are included?
Do you have the right people in the room to represent those teams?
Red hat (3 minutes): Use the red hat to explore how the team felt about the project across its duration. Remember, the red hat doesn't require justification; why those feelings occurred will come out as we use the yellow and grey hats.
Each team member should reflect on the timeline and highlight up to four key moments of emotion using relevant emojis.
You will follow the same process for the retro's next two steps. It's designed to keep the team on meaningful and impactful considerations.
The process will go as follows;
Five minutes of solo stickie note writing with the relevant hat on, using the timeline to catalyse thoughts.
Two minutes of quietly reviewing and grouping stickies
Create titles for groups using black stickies.
Finally, each person will pick one group of stickies they feel most passionate about and summarise what they see there. Keep this to 2 minutes per group.
Collaborators can start by explaining their sticky that's a part of that group and then asking for a contribution from others who may have put things in that same group.
Grey hat (20 minutes): Remember that the grey hat is a careful, critical consideration. In the context of a retro, it's about identifying challenges and issues that arose during the project and highlighting risks that might be mitigated in future projects. Encourage the team to be honest and identify areas where the project could have gone better.
Follow the process outlined above; Five minutes of silent stickie writing, two minutes of organisation and then a discussion of the highest priority groups.
Yellow hat (15 minutes): The yellow hat is looking for positives, additional value, and opportunities. Where did this project stand out from others you've done in the past? What would you like to see carried forward? Encourage the team to focus on specific things that made a difference and highlight things that could be opportunities for other projects in the future.
Follow the process outlined above; Five minutes of silent stickie writing, two minutes of organisation and then a discussion of the highest priority groups.
Dreaming
In a dreaming phase, you're reflecting on your mapped information and exploring what it could be in future. You should be saying "What if" a lot in this phase.
Green hat (20 minutes): Frame your ideation challenge to the team. Ask them to imagine they're facing a similar project to the one they've just completed. Based on the Yellow and Grey hats, what would they do differently, and how. Brainstorm ideas for improvement and growth using the green hat. Encourage the team to think creatively and suggest new approaches, strategies, and tools.
Blue hat (10 minutes): Finally, use the blue hat to review the scope you set out and the ideas generated in the green hat.
Are there any areas people hoped to cover but still need to discuss?
Are there further conversations that need to be had?
Are there any actions that can be taken forward? By whom?
Concluding
It's time to pat everyone on the back. You've done a complex thing and done it well. The retro is often the conclusion point for the project, and in the case of an agency, it's likely the team won't work together in their current form for some time.
As the facilitator, you've one last job. Write everything up promptly, and share it with the project team. I like to do this in an editable format and give the team time to correct misunderstandings or add detail before sharing with the broader company, PPM and discipline teams.
A retro's value lies in the learnings and actions that can be taken forward. The only way that can happen is through dissemination.
And that's a retro structure based on the six thinking hats.
Following this structure ensures that your project retro is comprehensive, constructive, and actionable. It's important to note that the success of a project retro depends on the active participation of all team members. Encourage everyone to share their thoughts and ideas openly and honestly and work together to identify areas for improvement.
I hope this is a helpful template for you and an example of how the six thinking hats can be used to structure a workshop.
This is the first template I'm sharing, and as I've created this, I want to say much more than I anticipated. Please answer this quick survey to give me guidance for next time, or please drop a comment with your thoughts on the detail and clarity!
Until next time, Happy Facilitating!