Mad Sad and Glad - Sprint Retrospective

A Mad Sad Glad retrospective is a simple and effective way for teams to reflect on their previous sprint. It involves identifying things that made the team feel happy, things that made them feel sad, and things that made them feel angry or frustrated. By focusing on these three areas, the team can identify what worked well, what didn’t work well, and what they need to improve on. Both Mad and Sad are obviously negative but each can attract quite different issues from a team. Similarly, Glad is positive and attracts what made them feel happy or proud. This exercise will help build a positive team dynamic and provides an opportunity to reflect on issues and opportunities from a different perspective.

Mad Sad Glad Retrospective

Mad – List the things that are driving you crazy, frustrated, and annoyed. What is stopping you from performing at your best? What activities have wasted their time?

Sad – What are some of the things that have disappointed you or that you wished could be improved? Things that have not worked out as well as was hoped?

Glad – What makes you happy when you think about this project? What are the elements that you enjoy the most?

Phases of Mad Sad Glad Retrospective

Phase 1: Explanation

Step One: Before the retrospective starts the facilitator should hang three posters on the wall or draw a table with three columns on the whiteboard and name them Glad, Sad and Mad. Recommended to have Mad and Sad next to each other, because sometimes it is not clear whether a negative experience made you mad or sad.

Step Two: Begin the exercise with a detailed explanation of how the technique works. Define the time limit for this whole exercise.

Phase 2: Silent Writing

Step Three: Let the team grab some sticky notes and write down silently what made them Mad, Glad, or Sad in the previous sprint. Instruct the team to take XX minutes of time to write down the points. Keep the ideas private and once done place sticky notes in the appropriate categories.

Phase 3: Merge Similar Ideas

Step Four: All the ideas from the previous step should be visible to everybody. Sticky notes may contain related (or even identical) ideas, participants should group sticky notes into logical themes. During the discussion the group should not evaluate the ideas, the focus is on understanding the items and limiting the discussion.

Step Five: Ask the group to name each group. Use another card to write the title. Differentiate the title by drawing a box around the outer edge of the card or using a different color card.

Phase 4: Pick a Topic

Step Six: Conduct voting to determine which ones have the most impact. Dot Voting is a great tool to prioritize. The topic with the most dots will win and will get discussed in more detail in the next phase.

Step Seven: Facilitator should set the time limit and the team should discuss the sticky notes in prioritized order. The conversation should generate ideas and improvements for the next sprint.

Help the team using these kinds of open-ended questions.

What stands out for you as you look at these cards?
What is unexpected about these cards? What was difficult about this task? What parts felt positive?
What patterns do you see in the clusters? What do those patterns mean for us as a team?
What does this suggest for us as the next steps?

Benefits of Mad Sad and Glad Sprint Retrospective

The Mad Sad Glad retrospective is a valuable tool for agile teams to reflect on their work and identify areas for improvement. Here are some of the benefits of using this retrospective format:

Encourages open and honest communication: The Mad Sad Glad retrospective provides a safe and structured space for team members to share their thoughts and feelings about the sprint. This encourages open and honest communication and helps to build trust and respect among team members.
Focuses on both positive and negative aspects: The Mad Sad Glad retrospective allows teams to celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement. This helps to create a balanced view of the sprint and promotes a culture of continuous improvement.
Identifies specific action items: By grouping the notes and discussing common themes, the team can identify specific action items for improvement. This helps to create a clear plan of action and ensures that the team can address any issues in future sprints.
Helps to build a shared understanding: The Mad Sad Glad retrospective allows the team to build a shared understanding of what worked well and what needs to be improved. This helps to align the team’s goals and creates a sense of shared responsibility for the success of the project.
Improves team morale: By focusing on both positive and negative aspects of the sprint, the Mad Sad Glad retrospective helps to boost team morale. Celebrating successes and identifying areas for improvement helps to create a sense of progress and achievement, which can motivate team members and increase their sense of ownership and commitment to the project.

Example of Mad Sad Glad Retrospective

Mad Sad Glad retrospective for a software development project:

Mad:

We had a lot of bugs in the code that caused delays and frustration.
Our client kept changing their requirements, which made it difficult to stay on track.

Sad:

We didn’t get as much done as we had hoped due to the bugs and changing requirements.
We had some team members who were working on their own and didn’t communicate well with the rest of the team.

Glad:

We were able to implement some new features that we’re excited to show to our client.
We had a great collaboration session where we brainstormed ideas for how to solve a particularly tricky problem.

After grouping the notes, the team identified several action items, including improving communication among team members, setting clearer expectations with the client, and being more cautious about making changes to the requirements. They also decided to allocate more time for testing and bug fixing in future sprints to avoid delays caused by code issues.

By using the Mad Sad Glad retrospective, the team was able to identify both positive and negative aspects of the sprint and come up with concrete steps for improvement. This helps ensure that future sprints are more successful and that the team can continue to deliver high-quality software.

Mad Sad and Glad Facilitation Tips

Give people the time and space to open up and share.
Don’t try and solve the problems on the spot.
Regular retrospectives are better than infrequent deep postmortems.
Decide what idea can be anonymous or Non-anonymous brainstorming depending on the content.
You should be reading every item loud or make it visible to every individual unless there is a derogatory remark which is not acceptable.
Team to think of the success of the team and project rather than considering this as revenge material.
Refrain from making comments about an individual if you don’t have supporting material. The world is not perfect. The goal is to identify the improved system over making it worse
Not every problem can be fixed eventually. Somebody writes that I don’t feel like working doesn’t mean you would allow him to sleep in the office.
Constantly read the issues/concerns raised and strive to fix them as much as you can. Provide updates to the team around the issues you committed you would work on.

Conclusion

The Mad Sad Glad retrospective is a simple and effective way for teams to reflect on their work and identify areas for improvement. By focusing on what made them feel mad, sad, or glad, teams can get a clear picture of what worked well and what needs to be improved upon. Whether you’re a software development team or a marketing team, a Mad Sad Glad retrospective can help you achieve greater success in your work.