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 – 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Mad Sad Glad retrospective for a software development project:
Mad:
Sad:
Glad:
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.
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.
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