Are retrospectives worth the time and effort? Manoj Jain Senior Director - Software Engineering, Axtria

1. Manoj Jain
Senior Director – Software Engineering
Oct 30, 2022
RETROSPECTIVES
ARE WE REALLY GETTING BENEFITTED FROM THEM?
agilegurugram.com

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ABOUT ME
• Hands-on quality engineer since 1999
• Leading quality engineering at Axtria
• Previously worked with Mezocliq,
Oracle, MakeMyTrip, CA Technologies,
Nucleus Software & Newgen Software
• Speaker & author
• Cyclist
• Philanthropist
Manoj.jain@axtria.com
manojjain99@yahoo.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/manojjain/
https://twitter.com/manojjain99

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AXTRIA – DRIVING LIFE SCIENCES INDUSTRY
PERFORMANCE
THROUGH UNIQUE LS-FOCUSED COMBINATION OF DECISION SCIENCE, COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE & DATA MANAGEMENT
Employees
Worldwide
2,900+
Principals
with 20+ years of Life
Sciences experience
Locations
Global Delivery
and Data Centers
80+
19
• Enterprise Technology Platform
• Cloud-based Configurable IP
• Deep Pharma experience
• Strategic & Operational Expertise
• Cloud Data Management
• Cloud BI & Insights
• Cloud MDM
• Big Data
• Territory Alignment
• Call Planning
• Incentive Compensation
• Field Reporting
• Sales & Marketing Analytics
• OTC Analytics
• Patient Analytics
• Digital Analytics
• NBA
• Omnichannel
Orchestration
• Customer Journey
DECISION
SCIENCE
&
COMMERCIAL
EXCELLENCE
PHARMA DATA
MANAGEMENT
& TECHNOLOGY
Clients including
8 of Top 10 Pharma &
15 of Top 20 Pharma
Commercial Ops sales
reps on Axtria’s platform
100+ 100,000+
Driving PERFORMANCE for our Clients
Through Transformational DECISION SCIENCE & COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE
Powered by Extensive Pharma DATA MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY Expertise
Global Presence

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HOW MANY OF US FIND RETROSPECTIVES
EFFECTIVE?
How many of us are 100%
getting benefitted from
retrospectives?
How many of us are
conducting retrospective
meetings consistently?

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TIME FOR REALITY CHECK…

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ARE WE ALONE FACING THIS?
AVAILABILITY OF LITERATURE CONFIRMS THAT WE’RE NOT JUST ALONE

7. HOW DID WE ADDRESS IT?

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5 BEST PRACTICES FOR BETTER OUTCOME

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PARTICIPATION AND NOT JUST ATTENDANCE

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MEETING NOTES - LEVERAGING JIRA FOR
TRACKING ITEMS
Status wise
summary of all
action items
Owner wise summary
of action items
List of all OPEN action
items and their owners
Status of all action
items in swim lanes
for better visibility
Adding
retrospective
action items
to sprint
backlog is
quite
effective.

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OWNERSHIP - CATEGORIZING FEEDBACKS & TASK
FORCES

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AVOIDING REPEATING ISSUES
• DONENESS criteria not being met
• Capacity planning and scheduling not done
properly
• Requirements were not ready at start of the
sprint
Focus on automation of processes or guard-rails instead of
manual reviews

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AN EXAMPLE OF AUTOMATION…

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FOLLOW-UP…FOLLOW-UP…FOLLOW-UP…
• Absolute clarity about owner(s) for each
action item/task force with ETA
• Dedicating 15mins in every sprint review
meeting for update on retrospective
action items
• If it is important, then it deserves
dedicated time & effort

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OUTCOME?
100% participation of team & not just attendance
50% reduction of recurring issues
20% improvement in sprints’ velocity
80% stories meeting DONENESS criteria (from 50%)
25% reduction in sprint spill overs

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KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Track action items with owners and ETAs
2. Don’t try to boil the ocean but focus on 1-2
high impact areas a time
3. Don’t give-up irrespective of results and
change course of action, if required

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QUESTIONS?

18. Do you have a question for
us?