Agile Teams Improvement Tools and Exercises

JESUS MENDEZ
AGILE TEAMS -
IMPROVEMENT TOOLS
AND EXERCISES
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Agile Teams - Improvement Tools and Exercises
1st edition
© 2018 Jesus Mendez & bookboon.com
ISBN 978-87-403-2412-9
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AGILE TEAMS - IMPROVEMENT
TOOLS AND EXERCISES Contents
CONTENTS
About the author 5
Introduction 6
1 Forming agile teams flow 7

1.1 Continuous Improvement tools 8
Glossary 31
Notes and references 34
Endnotes 35
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TOOLS AND EXERCISES About the author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jesus is all about helping people to find ways to reach their highest potential by offering the
gift of coaching. He has contributed in delivering more than 25 projects over his combined
professional career. He is a passionate reader who has spent the last five years observing,
trying, documenting, experimenting and growing software development teams through
different tools, games, activities and processes to help them walk through the stages of Bruce
W. Tuckman’s group development theory.
Find him on LinkedIn.
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TOOLS AND EXERCISES Introduction
INTRODUCTION
The tools provided in this third workbook out of three offers exercises and tools to help
with improving Agile teams by providing you with a basic support when playing your role
within the organization as Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches/Agile Leaders.
This workbook covers the step 8 and 9 of the “Forming Agile Teams Flow”, some tools and
exercises I use when helping Agile teams improve continuously. The “Forming Agile Teams
Flow” is a step by step process that I have created on top of the traditional Scrum framework,
composed of nine steps and two alternative activities, to ease understanding and give you a
better idea about what, why, how and when I recommend using the techniques suggested.
The techniques and tools exposed in this workbook are the result of a practical journey,
plenty of learning, trials, a lot of reading, meeting and collaborating with beautiful and
exceptional people, many hours of introspection and self-growth.
I wish you all the best with reducing your team’s ambiguity by increasing clarity through
an incredible and nurturing experience.
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TOOLS AND EXERCISES Forming agile teams flow
1 FORMING AGILE TEAMS FLOW

One day, I was having a hard time getting certain thoughts out of my head; I was stuck
and frustrated because that something to connect all the dots was missing. That is when,
after talking about it with my friend Ida Perciballi1, she proposed this brilliant idea to
me of creating a workflow to walk readers through the team transformation process and
contextualize where to apply the techniques that I’m proposing in this workbook for lifting
off Agile teams - Iterations.
1 or 2 weeks
Planning
Team
The team
1 Transformation 2 Transformation
Process Kickoff
Process
Iteration Product Road

4 Daily Sync 3 Planning Mapping
(Team Level)
Product Road
Help Team Product
Mapping
5 stay A (Stakeholder 6 Backlog
focused
ITERATION
Level) Refinement
Team Iteration
Iteration Iteration
8 Retrospective
Performance
Review
Review 7
Satisfaction Preparation
Iteration
9 Report
That’s what I thought I was looking at; a way to explain the techniques that I’ve learned
when forming agile teams by using a visual diagram to put all the ideas together and I came
up with this diagram that I’ve called “Forming Agile Teams Flow”, inspired by a typical
sprint as described in the Agile Scrum framework.
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1.1 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TOOLS
1.1.1 ITERATION RETROSPECTIVES
What type of activities would I recommend for iteration

retrospectives when forming an agile team?
I’ve found there are some exercises that are particularly useful in iteration retrospectives
when forming agile teams. These activities have been helpful to facilitate my work with
teams during the forming stage; by offering structure to what the team needs to accomplish
before moving to the next stage of the development process:
1) Iteration Retrospective Agenda Template

2) Personal Stories2
3) How do we work? Let’s map it
4) Agile at a glance
5) Team’s Identity
6) Expectations
1.1.1.1 Iteration Retrospective Agenda Template
Summary
• Date: Date of the iteration retrospective.
• Status: To do/Doing/Done.
• Expected Duration: X hour(s), Real duration: Y hours and Z minutes.
• Facilitator: Name of the facilitator.
• Intentions: i.e. my intentions today are to help us explore the team reactions
when facing some fears that were exposed during the iteration and find ways to
deal with them.
• Retrospective Goal(s): i.e. help us face fear and do it without distraction.
Participants
List of iteration retrospective participants
• <Team member names> + <Product Owner name>
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Agenda
List of iteration retrospective proposed activities
1) Set the stage – activity: i.e. check-in question - how do you feel right now?
2) Generate Insights – activity: i.e. let’s draw and share the story of the iteration
with pictures.
3) Gather data – activity: i.e. what is common between each individual story? What is
curious about those common factors? What do you think are the positive elements?
In your opinion, which aspects in our control, could be improved? What possibilities
do we have to make things better?
4) Decide what to do – activity: i.e. Open list (What, Who, By When).
5) Close retrospective – activity: i.e. Retro dart (I spoke openly?).
Notes: Additional notes/observations/take-away gathered during the iteration retrospective.
Team Backlog Action Items

List of action items decided by the team during the iteration retrospective.
1.1.1.2 Personal Stories

Purpose of the exercise: Get to know each other better (Building trust).
Time required: From one hour to ninety minutes maximum.
Pre-requisites: Post-its, markers, a table, storytelling cards3 or some pictures printed from
internet, a facilitator.
Preparation: 10 to 30 minutes to print out the required material and set up the room.
Spread cards on the table; write the name of each participant and stick them on a part of
one of the walls of the room. Create/reuse the weather report on a flip chart.
How many participants: Minimum three, maximum to be determined.
Recommended: This activity is recommended with new teams, or when new team members
join an existing team.
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Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

1) Set the stage - Weather report4 from the book Agile retrospectives: making good
teams great5
2) Gather data - Let’s share a Personal Story
3) Generate insights - Learning and possibilities
4) Decide what to do - Act
5) Close retrospective – Evaluate the Team’s performance satisfaction template6
during the iteration retrospective.
Instructions
1) Set the stage – Weather report (10 minutes)
Welcome participants to the iteration retrospective and once everyone is in, present
your proposed agenda, previously created. Once you have finished, ask the following
question: “Is there any other subject that you would prefer to discuss instead?”
Wait for answers. If somebody proposes a topic, ask the team what they want to
do and follow whatever they want. If the team chooses your proposed agenda, then
move to the next step. If they don’t, then skip this exercise and facilitate the ‘new’
conversation without regrets.
• Invite them to do a weather check7, and then share, individually, how they
feel. I like to use post-its and ask each team member to write down their
name and include their weather check with it.
• Be curious and ask them “Who is willing to share the reasons behind your
choice of the weather check report? Be silent and wait at least 30 seconds
before saying anything. Remember it is their meeting, so be patient and wait.
Let them talk, listening to all the answers. Once each person has finished
sharing, be sure to thank them.
2) Let’s share a Personal Story (20 to 30 minutes)

Explain that most of the team effort during the forming stage is going to be focused
on building the relationship of trust. Given that, we are going to play “Personal
Stories”. Here are the steps for this activity:
• Spread storytelling cards8 on the table. Make each one visible to be chosen.
• Ask participants to think about a personal story, something that nobody in
the team knows about them.
• Invite participants to pick at least three cards from the table and then build
their personal story from them.
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• Invite participants to go to the pre-selected area in the room with their name
on it and then stick their cards to the wall to share their personal story. Give
the team three minutes to build their personal story.
Special note: I like to participate in this activity in order to share my own
personal story with the team to help build the relationship of trust too, but
that is optional.
• Ask who wants to share their personal story first. Then ask who is next. Repeat
this step until everyone has shared their personal story.
• Invite the team to discuss what they have learned about their colleagues. In
the meantime, take notes about what the team has told you they learned.
3) Learning and possibilities (20 minutes)

Explore together the following question: what do you think is possible when we
trust each other? Give the team one minute to think and then invite them to share
their thoughts in pairs and list at least two possibilities, one per post-it. Give the
team three minutes to do that.
• Ask the team to stick the possibilities they created on the wall and then to
choose the team’s favorite one; give them three votes per person. They can
use the votes in any way they want.
4) Act (20 minutes)

Invite them to reflect in pairs about the following question: what action could the
team take to make that possibility become a reality and to start the next iteration?
Give them three to five minutes. Each group should suggest at least one action item
to share.
• Invite each group to stick their actions on the wall. Help the team to group
them into categories.
i. Help the team to group them in categories.
ii. Invite the team to decide what to do for the next iteration, who is responsible
and when the action item will be completed.
5) Close retrospective - Team’s performance satisfaction template (5 minutes)

Close the retrospective by thanking them for their active participation and invite them
to evaluate their level of the team’s performance satisfaction during the retrospective
using the Team’s performance satisfaction template9.
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Expected outcome
• The team gets to know team members from another perspective.
• Make people vulnerable by sharing personal stories with their colleagues.
• Teach the team that being vulnerable in front of others can be fun and highly
interesting.
• Create possibilities and new connections between team members.
• Build the relationship of trust within the team.
• Have fun.
1.1.1.3 How do we work? Let’s map it

The Team teaching the Scrum Master/Agile Coach
Purpose of the exercise: Discover how things are done within the team and more.
Time required: 45 minutes to one hour maximum.
Pre-requisites: Post-its, markers, an empty wall, a facilitator.
Preparation: 20 minutes to print out the required material and create the Temperature
reading10 and the Feedback Door – Smiles11 flip charts.
How many participants: Minimum one, maximum to be determined.
Recommended: This activity is recommended when starting to work with a new team
where you are going to be the Scrum Master/Agile Coach.

1) Set the stage - Temperature reading
2) Gather data - Let’s teach our Scrum Master/Agile Coach how the team works.
3) Generate insights - Let’s map our development process with the agile framework
in use.
4) Decide what to do - Top two things that could be improved.
5) Close retrospective - Feedback Door – Smiles by Boeffi12
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Instructions
1) Set the stage – Temperature reading (10 minutes)
Wait for answers. If somebody proposes a topic, ask the team what they want to do
and let them guide you. If the team chooses your proposed agenda, then go to the
next step. If they don’t then skip this exercise and facilitate the ‘new’ conversation
without regrets.
• Now is time to check our individual temperature, to acknowledge how everyone

feels before the retrospective starts.
• Ask participants to write their name on a post-it note and voluntarily stick
it to the temperature-reading flip chart in the most convenient place which
represents their current temperature.
• Once everyone in the room has done this, invite participants to look at the
chart and observe the results. Acknowledge the fact that everyone is different
and stress the importance of respecting this.
• Thank the participants for sharing and for their openness.
2) Let’s teach our Scrum Master/Agile Coach how the team works (20 to 30 minutes)
Invite the team to teach you about the work the team does. To this end, I like to
draw a starting point on the left of a white board. From there, ask the team to guide
you through the workflow.
• Invite the Product Owner to tell you how an organization requirement enters
the team’s workflow.
• From there draw a starting point for the team’s workflow.
• Ask questions about each step of the process, and repeat what the team is
saying, to be sure that nothing is lost.
• Listen carefully to what the team is saying and repeat the previous step until
the team asks you to stop.
• Be sure that you have covered everything.
3) Let’s map our development process with the agile framework in use (20 minutes)
Now invite the team to teach you about their agile framework: Kanban, Scrum, XP,
Crystal, Safe, Open Agile, etc.
• Ask the team to navigate you through the agile framework that’s in use.
• Invite them to map their workflow with the agile framework in use:
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i. i.e.: Planning how to consistently develop a requirement that happens during

sprint planning.
ii. Be curious and ask open ended questions to understand it.
• Repeat previous step until all steps are mapped with the agile framework in use.
• Take a picture of the resultant diagram for future reference.
4) Top two things that could be improved

In pairs or threesomes, invite the team to invest ten minutes to identify two things
that require improvement in their development process and ask them to write them
on post-it notes.
• Invite each group to present its ideas to the rest of the team, by describing:
i. What needs to be improved
ii. For what reason
• Repeat previous step until all groups have shared their ideas.
• Invite the team to organize all their ideas for improvement in order of priority.
Give the team all the time they need to do this.
• Take a picture of the prioritized improvement list.
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5) Close retrospective – Feedback Door – Smiles (5 minutes)

Close the retrospective by thanking everyone for the team’s hard work and then
invite them to give you feedback on the ‘Feedback Door – Smiles’ flip chart. It’s up
to you to ask for anonymous or non-anonymous feedback.
Expected outcome
• Shared understanding of the team’s development process.
• Team’s alignment about what’s working and what needs to be improved.
• Empower the team to own their development process.
• Install habit of continuous improvement through retrospectives.
• Get to know each other better.
• Build the relationship of trust between the new team and you as their Scrum
Master/Agile Coach.
1.1.1.4 Agile at a glance

Purpose of the exercise: The goal of this retrospective is to start the conversation within
the team about the team’s development process, in this case, by using the Agile-Scrum
framework. By asking open ended questions, the facilitator will help the team discover the
areas of improvement identified by the team, help with clarifying some concepts and show
the team how easy it is to inspect and adapt their own development process.
Pre-requisites: Agile-Scrum at a Glance – Baseline13 for Scrum teams or an image from

the internet of the agile framework used by the team, a facilitator, a board, some markers,
some post-its and a good attitude.
Preparation: 20 minutes to print out the required material, write four bubbles and the four
agile values on the board for them (using the Agile Values Cheers Up exercises references
below) and create the Retro dart14 flip chart.
How many participants: minimum one, maximum to be determined.
Time required: Between 50 minutes and one hour, depending on how engaged the team
is when discussing improvements.
Recommended: This activity can be used with new teams (everybody is new), when a new
member is joining the scrum team or even when the Scrum Master/Agile Coach/Facilitator
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is the one joining the team. The main focus of the activity is to get alignment about the
Scrum framework, which could be used to guiding the Scrum Master/Agile Coach/Facilitator
with questions such as:
• What needs to be improved and in which order (priority)?

• What is not clear/unknown about the scrum framework? (What requires reinforcement?)
• What is and isn’t working?

1) Set the stage – Agile Values Cheers Up15 by Jesus Mendez
2) Gather data – Agile Scrum at a Glance -> Explore and identify
3) Generate insights – Agile Scrum at a Glance -> Discuss
4) Decide what to do – Agile Scrum at a Glance -> Group and decide
5) Close retrospective – Retro dart16 by Philipp Flenker17
Instructions
1) Set the stage – Agile Values Cheers Up (15 to 20 minutes)
Wait for answers. If somebody proposes a topic, ask the team what they want to do
and let them guide you. If the team chooses your proposed agenda, then go to the
next step. If they don’t then skip this exercise and facilitate the ‘new’ conversation
without regrets.
Ask participants to write down instances when their colleagues have displayed one
of the agile values.
űű 1 cheerful sticky note per example.

• In turn, let everyone post their note in the corresponding bubble and read
them aloud.
• Rejoice in how you embody agile core values.
2) Explore & identify (5 minutes)
• Share a copy of the Agile–framework at a glance baseline image18 that you

have printed out previously, with each participant.
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• Ask the team to look at it and to write down one issue per post-it, about
what: (1) requires improvement; (2) is not clear/unknown.
• Note: it’s up to the facilitator to limit the amount of reported issues, so you
can reach the time frame that works best for you.
• Set a time frame between three and five minutes for the team to write down
their found issues.
• Once the time frame is reached, ask the team if anybody needs more time.
If the answer is no, then move on to the next step.
3) Discuss (30 minutes)
• Open the floor to discussion by asking for volunteers to expose identified issues.
• At this point of the activity, it’s suggested to ask open ended questions to
clarify each identified issue. Questions such as:
űű What is important about the issue that you are presenting to us?
űű What have you considered when raising the issue?
• Once everyone has presented their own issue, it’s time to move on to the
next step.
4) Group and decide (15 to 20 minutes)
• Now that everything has been discussed, ask for a volunteer to help the team
with grouping all the post-its by using the areas available in the “Agile –
framework at a glance baseline image”.
• Give the team some dot stickers to vote (usually I will give each team member
one vote).
• Once everybody has voted, ask them to organize the identified issues in order,
based on how many dots each issue received.
• Now ask the team to identify one action that will help the team with improving
each identified issue.
• Note: If something is not clear/unknown it is up to you to decide when to
explain it. However, I usually do it once the question is raised.
5) Close retrospective – Retro dart (5 minutes)
• Close the retrospective by thanking everyone for their hard work during the
session.
• Invite the team to answer the three questions asked in the Retro dart flip chart
posted on the door at the entrance of the room before leaving, by sticking
their name and answers, one per post it, on each of the three questions.
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Expected outcome
• Common and shared understanding about where the team is regarding the agile
framework.
• Things that are considered important about the team’s development process are
shared.
• The team is empowered to adapt its own development process to its own needs.
• A high-level actionable improvement plan has been created by the team.
• The first seed for a self-organized team has been deployed.
1.1.1.5 Team’s Identity

Our ideal team (characteristics, values and a name that is worthy)
Purpose of the exercise: The goal of the retrospective is to help the team with building its
identity, setting shared values and creating a name to tie everything together.
Pre-requisites: a facilitator, a board, some markers, some post-its, a set of storytelling

cards19 and a good attitude.
Preparation: 10 minutes to set up the room.
How many participants: minimum three people, maximum to be determined.
Time required: from 90 minutes to two hours.
Recommended: I would recommend that this retrospective be done once the team’s
development process has been discussed, the workflow has been mapped and the team has
been working together using an agile framework for at least two months.

1) Set the stage – “What’s awesome about my team?” by Jesus Mendez
2) Gather data – Picturing my ideal team
3) Generate insights – Present and discuss
4) Decide what to do – Group and decide
5) Close retrospective.
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Instructions
1) Set the stage – What’s awesome about my team (10 – 15 minutes)?
• Welcome participants to the iteration retrospective and once everyone is in,

present your proposed agenda, previously created. Once you have finished,
ask the following question: “Is there any other subject that you would prefer
to discuss instead?” Wait for answers. If somebody proposes a topic, ask the
team what they want to do and follow whatever they want. If the team chooses
your proposed agenda, then move to the next step. If they don’t, then skip
this exercise and facilitate the ‘new’ conversation without regrets.
• Share a blank piece of paper with each participant.
űű Invite them to write down the following text on it, covering all the empty
space:
What’s awesome about my team is _________________________
And that makes me feel _________________________________
űű In two minutes ask them to fill out the empty lines and then wait until
everyone is done.
• Ask for a volunteer to read what they’ve written aloud.
• Invite the team to celebrate by cheering or applauding.
• Ask the participant to stick their piece of paper on the wall titled “What’s
awesome about my team”.
• In turn, invite others to repeat the two previous steps until the whole team
has completed them.
• Invite the team to be curious and ask questions about what the others have
shared on their pieces of paper until there are no more questions.
2) Picturing my ideal team (20 to 30 minutes)
• Invite team members to select one storytelling card from the table that
represents the image of the ideal team.
• On a big post-it, ask them to write down the top five values of that ideal
team. To inspire them, search “Team values list” on Google.
• Ask participants to write down a name for that ideal team.
• Invite participants to choose a wall in the room to stick their selected picture
and the list of team values on.
3) Present & discuss (30 to 40 minutes)
• Invite participants to present its selected picture, the list of team values of
its ideal team and the ideal name that comes with it to the rest of the team.
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• Ensure that all participants share their ideas with the rest of the team.
• Ask participants to form pairs or threesomes to talk about their ideal team.
• Invite them to join all group pictures and create their ideal team.
• Take individual team values lists to create a top five team values list.
• From the ideal team names, ask the group to choose their favorite name.
4) Group and decide (15 to 20 minutes)
• Ask the groups to voluntarily present their ideal team, its values and its ideal name.
• Repeat previous step until all groups have presented their ideal team.
• Ask groups to form one team, join the pictures to form their ideal team and
choose their top five values.
• Give team members three dot stickers each to vote for the name of the team.
• Now ask for a volunteer to present the pictures (characteristics) of the ideal
team, the list of values that the team is aiming for and the chosen name for it.
• Celebrate that the team has a new name!
• Take some pictures of the activity to keep names at hand if, in any case, the
team decides to change it later.
• Document it all (an email is good enough) and share it with the team.
5) Close retrospective (5-10 minutes)
• Close the retrospective by thanking everyone for their hard work during the
session.
• Expected outcome Common and shared understanding about what the team’s

vision of itself is.
• The team has created an entity that’s tangible and has a name. This will help with
leading team actions and behaviors in the future.
• A lot of fun, sharing and laughing.
Expectations
Let’s make it visible
Purpose of the exercise: The goal of this retrospective is to increase the trust in the room
by sharing expectations within the team. It’s a way to get a better understanding of what
teammates are willing to offer and what everybody expects from others.
Pre-requisites: a facilitator, a board, some markers, a copy of the expectation paper sheet
per participant and a good attitude.
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Preparation: 5-10 minutes to make a copy per participant of the expectation paper sheet.
How many participants: minimum two, maximum to be determined.
Time required: Between 45 minutes and one hour, depending on how engaged the team
is when discussing expectations.
Recommended: This activity can be used with new teams (if all members are new), if a
new member joins the scrum team or if the Scrum Master/Agile Coach/Facilitator is the
one joining the team. To maximize outcome, I personally prefer to run this retrospective
when the team has already done at least three or four retrospectives together.

1) Set the stage – Appreciations20 from the book Agile Retrospectives: making good
teams great21 taken from ‘The Satire Model: Family Therapy and Beyond’
2) Gather data – Expectations22 by Valerie Santillo23
3) Generate insights – Let’s review our expectation paper sheets and share
4) Decide what to do – The one thing that I can improve
5) Close retrospective – Please and Surprised24 by Unknown
Instructions
1) Set the stage – Appreciations (10 to 15 minutes)
Wait for answers. If somebody proposes a topic, ask the team what they want to
do and follow whatever they want. If the team chooses your proposed agenda, then
move to the next step. If they don’t, then skip this exercise and facilitate the ‘new’
conversation without regrets.
• Now it’s time for some appreciations.

• Invite participants to appreciate what the others did for them or the team
during the iteration and say it aloud.
• Start saying: I appreciate that <Team member name> did <thing> during the
iteration. Thank you for that.
• Continue until all participants have done their round and no one speaks for
at least 1 minute.
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2) Expectations (20 minutes)
• Share a copy of the Expectations paper sheet that you have completed with
each participant present in the room.
• Invite participants to fill out the top half of the Expectation paper sheet for
themselves by answering the following questions:
űű What can my teammates expect from me?
űű What do I expect from my teammates?
• When everyone is finished, ask them to pass their paper to the left and start
reviewing the sheet that was passed to them.
• Ask them to write what they personally expect from that person on the lower
half of the page, to sign it and pass it on.
3) Discuss (15 minutes)
• Invite participants to take a minute to read what has been written on their
expectation paper sheet carefully.
• Open the discussion by asking for volunteers to reveal their findings.
• At this point of the retrospective, it’s suggested to ask open ended questions
to enable communication between team members.
• Observe participants and their behavior. Sometimes people are surprised
during the exercise.
• Once silence has invaded the room, it’s time to move on to the next step.
4) One individual thing that I can improve (10 to 15 minutes)
• Now that everything has been discussed, invite participants to take a moment
to reflect about one thing that they consider could be improved individually.
• Tell participants to feel free to share or not share their finding with the team.
• Allow everyone to take a moment to digest the exercise and take all comments
and suggestions as gifts given by their colleagues they can learn from.
5) Close retrospective (5 minutes)
• Close the retrospective by thanking everyone for being so open and showing
some vulnerability to help the team improve.
• Invite the team to make a quick go-round of the room and let each participant
point out one finding of the retrospective that either surprised or pleased
them (or both).
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Expected outcome
• Expectations within the team are shared.
• Enables the team to get to know each other in a deeper way.
• First team exposure to potential judgement and direct feedback.
1.1.2 ITERATION REPORT
An iteration report is a consolidated two-page report that summarizes all the activity of
the team during a given iteration. Some of the elements considered within this report are:
• Project Status (Optional)

• Sprint Status
• Progress (Includes Product Backlog Items progression and issues that occurred
during the iteration)
• Risks status found within the iteration.
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When is the best moment to share the iteration report?

To use its content appropriately, I prefer to create the iteration report by the end of the
iteration and share it with the team and the organization once the iteration retrospective is
done and before the next iteration is over.
What’s the goal of the iteration report?

The main goal of the iteration report is transparency to the organization of everything that
the team has accomplished during the iteration. It’s a tool to help the Scrum Master/Agile
Coach support the team’s progression, by collecting historical data that could be useful
when forming an agile team.
Who makes the iteration report?

The iteration report is created and distributed by the Scrum Master/Agile Coach at the
end of iteration.
How is the iteration report created?

The iteration report is created by using information already gathered in previous steps of
the iteration; especially the data gathered using the iteration review template at the iteration
review meeting. Here are the suggested steps:
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1.1.2.1 Iteration Report Template – Part 1
Suggested Steps
Purpose Techniques
STEP 1 – Gather Project Status (Optional)
• Invite the Product Owner to fulfill this section of the

iteration report by providing:
űű Project Name
űű Start Date
If project progress is tracked űű Estimated End Date (if available)
and the project information űű Status:
is available at the team level. On track: Project has progressed according
The goal here is to gather to original estimation and will be released on
that information and make schedule.
it available through the Back on track: Project hasn’t achieved what
iteration report. was planned originally but it will be released
on schedule.
Off track: Project is late and won’t be released
on schedule. Note: if multiple projects, add a
new row per project to the iteration report.
STEP 2 – Gather Iteration Status
• I take photos of what the team has shared at the

iteration review and then use gathered data to complete
this section of the iteration report. (Iteration Review
Template content)
• The data gathered is used to complete the following
fields in the iteration report:
űű Iteration Name
űű Iteration Goal
Gather iteration status from
űű Iteration Start/End Date
what the team has shared
űű Items Forecast: Sum/Count of Product Backlog
during the iteration review.
Items forecast at the beginning of the iteration in
story points/amount.
űű Items Completed: Sum/Count of Product Backlog
Items completed by the end of the iteration in
story points/amount.
űű Number of Interruptions: Count of unplanned
Product Backlog Items added to the iteration
backlog within the iteration.
25
Suggested Steps
STEP 3 – Gather Progress achieved by the end of the iteration
• From the iteration review template completed during

the iteration review, take items gathered within the
column “Things to demo” and “Updates” and write
Identify Product Backlog them down in this section of the report.
items progress status and • To complete the “Issues occurred during the iteration”
issues that impacted the section, I use the notes that I’ve collected during the
team during the iteration. iteration. To do that regularly, I use “Sticky notes”
which I keep open in my computer to note things that
interrupted or created an impact on the team’s regular
performance during the iteration.
STEP 4 – Assess Risks
• Using the notes gathered during the iteration, and

after validating with the agile team, I would list the
top two risks and assess their impact on the team.
• To assess risks, I use the following framework based
on two measures:
űű Impact: the extent to which the risk may affect the
team and includes financial, reputational, employee,
customer and operational impacts. There are three
main values to evaluate risk impact: Low, Medium,
and High.
űű Likelihood: this is the possibility it will occur and
Identify potential risks and
can be represented in a qualitative or quantitative
assess impact on the team.
manner. There are three main values to evaluate
risk likelihood: Low, Medium, and High.
űű Risk Response: after the assessment has been
completed, it’s then up to the team to decide how
they want to proceed with the information that
was gathered. There are four main responses that
accompany risk:
Accept Risk
Mitigate Risk
Avoid Risk
Transfer Risk
26
Iteration Report Template (Summary)

Project Status
Project The name of the project Start Date - End Date
Status: On Track/Back on Track
Iteration Name The name/Id of the iteration Start Date - End Date
Iteration Status
Forecast: Product Backlog Items forecast by the team, by

the end of iteration planning
Iteration Goal What’s the main purpose of the team Completed: Product Backlog Items completed by the
during the Iteration? What we want to achieve? team, at the end of the iteration
# Interruptions: #Product Backlog Items added to

the iteration backlog during the iteration
Issues occured during the iteration

Product Backlog Items Progression
List of the issues faced during the iteration
Progress
List of significant Product Backlog Items forecast in the Issues

i.e: The team was interrupted during the sprint to deal
iteration planning progresses
with a massive security whole found in one of the
i.e The login button for the members section was
AB-Server-X1
completed
Status: Issue resolved
Risk found during the iteration and their status

List of the risks found during the iteration, their status and risk mitigation plan
Risks
i.e: Risk: Technical debt could cause the team reduce its productivity, given the amount of bug found per iteration.
Risk Assessment: Accepted
Risk Mitigation Plan: The team will design a strategy to increase legacy systems quality starting next iteration
27
1.1.2.2 Iteration Report Template – Part 2 (Optional)25 26 27 28 29
Suggested Steps
Purpose Techniques
STEP 1 – Team’s Velocity Trend Chart
• Use iteration review template 25 1 “Iteration status”

column content to register a trend chart in the fields
that follow:
űű Items Forecast: Sum of forecast product backlog
items at the beginning of the iteration.
űű Items Completed: Sum of completed product
backlog items in story points by the end of the
iteration.
Calculate and trend the űű Number of Interruptions (Added items): Number
team’s velocity per Iteration. of items added to the iteration backlog. (Count).
• Use the Team’s Performance report excel sheet
calculator template 26, to help you create the Team’s
Velocity Trend Chart for the iteration that has completed.
• Copy and paste the Team’s Velocity Trend Chart
created above in the corresponding box within the
iteration report template 27.
• Save a copy of the iteration report template file for
future use.
STEP 2 – Team’s Throughput Trend Chart
• Use iteration review template “Iteration status”

column content to register a trend chart in the fields
that follow:
űű # Of Items Completed: count of completed Product
Backlog Items at the beginning of the iteration.
űű Items Completed: sum of completed Product
Backlog Items by the end of the iteration in story
points.
Calculate and trend the űű Number of Interruptions (Added items): count
team’s throughput per of unplanned Product Backlog Items added to the
iteration. iteration backlog during the iteration.
• Use the Team’s Performance report excel sheet
template28, to help you create Team’s Throughput
Trend Chart for the iteration that has just completed.
• Copy and paste the Team’s Throughput Trend Chart
created above in the corresponding box within the
iteration report MS Word template.
• Save the copy of the iteration report MS Word
template file created above for future use.
28
Suggested Steps
STEP 3 – Team’s Performance Satisfaction Score Trend
• Use Team’s Performance Satisfaction template content

to register a trend chart in the fields that follow:
űű Number of Items Completed: count of completed
Product Backlog Items at the beginning of the
iteration.
űű Items Completed: sum of completed Product Backlog
Items by the end of the iteration in story points.
űű Number of Interruptions (Added items): count
Calculate and trend the
of unplanned Product Backlog Items added to the
team’s performance
iteration backlog during the iteration.
satisfaction per iteration and
• Use the Team’s Performance Satisfaction report
profile.
Excel sheet template, to help you create the Team’s
Performance Satisfaction Score Trend Chart for the
iteration that has just completed.
• Copy and paste the Team’s Performance Satisfaction
Score Trend Chart created above in the corresponding
box within the iteration report MS Word template 29.
• Save the copy of the iteration report MS Word
template file created above for future use.
STEP 4 – Comments
Share some thoughts, • The Scrum Master/Agile Coach of the agile team gives
reflections and opinions you permission to share your opinion and interpretation
about the content of the of how the team is doing. I would keep it simple and
trend charts. to the point as much as possible.
STEP 5 – Make It Available
• Explain to the agile team that reporting the status of

the iteration is part of your responsibilities. Given so,
let them know that you’re about to share a summary
of what the team has accomplished. You will be
sharing with the team and some other people within
Share iteration report with
the organization.
the agile team and the rest
• Once I get a go signal, I like to share the iteration
of the organization.
report first with the agile team and ask them if I
missed anything by sending them an email with the
report attached.
• I do not wait any longer than ten minutes for feedback
and send the report out to the rest of the organization.
29
Velocity Trend Chart Throughput Trend Chart

30.0 30.0
25.0 25.0
Team’s Throughput
Team’s Velocity
20.0 20.0
15.0 15.0
10.0 10.0
5.0 5.0
0.0 0.0
Sep-01 Sep-02 Oct-01 Sep-01 Sep-02 Oct-01
Forecast (Story points) #Added Items Completed (Story points) # Items Completed Completed (Story points) #Forecast
Team Performance Satisfaction Trend Chart 12
5.00 10
Team Performance Satisfaction
Quality Assurance
4.00 8
3.00 6
2.00 4
2
1.00
Sep-01 Sep-02 Oct-01
0
Global Cirtical Major Minor
Comments
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam et tortor consequat, vestibulum tortor in, iaculis elit. Aliquam egestas porta condimentum. Nulla
scelerisque egestas eros, id tempor sem convallis sed. Maecenas ultrices libero sapien, eu aliquet elit consectetur quis. Pellentesque consectetur erat sed elit
pharetra condimentum. Morbi sodales libero ut neque vestibulum bibendum accumsan. Duis luctus nisl nisl, sed rhoncus felis tincidunt quis.
30
TOOLS AND EXERCISES Glossary
GLOSSARY
:: A
Accept Risk: the cost to mitigate is higher than the cost to bear the risk, so you move
forward.
Avoid Risk: an event of high likelihood and significant financial impact, so take a pro-
active stance.
:: B
Backlog: an inventory of Agile stories/tasks/items that can be been selected to be worked on.
Bug: a behavior/layout problem that goes against functional specifications and/or approved
design that provides business value. [Needs to be addressed, but you can choose when].
:: D
Definition of Done (DOD): a set of checkpoints agreed upon by a Scrum team to determine
the completion of tasks.
Development Team: the role within an agile Team accountable for managing, organizing
and doing all development work required to create a releasable increment of the product
per iteration.
:: F
Forecast (of functionality): the selection of items from the Product Backlog a Development
team deems feasible for implementation per iteration.
:: I
Impact (Risk): the extent the risk may affect the company and includes financial, reputation,
employee, customer and operational impacts.
31
Impediment: anything that creates any sort of perceived resistance, friction or drag on the
project. That friction can manifest as personal conflicts, slow software network problems or
even technical debt. All these problems can slow down a team’s progress.
Iteration: time-boxed event of 30 days, or less, that serves as a container for the other
iteration events and activities. Iterations are done consecutively, without intermediate gaps.
Iteration Backlog: an overview of the development work to realize the Iteration’s goal,
typically a forecast of functionality and the work needed to deliver that functionality.
Iteration Goal: a short expression of the purpose of Iteration, often a business problem
that is addressed. Functionality might be adjusted during the Iteration in order to achieve
the Iteration Goal.
:: L
Likelihood (Risk): the possibility it will occur and may be represented in a qualitative or
quantitative manner.
Line Manager: the role within an organization accountable for guiding, coaching, supporting,
evaluating and assisting team members in an agile organization.
:: M
Mitigate Risk: try to control the impact of the risk; allow it but play constant attention
to seek minimal exposure.
:: P
Product Backlog: an ordered list of the work to be done to create, maintain and sustain
a product.
Product Owner: the role accountable for maximizing the value of a product, primarily by
incrementally managing and expressing business and functional expectations for a product
to the Development Team(s).
:: R
Risk: a situation involving exposure to damage, harm or loss.
32
:: S
Scrum: a framework to support teams in complex product development. Scrum consists
of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules, as defined in the
Scrum Guide TM.
Scrum Master: the role within an Agile Team (Especially in Scrum Teams) accountable for
guiding, coaching, teaching and assisting a Scrum Team and its environments in a proper
understanding and use of Scrum.
Stakeholder: a person external to the Agile Team with a specific interest in and knowledge
of a product that is required for incremental discovery. Represented by the Product Owner
and actively engaged with the Agile Team at Iteration Review.
Stories: items that are created for an agile team to work on that have business value. They
are based on customer wants and have validation criteria associated to them.
:: V
Velocity: an optional, but often used, indication of the average amount of Product Backlog
turned into an Increment of product during the iteration by a Scrum Team, tracked by the
Development Team for use within the Scrum Team.
33
TOOLS AND EXERCISES Notes and references
NOTES AND REFERENCES
Section 8: Iteration Retrospective

-- What’s a retrospective? http://www.retrospectives.com
-- Ben Linders. What’s an Agile Retrospective and Why would you do it?, http://
www.benlinders.com/2013/whats-an-agile-retrospective-and-why-would-you-do-it
-- Ben Linders & Luis Goncalves, Getting Value out of agile retrospectives.
-- Kevin Cashman, The Pause Principle: Step back to lead forward.
-- Corinna Baldauf, Retromat, Plan for Retrospectives. http://plans-for-retrospectives.com
-- Jürgen Apello, Management 3.0. Improvisation cards, https://management30.com/
product/improv-cards/
Section 9: Iteration Report

-- Risk Management concepts on this section inspired from Cathy Axais, my boss
and Quality Assurance specialist at Seedbox Technologies Inc.
34
TOOLS AND EXERCISES Endnotes
ENDNOTES
1 Ida Perciballi, Product Owner at Seedbox Technologies Inc., https://www.linkedin.com/in/idaperciballi
2 For more details go to the “Tools and Exercise section” of the workbook
3 Management 3.0, Story telling cards, https://management30.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Im-
prov-Cards-Letter-CJA-v1.00.pdf
4 Plan for Retrospectives, “Weather report”, http://www.plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=2
5 Esther Derby, Agile retrospectives: making good teams great, http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Retro-
spectives-Making-Teams-Great/dp/0977616649/
6 Jesus Mendez, Team’s performance satisfaction template, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/up-
loads/2015/10/Jesuss-Team’s-Performance-Satisfaction-Template-V2.1.pdf
7 37
Plan for Retrospectives, “Weather check”, http://www.plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=2
8 Management 3.0, “Story telling cards”, https://management30.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/
Improv-Cards-Letter-CJA-v1.00.pdf
9 Jesus Mendez, “Team’s performance satisfaction template”, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/
uploads/2015/10/Jesuss-Team’s-Performance-Satisfaction-Template-V2.1.pdf
10 Plan for retrospectives, “Temperature reading”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=22
11 Plan for retrospectives, “Feedback Door - Smiles”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=23
12 Boeffi, “Feedback Door – Smiles”, http://boeffi.net/tutorials/roti-return-on-time-invested-wie-funk-
tionierts/
13 Jesus Mendez, “Agile-Scrum at a glance – baseline”, http://tastycupcakes.org/wp-content/up-
loads/2015/07/Agile-Scrum-At-Glance-Baseline.pdf
14 Plan for retrospectives, “Retro Dart”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=83
15 Plan for retrospectives, “Agile Values Cheers Up”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=90
16 Plan for retrospectives, “Retro Dart”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=83
17 Phillip Flenker, “Retro Dart”, http://www.philippflenker.de/
18 Agile for All,” The Agile Scrum framework at a glance”, https://www.google.ca/search?q=agile+scru
m+at+glance&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:%7Breferrer:source%3F%7D&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&source=l
nms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj90YKn24DNAhUPxCYKHY_aDgsQ_AUIBygB&biw=136
6&bih=643#imgrc=OrsVBpuY5UVQYM%3A
19 Management 3.0, “Story telling cards”, https://management30.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/
Improv-Cards-Letter-CJA-v1.00.pdf
20 Plan for retrospectives, “Appreciations”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=15
21 Esther Derby, Agile retrospectives: making good teams great, http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Retro-
spectives-Making-Teams-Great/dp/0977616649/
22 Plan for retrospectives, “Expectations”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=62
23 Valerie Santillo, “Expectations”, http://agileyammering.com/2013/01/25/expectations/
24 Plan for retrospectives, “Please and Surprised”, http://plans-for-retrospectives.com/?id=45
25 Jesus Mendez, “Iteration Review template”, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/
Jesuss-Sprint-Review-Template-V2.pdf
26 Jesus Mendez, “Team’s Performance report –ms-excel sheet template”, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/
wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Teams_Performance_report_excel_sheet-Forming-Agile-Teams.xlsx
35
TOOLS AND EXERCISES Endnotes
27 Jesus Mendez, Iteration report – ms-word template, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/up-

loads/2016/01/Iteration_Report_ms-word_template_Forming-Agile-Teams.docx
28 Jesus Mendez, “Team’s Performance report –ms-excel sheet template”, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/
wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Teams_Performance_report_excel_sheet-Forming-Agile-Teams.xlsx
29 Jesus Mendez, Iteration report – ms-word template, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/up-
loads/2016/01/Iteration_Report_ms-word_template_Forming-Agile-Teams.docx
36

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1 Forming agile teams flow 7

Notes and references 34

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Find him on LinkedIn.

1 FORMING AGILE TEAMS FLOW

Iteration Product Road

1.1 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TOOLS

1.1.1 ITERATION RETROSPECTIVES

What type of activities would I recommend for iteration

1) Iteration Retrospective Agenda Template

1.1.1.1 Iteration Retrospective Agenda Template

• <Team member names> + <Product Owner name>

Notes: Additional notes/observations/take-away gathered during the iteration retrospective.

Team Backlog Action Items

1.1.1.2 Personal Stories

Time required: From one hour to ninety minutes maximum.

How many participants: Minimum three, maximum to be determined.

Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

2) Let’s share a Personal Story (20 to 30 minutes)

3) Learning and possibilities (20 minutes)

4) Act (20 minutes)

5) Close retrospective - Team’s performance satisfaction template (5 minutes)

1.1.1.3 How do we work? Let’s map it

Time required: 45 minutes to one hour maximum.

Pre-requisites: Post-its, markers, an empty wall, a facilitator.

How many participants: Minimum one, maximum to be determined.

Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

• Now is time to check our individual temperature, to acknowledge how everyone

i. i.e.: Planning how to consistently develop a requirement that happens during

4) Top two things that could be improved

5) Close retrospective – Feedback Door – Smiles (5 minutes)

1.1.1.4 Agile at a glance

Pre-requisites: Agile-Scrum at a Glance – Baseline13 for Scrum teams or an image from

How many participants: minimum one, maximum to be determined.

• What needs to be improved and in which order (priority)?

Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

űű 1 cheerful sticky note per example.

2) Explore & identify (5 minutes)

• Share a copy of the Agile–framework at a glance baseline image18 that you

3) Discuss (30 minutes)

4) Group and decide (15 to 20 minutes)

5) Close retrospective – Retro dart (5 minutes)

1.1.1.5 Team’s Identity

Pre-requisites: a facilitator, a board, some markers, some post-its, a set of storytelling

Preparation: 10 minutes to set up the room.

How many participants: minimum three people, maximum to be determined.

Time required: from 90 minutes to two hours.

Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

• Welcome participants to the iteration retrospective and once everyone is in,

2) Picturing my ideal team (20 to 30 minutes)

3) Present & discuss (30 to 40 minutes)

4) Group and decide (15 to 20 minutes)

5) Close retrospective (5-10 minutes)

• Expected outcome Common and shared understanding about what the team’s

How many participants: minimum two, maximum to be determined.

Iteration Retrospective proposed agenda

• Now it’s time for some appreciations.

2) Expectations (20 minutes)

3) Discuss (15 minutes)

• Expected outcome Common and shared understanding about what the team’s

27 Jesus Mendez, Iteration report – ms-word template, http://www.jesusmendez.ca/wp-content/up-