Managing an agile team is much like conducting a symphony – it requires harmony, rhythm, and listening to each other in the group. Effective management of agile teams requires more than just meetings – it’s about fostering an environment where candid feedback thrives.
Damian Obalka, a Software Developer and Scrum Master at Dedalus HealthCare, knows this all too well.
Since 2019, he’s been steering his team through the choppy waters of software development, seeking ways to keep everyone engaged and the feedback flowing. Cue TeamRetro! With this tool in hand, they’ve turned retrospectives into a playground for ideas, criticisms, and everything in between.
Damian highlights some of his tips that he uses in running successful retrospective meetings with TeamRetro.
Introduction
Hi, I’m Damian Obalka from Dedalus HealthCare and I have been working as a Software Developer and Scrum Master for the company since 2019.
We first started to use TeamRetro early in 2020, so that we could continue our retrospectives even in a remote setup.
Quickly, we started to enjoy the tool and the benefits it brought and still brings to us.
Overall, it has been a terrific addition to our meetings!
Getting honest feedback from your team
To solve issues that prevent your team from performing at its best, you will need an environment in which your colleagues feel safe to share their honest thoughts, feelings and worries about their daily working experience.
Consequently, a tool for retrospectives and health checks that is both fun to use and adds features where you can write down your ideas, observations and criticism anonymously is a perfect match to establish such an environment.
You can decide for every new retrospective and health check that you will start in TeamRetro, whether you want it to be anonymous or not.
Doing this occasionally has proven to be very insightful for us. Sometimes your team members might not feel confident enough to voice all their concerns for several reasons. However, this feedback often proves to be the most vital one to improve your workflows and team happiness.
An example of creating an anonymous agile retrospective meeting
Create the ideal retrospective format for your team
Another feature of TeamRetro that we have been enjoying is the customizability of its templates.
While you do have a large library of standard and community templates to choose from, you can also decide to create a new custom template for your specific needs in your next meeting.
This flexibility is greatly appreciated by us. Since you probably don’t want your retrospectives to become predictable and stale, you might want to try something new.
If you are looking for more inspiration to achieve that, then the community (and AI) templates can be a great source to start your search.
If you already have a highly specific topic in mind for your team/participants, TeamRetro will have you covered so that you can create a matching template.
Add an Icebreaker to your meeting
It is also worth mentioning that your options for customization and planning do not stop with your templates. In fact, you can additionally include several options such as a dedicated “welcome” or “icebreaker-slide” to start your health check/retrospective.
On top of that, you can assign a duration for most sections during your meeting if you want the tool to assist you in keeping track of the elapsed time.
This can be adjusted for each new meeting that you start even if you use the same template!
As you can see, there is an abundance of customization choices for you to choose from depending on your needs.
So, there you have it! Managing an agile team is no walk in the park, but with tools like TeamRetro, the journey becomes a bit smoother. Damian’s story shows us the importance of creating a space where everyone feels heard and valued. TeamRetro’s customizable templates and planning features make it a breeze to tailor each retro to fit your team’s vibe.
Who is Dedalus Health?
Dedalus is a leader in healthcare software, offering ways for seamless care and value across the healthcare ecosystem with innovative solutions.
They are one of the largest Global Health Software Companies globally.
In 2016, Dedalus decided to accelerate its expansion strategy by focusing on the growing demand for innovative and comprehensive solutions to support the digital transformation of the healthcare ecosystem.
Working across the whole continuum of care and offering Open Standards-based solutions, Dedalus helps healthcare organisations to deliver new models of care.
They have over 40 years experience of delivering healthcare software and services to over 6,700 healthcare organizations.
Their software is used widely across the world, managing each year more than 3 billion diagnostic results, serving 540 millions of population, 28 million Inpatient and 35 million Emergency admissions, and in primary care, we serve more than 120 million Citizens.