How an Agile Coach Saves Time and Angst with a Better Health Check and Retrospective Tool

What would you do if you started a role as ScrumMaster, Agile Coach or Program leader with 40 teams to lead? How would you manage their happiness, get a sense of what is motivating the team, while keeping admin low? We’re pleased to share Marion’s story here about how she did just that.

BlaBlaCar is a marketplace and carpooling platform that connects drivers and travelers from one city to another around the world. They allow users to share rides, split travel costs and reduce the environmental impact of long distance ride shares.

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Hey there Agile enthusiasts! Marion here, Senior Agile Coach leading the charge at BlaBlaCar.

I’m passionate about exploring the world, meeting diverse people, and adding a sprinkle of animal love to my travels. If you’re curious about my journey, feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/marionbenard.

Now, let’s dive into the thrilling world of Agile coaching and how I, along with my fantastic team, navigated the challenges of Health check processes at BlaBlaCar.

In 2021, I joined the BlaBlaCar family, and one of my initial tasks was to support 30 software engineer teams through their Health check process. Picture this – a jungle of documents and spreadsheets, loads of manual tasks, and a high risk of errors.

The pain point?

The crucial part of analyzing results and defining actions was getting buried in the chaos. The most important part of analyzing results and defining actions was hurried.

We chose to continue with a model we were using spreadsheets before we started using TeamRetro.

Our health check model was a version of the Spotify health model that we adapted to our very own culture.

Eager to bring order to this chaos, I reached out to peers and scoured the internet for solutions. Several tools were tested to find the perfect match that would save time and allow us to focus on what truly mattered.

Enter TeamRetro – a game-changer that streamlined our health check processes. With the ability to create and duplicate templates effortlessly, sending links for participant answers, and managing discussions about improvements, we could now breathe easy. Action follow-ups became a breeze, even if we weren’t entirely efficient with email reminders (not really our internal culture).

Managing health checks for 40 teams in the same timeframe became a reality. The tool’s user-friendly interface allowed us to appreciate a global view of results and trends for all our teams. A single page showcased our strengths and highlighted areas needing our focus.

An interesting discovery during my occasional dives into the activity overview was a strong correlation between the frequency of retrospectives and team health. This revelation led us to provide more support to teams lacking regular retrospectives. We didn’t actually force people to use TeamRetro for tools, but we now have over 90% of our retrospectives used by teams, so it was adopted very quickly!

As Agile coaches, we saved precious time, enabling our Agile Catalysts within teams to have a centralized hub for improvement action items. The tool’s simplicity and quick usage, as well as the ‘auto-grouping’ feature was a wow factor for us.

While some comments surfaced about missing more fun retrospective formats, TeamRetro’s flexibility allowed teams to choose their preferred formats. This avoided the dreaded boring effect while still centralizing actions seamlessly.

Approximately 90% of our retrospectives now happen within TeamRetro, and a whopping 100% of our health checks are efficiently managed through this tool. It translates to centralized data, easy analysis, and a simplified user experience.

(Provided by BlaBla Car for illustrative purposes only)

Don’t forget to unleash the mode where every participant can create groups or add comments and actions. It injects dynamism into the event and keeps things lively!

In a nutshell, TeamRetro saves us time, provides insights, and ensures our health checks and retrospectives are a breeze.

Happy retrospecting!

Marion ????????

An Agile Team Health Check is like a checkup for a team to see how well they’re working together. It looks at things such as how they talk to each other, collaborate, and follow their Agile practices. The main goal is to help the team get better over time and make sure they’re on the same page with Agile values.

This checkup helps find and solve problems early, improves how the team communicates, and supports the growth of team members. Overall, it boosts team morale, engagement, and ability to adapt. It creates a culture of openness and flexibility, so the team can handle changes in the project and keep a positive and effective work environment.