Description of this workshop

The Simpsons Retrospective was designed to make participants reflect according to 5 axes, each illustrated by a character from The Simpsons sitcom.

The participants are invited to answer the following questions:

  • Axis 1 (Homer): What didn't quite go as planned in the last iteration? What would have made Homer say, "D'oh!" ?
  • Axis 2 (Milhouse): What's really going well? What do we need to continue?
  • Axis 3 (Mr. Burns): Who did well in the last iteration? What congratulations do we want to give?
  • Axis 4 (Tahiti Bob): What should we avoid? What should we walk away from? What should we avoid doing in the next iteration?
  • Axis 5 (Lisa): What makes us laugh as a team? What makes our job enjoyable?

Given that this format has five axes, which refer to 2 questions each, this retrospective can be longer than a more classic one.

How to run the Simpsons Retrospective

The workshop takes place in five steps:

Step 1: Individual reflection

During the first phase lasting 10 to 15 minutes, participants reflect individually on the questions they are asked and note their answers on stickies.

Participants are invited to propose at least one answer per category to generate enough topics for the following discussion.

Step 2: Commenting and reorganizing ideas

Each of the participants presents their tickets one by one. Other participants are invited to react, especially if they have noted similar answers or disagree with any of the points shared.

Tip: In parallel, the facilitator groups the tickets by theme as the participants present their answers.

Step 3: Selection of the most significant issues

Depending on the total number of tickets shared by the participants, each of them is assigned between 3 and 5 votes to be allocated on, respectively, 3 to 5 different sticky notes.

The vote is carried out on a given sticky note or a theme that groups several sticky notes.

Step 4: Proposal for improvement actions

Define an action plan to respond to selected issues.

Step 5: Selection of improvement actions

The improvement actions that have been selected are added to the Sprint Backlog.

Point of attention: You must assign each action to an assignee and carry them out during the next sprint. You may have to break down some of the proposed actions.