Unlocking Agile Success: A Guide to Futurespectives for Team Improvement
Why run a Futurespective?
As we near the end of the year, our tendency is to reflect on the past months and to try and make sense of it all. What were the mistakes we made? Which ones did we make repeatedly and why?
We also like to make resolutions to change everything in the new year. We make promises to do everything better and start off with a clean slate. Chances are, despite the best intentions, by the time February rolls around we’re right back where we ended the year, still making the same mistakes.
I use Futurespectives with the teams I work with to sidestep these patterns and create a new pathway for improvement.
What is a Futurespective?
A Futurespective is exactly what the word says — it’s a look into the future of what might have happened. Instead of looking backwards we look forwards as if we had a crystal ball into the future.
How does a Futurespective work?
Step 1: Set the context
Similar to a normal Agile retrospective you will achieve better results the more precisely you set the context. I like to set contextual markers that help people hone in on what we’ll be talking about.
For example, I might say: “Imagine it’s December 2024 and we have reduced our cycle time by 50% and increased our throughput by 75%, all without adding or removing the members of our team.” Or, in the case of scale-up situation: “Imagine it’s December 2024 and we have doubled our team size”.
Hint: Use whatever contextual markers make sense for anticipated challenges — delivery, team changes, roadmap pivots, etc.
Step 2: Gather information
Ask the team to time travel themselves to the end of the year. With the context in mind, initiate some brain writing to gather information from the team.
For example, if I’m anticipating growing or changing the team in the upcoming year, I might ask the team to brain write (create stickies) around the following questions:
“Imagine it’s December 2024, and we’re running a retrospective with the team. We’ve doubled in size, and yet, we’ve managed to onboard and seamlessly integrate our new team members without a dip in productivity. Other departments keep asking us for our onboarding playbook so that they can be as successful as we are.”
- What do our new team members tell their friends about our team?
- What’s our onboarding process like?
- What, in our ways of working has changed?
- What’s in our playbook that everybody wants a copy of?
Hint: Aim for open-ended questions along the lines of “how might we”. Remind the team to provide as rich detail as they want — let your imagination go wild!
Step 3: Compare to the present
After discussing the output from the brainwriting exercise, group and cluster the information into related topics.
Then, do a quick ranking exercise to see where the team feels they are today compared to the future they just envisioned.
If there are a lot of disparate topics consider dot-voting to get the team around 1-3 maximum “most important” topics to discuss.
For each topic open the discussion to get an understanding about why the team feels they are so far/close to the ideal. Get to root causes using open questions.
Hint: Aim for quality over quantity in terms of the number of topics you try to address. Similar to brainwriting, you first want as many ideas about the “why” before moving on to actions. You might also provoke some prioritisation questions by asking if addressing this topic will be the most likely way to achieve the successful future the team has envisioned.
Step 4: Identify actions or habits to ensure success
Now that you know where you want to be, where you are, and the reasons why you are where you are, it’s time to identify actions or habits that will get the team closer to their ideal future.
As with any action or habit change limit the number to 1 or maximum 2, discuss the details of who will do what by when, and agree on how to measure progress.
Summary
The Futurespective is a great way to motivate the team around shaping their future. Rather than start with all the problems turn things around by focusing on what success looks like.
