The practice of using Agile retrospectives as a learning tool is vastly popular in companies using Agile practices as a method to deliver increased value for customers and the organization.  The dictionary defines a Retrospective as “looking back on or dealing with past events or situations”.  The Agile retrospective is a practice used by teams to reflect on the present way of working and to continually improve how they work and collaborate together.  The actions coming out of a retrospective are communicated and done in the next iteration.  An iteration is commonly one to two week in duration, which translates to 26 two-week iterations in a year.

The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.

The Sprint Retrospective occurs after the Sprint Review and prior to the next Sprint Planning. This is at most a three-hour meeting for one-month Sprints. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose.