Who should set the goal for a retrospective?

Question

I am the SM of a team and would like to know who should set the goal for the retrospectives

Answer 1

Nobody sets a goal for the retrospective explicitly, because it is already set by the Scrum methodology. The goal is to find things to improve.

In short, you will go over the sprint you just had to see what you did well (and want to continue to do) and see what you didn't really do well (and want to improve on). The latter ones are the real learning points to which you should have concrete ways to address during the retrospective meeting.

Answer 2

The goal of a restrospective is usually the same every time:

• What went well? (and how can you keep doing it?)
• What didn't go well? (and what needs to change to fix it?)
• Some actions assigned to people to support the above two

Doesn't have to be a heavyweight process, it's just a chance for the team to reflect on their successes and failures.

Answer 3

The team needs to set the goal with the ScrumMaster distilling the priorities using various techniques. This is a really useful article that will help you out with your Retrospectives: http://www.scrumshortcut.com/blog/retrospectives-reviews/sprint-retrospective-irrespective/