Learning from Reflection

The Power of CODE in Project Retrospectives

Bible Verse 📖

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

My first formal retrospective was a little depressing.

I had a set framework in mind of “Liked, learned, lacked, longed for” and I demanded that we talk section by section. Turns out that trying to control the conversation doesn’t lend well to group participation.

That was a month ago. My second one looked a little different. My department head facilitated this second project retrospective. He let the conversation flow and asked prompting questions once in a while, and I documented it all along the way. I appreciate him being a great example of how to facilitate a conversation and show me how to better direct a formal review in his own way.

Here’s how I’ve thought about the CODE (capture, organize, distill, express) structure while I’ve been processing this retrospective:

1. Capture the conversation

2. Organize meeting notes into sections. For me those sections look like this:

   1. Start

   2. Stop

   3. Continue

   4. Action items with a clear owner and due date

3. Distill the notes down to straightforward “so what” bullet points and clear action items

4. Express by sharing the action items and notes with the team within 24hrs of the retrospective.

So what? Well, here are the three biggest things I learned in the last month:

• Less rigidity in conversation can improve the flow of it.

• Simple frameworks allow for an easier time tackling information with the CODE structure.

• Distributing ideas and action items leads to the team thinking about the retrospective past the meeting end-time, and produces and atmosphere of accountability.

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Knowledge Working Tip 🛠️

I’ve just finished the Building a Second Brain Podcast I’ve also finished Tiago’s series on Blinkist - a short-form summary app. That’s pretty good too because Tiago brings in other resources and people to expound on his points.

I’ll happily share with you my notes on the podcast. Please see the article below.

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Have a fantastic week,

Broc