The Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives

If you’re tired of having retrospective meetings greeted with groans and heavy, reluctant sighs or feeling like you’re rehashing the same old problems with no signs of improvement, the advice Mark shares with you will help make your retrospectives more effective.

There’s no need to have retrospectives that people hate and aren’t even useful – with a few tweaks, you can have meetings your team will look forward to, and start seeing real improvements and results!

Includes follow-up support emails to reinforce what you learned and help you make real changes right away.

Why This Book?

Our world is changing at a faster rate than ever, and the speed will only increase. Covid-19 gave us a taste of how vital it is to be able to quickly adjust. Scrum helps break change into manageable chunks and then gives us focus, with retrospectives as a critical tool in that arsenal for rapid adaptation. It’s worth learning how to use them properly.

In The Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives, Mark shares his secrets to creating retrospectives that don’t suck!

You’ll learn about:

● Common misunderstandings about retrospectives – let’s clear those up

● Recommended techniques and activities to keep the meeting fun and engaging

● How to run retrospectives with distributed teams

● Why you need data for your retrospectives – what to gather, not gather, and what it can tell you

● Turning vague ideas like “We need to do better Unit Testing” into concrete experiments

● …and how to help these improvements actually happen

● Remedies for anti-patterns like: “All Talk, No Action”, “Perennial Problems”, and “ScrumMaster Hero”

Why this book? Because Mark was failing at Sprint Retrospectives before it was popular. After years of study and experimentation, his findings are now collected in this Guide so you don’t have to have to suffer the same pain.

Hint: This free eBook, and the accompanying email series, qualify for Scrum Alliance Education Units (SEUs).

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In addition to very quickly establishing the healthy learning culture, Mark was very candid and human in answer questions from his own experience and also drawing from his experiences of successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses in his teaching. It allowed me to understand that while the theory is important and what I came to learn, it also served to, in a way, enrich me with his experiences, such that I felt I shared in his experiences as well. That's valuable experience that I didn't earn myself, but was given to me.
Bernard WVirtual
Excellent instructor and very knowledgeable. I feel much more prepared for a process that I am already a part of.
Shamir REdmonton
This is one of the best courses I took. I liked the 'hands on' scrum technique. I liked the open discussions and how the instructor motivated people and kept them engaged.
Magda SOttawa
Mark, you rock. Loved the course.
Jan SVancouver
What a great course! I feel that I got exactly what I needed. Mark did an amazing job showing me what I could easily do and what I should accept will take time. Amazing class!
Angela SToronto
Really liked it, will recommend to others.
Alexey SToronto
Mark really knows his stuff, and not only about scrum mastering but also development process and product ownership. Highly recommended.
Jamie SOttawa
He rocks! I like a lot of the tips given by him.
Fagner SMontreal
Very informative and up to my expectations. I loved the availability of the instructor.
Nicolas RMontreal
Great course! Mark is entertaining and knowledgable. Bring your questions and touch problems. Exploring participants' real-world problems triggered the best, most useful discussions in the course.
Jessica SOttawa
Mark, thanks for an awesome class. I was quite impressed how you were able to run the entire course, without consulting notes or a PowerPoint! Then I noticed your Jedi mind trick of putting a finger to your temple to recall information… at least it seemed that way. I have nothing at all by way of improvement I can offer for you. The course was informative and your style was quite engaging
Thom RPrivate Client
Mark is a very approachable and friendly instructor and brings some comic relief to his training sessions. He broke down Scrum/Agile so that it was very easy to follow, and always offered opportunities for the class to ask questions. I felt very supported and encouraged while learning about Scrum/Agile and was never scared to ask a question. I am looking forward to another training opportunity to learn from Mark again!
Dana SVirtual
Very knowledgeable of the subject matter. Kept the pace of the course quick, which is good.
Tarek ROttawa
Content, Pace, Instructor: all 5/5 stars
LeAnne SOttawa
Very good instructor, very knowledgeable, good facilitator.
Liz SToronto
Great job! You did a great job or engaging us and encouraging participation. I feel inspired to better my team and organization using the knowledge I gained.
Michael DToronto
Mark L was the best instructor I've had.
David SOttawa
Mark is a very knowledgeable and respectful instructor. He kept the information interesting and engaging, and was great at adapting the focus of the content to align with the needs of the participants. The course overall accomplished its goal of providing me with a good feel for the role of a Scrum Master.
Lisa CVirtual
Awesome instructor.
Faik FKitchener-Waterloo
10/10 Loved the atmosphere he created, kept us engaged, able to send important messages, did not overwhelm us.
Biljana CPrivate Client
Fantastic instructor and glad that it was run as Scrum (clever!)
Kareem SKitchener-Waterloo
Excellent instructor and the course was great. A lot of thought provoking exercises that bring home the idea of scrum.
Deena SToronto
Mark is an engaging instructor using conversation and interaction as the engagement catalyst!
Shawn RToronto
The simulations and exercises were extremely useful in the understanding of the concept. Mark made the course thoroughly enjoyable. Extremely pleased by the techniques used and the content of the course.
Dhaval SOttawa
Mark delivered an excellent course, it was a value-packed 2 days.
Brent COttawa
The instructor Mark was very knowledgeable and provided lots of knowledge and examples. I learned a lot but did not realize what a huge topic this is.
Andrei DToronto
The course was excellent, loved the "agile" format. The instructor carefully included agile in most aspects of the course.
Kara SOttawa
Mark is extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken. Course is well facilitated/structured overall.
Matthew TVancouver
Really great! Fun, lots of examples & ways to keep people engaged.
Dave VPrivate Client
Great class, Very interactive!
Mika TPrivate Client
Excellent overview of Scrum/Kanban/Agile. The technical material/theoretical material was well balanced/augments with the personal expeirences of the instructor. Highly recommend.
Dino CPrivate Client
Interesting facilitation of a topic that could have been not so interesting.
Jeff MEdmonton
Great course and great instructor! Will definitely recommend to friends!
Hisham EOttawa
Very unique training style, really appreciate that I don’t have to look at power point screen. Appreciate the Q&As and the end of class recap round.
Vicky CPrivate Client
Mark was fantastic. Possibly the best, most prepared instructor I've seen. He was awesome.
Colin MToronto
Amazing! Friendly, funny, smart, open-minded individual. Great job, Mark!
S M Tadmir CToronto
Thoroughly knowledgeable about subject.
Enwei CVancouver
Great course. I was unfamiliar with the role of scrum master apart from what I had read. This course gave me a great introduction and appreciation of what a good scrummaster can accomplish. The challenge now would be to implement it in my organization. Many tips were provided for this too so I am very optimistic.
Shabira JEdmonton
Mark was awesome. Engaging and interactive. Course material is detailed but not overwhelming.
Adam DToronto
Mark is a great instructor! He is knowledgeable and has experience, so he knows what he is talking about! Highly suggest his course!
Anthony MVirtual
Excellent instruction and examples on how to combine Scrum with the realities of a corporate enviroment.
Kevin SOttawa
Very thorough and engaging. Flexibility and self-organization of the course was great.
Brendan SPrivate Client
Instructor was informative and handled the challenges he faced well.
Ruth JPrivate Client
Mark leads the class on an explanation of the topics and provides traps to ensure students can learn from practice.
Peter CPrivate Client
Where to start ........ Mark you have a mind filled with knowledge not sure how you can keep it all straight!!! I took scrum training last year at [Private Client] and I really enjoyed taking it again with you. Scrum is scrum but the flavor you brought to it kept me engaged and it made the workshop fun. I was always looking forward in coming back and hearing more. I enjoyed the experiences and all the references you provided. I have to admit after the first day I went to bed at night and was thinking about Scrum. How am I going to do this at work, what experiments can I run, how can I change up my retro’s so they aren’t boring and everyone wants to join. The course is well structured and the material we covered was just the right amount. We went into enough detail where needed and at a higher level for others. The course allowed us to ask for more content and we always had an opportunity to ask questions before moving on. Thank you for this fantastic workshop.
Josee CVirtual
Mark rocks! His extensive real world experience combined with his depth of knowledge of Scrum processes and tools made for a superior learning opportunity with lots of fun along the way. Highly recommend!
Steven CPrivate Client
Good instruction. Kept it interesting.
Mark OToronto
Mark clearly presents the scrum process and principles. He provides background information and stories to reinforce these techniques.
Richard COttawa
Very interactive. Even though I was jet-lagged and sick, I enjoyed the class and did not fall asleep.
Negar HToronto
Really liked the approach by Mark to apply Scrum methodology to this training. Also Mark was available to answer questions and patient.
Damien JOttawa

Your Guide to Everything Scrum

Mark Levison spent 12 years as a ScrumMaster and Coach, helping teams by chance before he started to systemize it. Armed with an insatiable love for research, he has been studying and teaching Agile since 2001, introducing Scrum, Lean, and Agile methodology to a broad range of individuals and organizations. Mark has helped launch Scrum practice throughout Canada including Government of Canada departments, major financial and insurance institutions, healthcare agencies, and leading payroll, HR services, and software companies.

Students and communities benefit from Mark’s more than thirty years of experience in the IT industry and over two decades of Scrum and Agile expertise, as he brings his uniquely fun and effective teaching style to thousands of individuals and teams so they can be more effective.

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Focuses on the role of the team and the ScrumMaster. Get the skills and practical experience necessary to improve teamwork, take the exam, and advance your career with a certification that is in high demand today. Often the best fit for anyone new to Scrum.

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Learn on-the-job applications of key Scrum concepts, skills, principles, along with practical solutions that you can apply the next day for difficult, real-life situations.

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With focus on the challenges that real teams face, and tools to dig deeper. You don’t need more boring Scrum theory. You need something you can sink your teeth into to see immediate results.

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Use Scrum knowledge to standout at work, get paid more, and impress your customer, all without burning out.

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Learn the basics of using Generative AI as a tool to support Systems Thinking in your ScrumMaster role. Explore how to leverage GenAI to help uncover patterns, and think more deeply about the systems your team operates in.

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