Make it a Giant Timeline Retro

Timeline Retros

A favourite of mine has been a recent Giant Timeline Retro that I helped put together and run.

Timeline Retros

The visual retro board was 10m by 1.5m, truly a visual treat and impressive spectacle, which in itself created an impact and showed the attendees that this was something special.

The ‘mini’ handouts themselves spanned over 2 meters!

The initiative was a highly emotional piece of work that spoke to people’s values, so we incorporated an ‘emotional field’ line into the hard facts timeline, to be drawn over the top of the retrospective items to further illustrate how the human factor influences decision making and direction.

What came out of it was an illuminating discussion, a strong visual representation of how, at many different points, the many different contributors had varying aligned responses to what was happening, which didn’t always align to direction, and was often a surprise to many.

The big take away from this was how powerful the human component of what how we do it is, that no matter the work, the people are our core.

If you remember that, and you prepare accordingly, communicate effectively, and operate with empathy, the real difference we can make together is astounding.