Teams encounter and solve many EP!C challenges as they deliver their Product Backlog items. During Retrospectives, teams may struggle to recall their challenges/learnings and may miss an opportunity to adapt their behaviour for future work cycles.

I thought of two fun ideas to help teams keep this EP!C stuff top of mind:

Get a milk carton with a cut out (call it a “Treasure Chest”), supply some sticky notes and sharpies, and have the team deposit new notes as they happen during their work.
- When the team gathers for a Retrospective they can retrieve these treasures and discuss them.
Create a “Parking Lot” on the wall in the team area where they can post sticky notes during their work periods. These 3 questions can help them focus items that they post:
- What did you learn during this Sprint/Cycle that you want to share with the team?
- What did you learn during this Sprint/Cycle that you want to share with other teams?
- How might your stakeholders help or support your team and how might dialogue with them be initiated?

I pitched these ideas to my team and they loved both and they decided to experiment with the 2nd above. On Day 2 of a recent Sprint, I was amazed to see how many ideas had been posted in just 2 days. Not only does it include learnings/challenges, but it also includes items that can integrated into our Definition of Done in the future.

Submitted by Lisa Serrentino.