The Continuous Improvement Journey guides teams through the steps needed to focus their retrospectives, facilitate outcome-based discussion, and track improvement progress and skill development over time.
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
Table of Contents
- What is the Continuous Improvement Journey?
- How to opt in to the Continuous Improvement Journey beta
- When would I use the Continuous Improvement Journey?
- Phases of the Continuous Improvement Journey
- Determine what’s next
What is the Continuous Improvement Journey?
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
This process guides your team to target areas needing improvement and ideate how to resolve them. In doing so, by following your Improvement Journey, your team will be able to measure and compare their results at the end of the process to see whether they improved or declined.
How to opt in to the Continuous Improvement Journey beta
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
All Retrium users can utilize the Continuous Improvement Journey by opting into the experience via your Team Room. Once in your Team Room, you’ll see a banner that will allow you to convert your Team Room according to the beta. You can opt out via the Beta Access section from your Team Room Settings tab.
When would I use the Continuous Improvement Journey?
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
The Continuous Improvement Journey should be your team's primary method when analyzing problems and targeting team improvement. When a more significant topic needs to be addressed in manageable parts, a focus is the go-to resource in directing the conversation according to those topics pre-determined by the team.
You can use the Continuous Improvement Journey to:
- Gather input from the team to determine the priority to address different topics
- Collect quantitative results that can be compared over the course of multiple retrospectives
- Discover specific areas for improvement that will allow the team to excel
Phases of the Continuous Improvement Journey
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
The Continuous Improvement Journey incorporates two retrospective techniques–Radars and Sticky Notes–to build a foundational understanding of the team’s focus and what methods your team can use to improve. To begin your team’s Continuous Improvement Journey, click Find your focus.
The first focus Radar
You will begin with finding a focus area by selecting and running a Radar. Once your team agrees on a technique, you will confirm your focus area and proceed to the initial Radar. Learn more about Radars here.
First Sticky Note retrospective
Once you’ve completed your first focus area Radar, you will see the results on the Home tab of your Team Room. Next, run a Sticky Note technique centered around your Team Focus Area to deepen your understanding of your focus. This step can be done in the same retrospective session as the first Radar. If you don’t know where to begin in your Sticky Note technique, we suggest directing your team to dig into the Radar spoke that presented with the lowest rated average or the most disagreement. Learn more about Sticky Note retrospectives here.
Complete action items
At the end of your team’s Sticky Note retro, you should have determined 1-3 action items to carry into your next project, sprint, or assignment. As you complete these items, you’ll want to mark them as completed before the next retrospective meeting.
Second Sticky Note retrospective
Two weeks later, your second Sticky Note retro will function as a follow-up to the first in determining what changes still need to be made or what the team feels confident in addressing. This retrospective is conducted during your next retro session after the first Radar and Sticky Note. The team can then decide if there are other parts of the focus Radar they would like to address or if there is more to explore with the current spoke(s).
Complete action items
Your team will want to ensure their action items are completed before the final focus Radar.
Repeat the focus Radar
Once your team has completed all of the corresponding steps of their Continuous Improvement Journey, you will run a final Radar that will allow you to compare the results from the beginning of your Continuous Improvement Journey to now. Your team will be able to see the quantitative results of their progress toward improvement! This information is valuable as it allows your team to measure and track these changes over time.
Determine what’s next
As of December 19, 2023, the Continuous Improvement Journey beta has been closed and no new users can opt-in.
After the team has completed their discussion about the current focus and ends their second focus Radar retro, that Improvement Journey will be considered complete. These results are stored and can be revisited in the Team Room History tab or by clicking See History in the Continuous Improvement Journey column. Once this focus area has been completed, your team may decide to continue the discussion by:
- Continuing with your existing focus to further develop the topics prioritized by the team
- Finding a new focus area
Utilizing a Continuous Improvement Journey allows your team to target their conversations with a specific goal while providing measurable results toward your team’s goals. Don't hesitate to contact us if we can help along the way!