Project Retrospectives by Norman L. Kerth

A Handbook for Team Reviews
This is a pioneering book on project retrospectives. Most of the books on this subject have been inspired by this book. Though originally written for end of the project retrospectives for projects following traditional lifecycle, it has been able to garner tremendous respect by the Agilists  also who have readily  adapted the principles and techniques described in this book for Agile projects.

Book Description (Source:  Amazon.com)
With detailed scenarios, imaginative illustrations, and step-by-step instructions, consultant Norman L. Kerth guides readers through productive, painless retrospectives of project performance.
Whether your shop calls them postmortems or postpartums or something else, project retrospectives offer organizations a formal method for preserving the valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of every project. 
These lessons and the measurements they yield foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts.
For a retrospective to be effective and successful, though, it needs to be safe. 
Kerth shows facilitators and participants how to defeat the fear of retribution and establish an air of mutual trust. 
One tool is Kerth's Prime Directive: Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.
Applying years of experience as a project retrospective facilitator for software organizations, Kerth reveals his secrets for managing the sensitive, often emotionally charged issues that arise as teams relive and learn from each project.
Don't move on to your next project without consulting and using this readable, practical handbook. Each member of your team will be better prepared for the next deadline.


Links:

• Author Norman Kerth's website
• Foreword for this book by Gerald M. Weinberg
• Extract from Chapter 2 - Anatomy of a Retrospective
  

Goodreads Rating - 4.54 out of 5 ( 35 Ratings)

An Appeal:
In 1999, the author Norm suffered a  brain injury in an automobile accident which has left him severely disabled. He has received virtually no income from his consulting business since then. and lives on limited disability payments from private insurance and Social Security. [Information Source: Process Impact site maintained by Karl Wiegers] 
By buying his classic book on Project Retrospectives you may be making a small yet extremely valuable contribution towards helping him..
 
 
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