Introduction

Running a retrospective can become a tedious task. Always using the same template your team members can think - there we go again with the same old retrospective.

So here's another retrospective template you can use in your future retrospectives.

The rose bud thorn exercise is one of those templates that gives you an excellent way to introduce each exercise metaphorically.

The elements of the rose bud thorn retrospective

The rose bud or rose thorn bud retrospective consists of three parts. The rose, the thorn, and the bud.

The rose

During the rose exercise, we will reflect on the positive feedback. We'll create a positive highlight to our efforts.

We'll answer some of the following questions:

• What made you blossom in the last sprint?
• How did you contribute to the team's success?
• What are you proud of?

The bud

We will look for improvements during the bud exercise to create a potential rose in the next period. We can see if there is an upcoming project we can try.

We'll answer some of the following questions:

• What possibilities do you see that need some nurturing?
• What opportunities energize you?
• What are we doing that works but could improve in the future?

The thorn

The thorn exercise will look for things that are hurting our team members. This is the negative part of the retrospective.

We'll answer some of the following questions:

• What held you back from your efforts?
• What is causing you stress?
• What would you wish would turn out better?
• Did you have any pain points in the last sprint?

The benefits of the rose bud thorn template

The rose bud thorn exercise is an exercise that works more on the touchy-feely side of the participants. It'll expose common themes that each team or group member struggles with.

This retrospective is more focused on the general feeling of the team and has no specific focus point for the retrospective. It's good to use with newer agile teams or teams that want to do a mindful session.

How to run the rose bud thorn exercise

As the facilitator, the rose bud thorn retrospective gives you a metaphorical way to introduce the exercise.

This retrospective is structured so that we will first be documenting observations and not going straight into problem-solving mode.

It's a fairly straightforward exercise, so let's review each step with a few examples.

Set ground rules for the retrospective (+-3 min)

During a retrospective, we take our team and ourselves under the microscope. This can be an uncomfortable experience for many of us. Therefore we need to set some ground rules with the team and create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable participating.

Good ground rules are needed for the thorn retrospective since it is a touchy-feely meeting.

Good ground rules

• What is said in the retrospective stays between the participants
• It is encouraged to air dirty laundry and express opinions.
• Try to focus on organizational systems and process improvements.
• It is a blame-free environment
• Encourage participation from everyone

Introduce the rose bud thorn exercise (+-3 min)

When we've set our ground rules, we can introduce the exercise. We'll set the expectation for the participants.

Here's an example of the introduction:

Team!

We've been building our rose field together, today we are going to do some maintanance on the field. We'll look at our roses to reflect on the good things that we are currently doing.

When we've seen our beautiful roses we're going to look at our buds. What are our future roses going to look like? Here we'll look at what could become better in the future.

In the last step we're going to look at the thorns and see which one we can trim. We're looking at what is hurting us at this moment.

After this stage we'll go over our findings and create our next steps so we can grow our next roses.

Alright! The team knows what is coming! We can now jump into the rose exercise.

The rose (+- 5 min)

During the rose exercise, the team will look at the positives. The team is going to look for answers to the following questions:

• What made you blossom in the last sprint?
• How did you contribute to the team's success?
• What are you proud of?
• What is your own rose?

They write each answer on separate sticky notes. This way, it is easier for you as the facilitator to identify and move them at the stage for emergent patterns.

You can introduce this exercise in the following way:

Now we are going to go over our roses. We've been nurturing these for a while and lets give them some light.

For the next 5 minutes we'll be capturing our positive highlights and answer some of the following questions:

• What made you blossom in the last sprint?
• How did you contribute to the team's success?
• What are you proud of?
• What is your own rose?

Write each answer down on seperate sticky notes.

The bud (+-5 min)

At this stage, the team will look at the future optimistically. Each team member is going to try and answer the following questions:

• What are opportunities for our product that energize you?
• What opportunities lay ahead and need nurturing?
• What is working for us now but can work better in the future?

We are not looking for ideas at this moment. We're still looking at the big picture to identify our challenges.

You can introduce this step in the following way:

Now that we've seen our positives, let's look at the opportunities that lay ahead.

For the next five minutes we'll be capturing our opportunities and try to find an answer at the following questions:

• What are opportunities for our product that energize you?
• What opportunities lay ahead and need nurturing?
• What is working for us now but can work better in the future?

Write each opportunity down on seperate sticky notes.

The thorn (+- 5 min)

In the thorn step, we will examine what hurts our team. The team tries to answer the following questions:

• What is giving you the most stress during the sprint?
• What is impeding your efforts?
• What did you wish would work better?
• Did you experience any pain in the last sprint?

During this exercise, we'll find areas where we can improve. We can identify what is hurting or process.

Now that we know what positives and opportunites lay. Let's go over our thorns.

For the next 5 minutes we'll be looking at what is hurting our team. Try to find answers to the following questions:

• What is giving you the most stress during the sprint?
• What is impeding your efforts?
• What did you wish would work better?
• Did you experience any pain in the last sprint?

Write each pain point on seperate sticky notes.

Create actionable items (+- 30 min)

We've gathered a lot of data with the group. This is our base to start and create new ideas.

We will use the what, so what, now what structure to capture the insights from the team and create actionable items.

What (12 min)

Here we ask the team to generate their insights. What are their observations and the facts they noticed?

1. Let each team member go over the rose bud thorn whiteboard and write down their observations on a piece of paper. (3 min)
2. Make small groups with a maximum of four and discuss the observations again. Remind the group to stick to the facts and not try to generate ideas yet. (5 min)
3. Let each group share their common observations (2 min/group)

While each group shares their observations, you, as the facilitator, need to visualize them.

So What? (8 min)

Here we are going to generate hypotheses around our observations. We're creating our beliefs.

1. Invite the team to reflect on the observations individually. Give them some of the following questions to get them started: Why are these observations important? What patterns do you see? Are there any conclusions we can make? (1 min)
2. Create small groups again to share their observations (5 min)
3. Let each group share their conclusions, patterns, and interpretations. (2 min)

Now What? (8 min)

Now we will generate the next steps we're going to take.

1. Invite each team member to reflect on the previous round individually. What next steps make sense on our hypotheses? What should we invest in as a group on based what we know? (1 min)
2. Invite team members to share the next steps in a small group. (5 min)
3. Invite the small groups to share their next steps. Capture the salient next steps and visualize.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the rose bud thorn exercise is a great way to conduct a retrospective with your team. It helps to identify improvement areas while highlighting the positive aspects of your team's efforts.

Following the structured steps, you can facilitate a blame-free environment where everyone can participate and feel comfortable sharing their thoughts. It's a great exercise for new agile teams or teams that want to do a more mindful session.

So, next time you conduct a retrospective, try the rose bud thorn exercise and see how it can benefit the ongoing process of continuous improvement.