1
h03
CS48 W20
Name:
(as it would appear on official course roster)
Umail address: @umail.ucsb.edu section
4pm, 5pm, 6pm
Optional: name you wish to be called
if different from name above.
Optional: name of "homework buddy"
(leaving this blank signifies "I worked alone"

h03: Retrospectives

ready? assigned due points
true Wed 01/15 02:00PM Wed 01/22 02:00PM

You may collaborate on this homework with AT MOST one person, an optional "homework buddy".

MAY ONLY BE TURNED IN IN THE LECTURE/LAB LISTED ABOVE AS THE DUE DATE,
OR IF APPLICABLE, SUBMITTED ON GRADESCOPE. There is NO MAKEUP for missed assignments;
in place of that, we drop the three lowest scores (if you have zeros, those are the three lowest scores.)

Once again, visit this web page

For this assignment, we will:

Then, familiarize yourself with this page as well. There are many links on that page, and it won’t be necessary to follow and read all of them, but you will need some of them to answer the questions on this homework:

Then answer these questions:

  1. (10 pts) Please fill in the information at the top of this homework sheet, including your name and umail address. Put the time your discussion section starts (4pm, 5pm, 6pm) in the space indicated (the one you are registered for—even if you usually attend a different one.) If the other two items apply, please fill them in as well. Please do this every single time you submit homework for this class.

  2. You were asked to read short articles about both a “Milestone Retrospective” and an “Iteration Retrospective” (also called “Heartbeat Retrospective”).

    1. (10 pts) Both milestone and iteration retros have the same basic purpose. What is that purpose?

    2. (10 pts) What is the essential difference between a milestone and an iteration retro?

  3. The role of the facilitator is crucial at a retro. Suppose it is your turn to facilitate your group’s first iteration retro.

    1. (10 pts) There are a variety of retro templates to choose from (see https://ucsb-cs48.github.io/topics/retros/) for a list. Which one will you choose for your first retro? Explain why that template appeals to you.

    2. (10 pts) A retro is most useful when/if it leads a team to make improvements towards some specific goal (e.g. more productivity, better communication, improved team harmony, increased code quality) during the next iteration. It is helfpul if the retro produces some tangible artifact: words or pictures that record the goal, and the proposed means of acheiving, and perhaps other information as well. This could be written down on paper, recorded on the Team Slack, put in the wiki for the Team’s repo, or recorded in some other way so that the team can see it.

      Consult the instructions for the style of retro (i.e. retro template) you chose above and find out what kind of artifacts are suggested. Then describe what your strategy will be as facilitator to help your team produce a useful artifact from its retro.

    3. (10 pts) There several important challenges for a retro faciltiator as outlined in the reading for this assignment. Dedide which one you think will be most challenging for you, given your strengths and weaknesses, and the nature of your group. In the space below, name it, and then describe how you will deal with it.

  4. Suppose that as you facilitate the retro, you are adhering strongly to the principle that the facilitator should focus on facilitating not participating, setting their own voice aside, and bringing out the voices in the group. An issue arises in the discussion where you realize that you have some crucial input—that the group’s discussion is overlooking what you feel is an important fact. After patiently facilitating, you realize that the group is heading towards a decision that you feel is unwise.

    Come up with at least three options for dealing with this situation. Then indicate which of those you would choose.

    1. (10 pts) Option 1:

    2. (10 pts) Option 2:

    3. (10 pts) Option 3:

    4. (10 pts) Which of the three options above would you choose, and why?