| "Case studies, preparing for a retrospective, leading
a postmortem, and the skills for best learning and sharing knowledge gained from
past ventures fill the pages of this down-to-earth and highly accessible guide
which is especially recommended to those charged with the responsibility of improving
corporate departmental and project team performances." —The
Midwest Book Review
"Here
is a handbook on how to create an atmosphere of mutual trust in teamwork." —Business
Horizons
"While this book has the detail
one needs to understand and apply the specific
exercises and facilitation, it also has the breadth
to address a wide range of topics. . . . This
book does an excellent job of discussing the people
issue involved in retrospectives and provides
many useful suggestions on how to deal with those
issues. . . .
"I found this book insightful,
interesting, and easy to read. But most important,
it is full of ideas and techniques that I intend
to put to use."
—Linda Westfall
Software Quality Professional
"This is a book to read cover
to cover and then use as a resource, project by
project. It is a book for every process improvement
coordinator, project leader, software manager,
and consultant wishing to improve their organization's
performance in learning from experience."
—Carol A. Long
IEEE Software
"In reading this book, I most
enjoyed the retrospective exercises. . . . Two
of the most powerful exercises for participants
are the 'Develop a Time Line' and 'Emotions Seismograph'
exercises. . . .
"The book is well-written,
easy to read, and accessible, especially if you're
skimming the table of contents or index to investigate
the next step for your retrospective planning.
Use this book, and your retrospectives will return
significant information and save you time on your
next project."
—Johanna Rothman
Reflections
"On the cover of Project
Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews
there is a quote from Gerald Weinberg: 'This book
belongs in the library of every project manager,
for any kind of project, everywhere.' After having
read this excellent 'how to' book, I not only
agree with this statement, but I would expand
it to include every software quality engineer
as well.
"While this book has the detail
one needs to understand and apply specific exercises
and facilitation skills, it also has the breadth
to address a wide range of topics, including how
to prepare for a retrospective, how to sell a
retrospective, handling retrospectives in the
light of legal issues, collecting project data,
where to hold retrospectives, and creating a community.
This book does an excellent job of discussing
the people issue involved in retrospectives and
provides many useful suggestions on how to deal
with those issues.
"I found this book insightful,
interesting, and easy to read. But most important,
it is full of ideas and techniques that I intend
to put to use."
—Linda
Westfall
Software Quality Professional
"I recommend this book to anyone who has to
shoulder the project manager role—plus anyone
who might like to build a career as a facilitator.
The insights into how people work and interact provided
in this book are invaluable for anyone in a supervisory
role who's trying to build a succesful team (that
will, in turn, build a successful product). Project
Retrospectives is the kind of book that can
be read cover to cover—and I'd recommend doing
that—but it's also a very useful handbook that
most readers will want to reference whenever a review
(even if it isn't a formal rerospective) is coming
up.
"Kerth's writing is very easy to read and
provides excellent insight into understanding how
people interact with each other when they have different
working styles and bringing them together for success."
—Diane
Brockman
SQL Server Professional
"Storytelling has certainly been around as
long as there have been programmers to gather round
the watercooler and brag about their latest feat.
So it seems logical that we might be able to learn
some things if we plan and formalize our storytelling
process. Consultant and experienced facilitator
Wayne Strider described it to me as 'getting the
return you deserve for the investment you made.'
As he points out, you've already paid for the project,
including whatever lessons it has for you. You've
spent the money whether you reflect upon and learn
those lessons or not and whatever lessons you don't
learn this time around may continue to cost you
money in future projects.
"The storytelling process is known variously
as a postpartum, postmortem or retrospective. Whatever
you call it, it's very powerful when well done,
and because of the paucity of storytelling literature,
Norman L. Kerth's book, Project Retrospectives,
a Handbook for Team Reviews (Dorset House, 2001),
is extremely valuable."
—Sue
Petersen
Software Development Magazine
"Norm Kerth has given us a wise and practical
book on project retrospectives. It is destined to
be a classic in our software engineering and project
management literature.
"If you are curious, courageous, care about
yourself and your teammates, and you are interested
in personal and professional growth, read this book.
"Beginning with his 'prime directive,' you
will learn why and how to conduct project retrospectives.
Norm makes a compelling case for the ritual of retrospectives,
openly and honestly presenting the opportunities
and dangers. There are many engaging features in
this book: fables that make a point, a detailed
description of an example retrospective, numerous
true stories from real retrospectives that grab
your interest, cartoons to illustrate the text,
and recipes which provide facilitators with the
structure, group processes and rationale for conduct
successful retrospectives activities.
"Who should read this wonderful book? The
book's voice addresses the retrospective facilitator
('must' readers) along with anyone else who wants
to learn about retrospectives. This audience includes
project managers and their managers, along with
team members.
"Why these readers? Because software project
success is all about people, not technology. How
we interrelate, use technology, communicate, and
are affected by project history impacts our work.
And if we don't learn from our successes and mistakes,
we can't grow, do better and have our work bring
value to our organizations and ourselves. Project
retrospectives are an essential tool toward that
end. Norm Kerth's book helps us use this wonderful
tool."
—Ellen
Gottesdiener
EBG Consulting, Inc.
"If properly done, a retrospective can be
uplifting, as the people in the development team
can learn what went wrong, alter their approach
and increase their chances for success in the future.
"It takes a deft hand to perform such an act
and Norman Kerth has two of them. His advice on
how to politic your way through a successful retrospective
demonstrates that he understands the egos, stubborness,
jealousy, passion, intelligence, and occasional
idiocy of development teams. . . .
"The experience and understanding that Kerth
puts forward in this book is priceless and should
be a roadmap for what to do after every project
is considered done. Using this map to mine your
experience for the points of success and failure
will pay dividends of many different forms. . .
.
"If development teams were to begin having
quality retrospectives using Kerth's criteria, then
even the most atrocious failure could generate a
favorable return on investment. I consider it to
be one of the top ten books of the year."
—Charles
Ashbacher
Charles Ashbacher Technologies
posted on Amazon.com
"Kerth, a consultant to software organizations,
guides facilitators and participants through the process of the project retrospective
using scenarios and detailed, cartoon-illustrated instructions. The retrospective
is a formal method for preserving the lessons learned from the successes and failures
of projects. Kerth shows how to conduct one in an atmosphere of mutual trust and
without fear of retribution. The goal is for the lessons and changes identified
by the community to foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts." —Jane
Erskine
Book News, Inc.
"This is one of the best written, best edited,
most nicely presented, and most useful software
books I've ever read.
"As someone who has facilitated several retrospectives
in the past, I realize how much better I could do
the next time with the help of Norm's wisdom and
suggestions. The many personal experiences, perceptions,
and learnings he shares gives the book a powerful
vibrancy. Norm has clearly practiced what he preaches
and is passionate about his subject. His sensitivity
to the complex interpersonal issues surrounding
project retrospectives will help any facilitator,
participant, or manager get the most out of these
important learning activities."
—Karl Wiegers
Process Impact
"I've been looking forward to Norm Kerth's
book since I first learned he was writing it. I
need it for my consulting practice. My clients need
it for their process improvement programs. The software
industry needs it in order to become truly professional.
And nobody in the world knows more about project
retrospectives than Norm. . . .
"Feedback on software projects—meaningful
feedback, at least—is not easy to come by.
Projects often outlive the accuracy of our memories.
Even when our memories are excellent, people leave
during the project and take their memories away
with them. So, in order to capture project learnings,
we need to plan, prepare, and practice. And that's
what Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team
Reviews gives us—plans, preparations, and
practice. . . .
"Another strong feature is the book's attention
to issues that are sometimes considered peripheral
to the retrospective itself—activities such
as selling the idea of retrospectives, qualifying
the potential customer, obtaining and maintaining
support, creating a communty, coping with legal
issues, thinking in advance about the what and how
of data capture, and even considering such details
as what kind of food to serve during the retrospective,
and when. . . .
"Project Retrospectives is a strong
book, full of strong features that will make it
the classic work in this area. In my opinion, though,
the very strongest feature of the book is its many
well-designed exercises—exercises that will
elevate your chance of success—whether you
are a new or experienced facilitator of retrospectives.
"As I wrote at the outset, I've been looking
forward to this book. It was worth the wait."
—Gerald M. Weinberg
Principal
of Weinberg and Weinberg
Adapted from the foreword | 
