By Rebecca Jones
Tags: Agile
The Development continuum retro encourages constant, focused professional growth across the team. It lets you tailor your skill-building to each team member’s stage of development.
It’s a retro that you can easily run remotely.
The retrospective was adapted from Ken Blanchard’s book Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager.
Use the Development continuum retro when:
You want to tailor your skill-building to each team member’s stage of development.
This might be:
Here’s what you need to run the Development continuum retro.
1 hour
You’ll work out what support and direction each team member needs to tailor their skill-building to their specific stage of development.
Rather than having retro goals for the whole team, this exercise will give you an individual goal for each team member.
To set up, put together boards, slides or documents that show the development continuum as described below in step 2. Introduce the development continuum. This includes the needs people have at each stage and ways to get direction and support to build competency and commitment.
Draw up a board that looks something like this:
Create slides, jamboards or documents that show the continuum, for example:
And ways to get the direction and support to move along to the next stage, for example:
Pick an opener of your choice.
Describe the development continuum to the team.
The development continuum is a way of breaking down the stages we go through when we’re trying to master a skill, and the support and direction we need along the way,
There are four different development levels, D1 to D4. They are based on your competency and your commitment. You can move up and down through these levels as your competency and commitment change.
You can develop your competency by getting direction and your commitment by getting support.
This table sets out the development levels and their needs.
| You are: | If you have: | You need: |
| D1 Enthusiastic beginner | Low competency but high commitment | High direction, low support |
| D2 Disillusioned learner | Low–some competency and low–variable commitment | High direction, high support |
| D3 Capable but cautious performer | Moderate–high competency and variable commitment | Low direction, high support |
| D4 Self-reliant achiever | High competency and high commitment | Low direction, low support |
Ask the team to silently think of one skill they need for their role in this team. It’s best if this example is quite specific. Get them to rate their competency and commitment for that skill so they can identify their development level.
Note: for smaller teams, they can think of two skills.
1–2 minute brainstorm
Get each team member to share the skills they’ve chosen, the development level they’re at for that skill, and why they have placed themselves there.
Here’s what each of the development levels requires:
| If you are: | You need: |
| D1 Enthusiastic beginner | High direction, low support |
| D2 Disillusioned learner | High direction, high support |
| D3 Capable but cautious performer | Low direction, high support |
| D4 Self-reliant achiever | Low direction, low support |
To increase your competence to achieve a goal, you need direction from someone who will:
To increase your commitment to achieve a goal, you need support from someone who will:
Once they know where they’re at, they can identify what kind of support or direction they need.
Ask the team to think if they mainly need support or direction, based on the development level they placed themselves at. Then ask them to silently identify 1–2 things from the direction or support list.
3 minute brainstorm
Everyone will then share what they need with the rest of the team. Encourage a bit of discussion here.
Now ask the team to individually and silently write down the ways they want to get support or direction on post-its.
These become their individual goals for the next sprint.
Get them to write down when they’ll get this support or direction and stick the post-it up at their desk as a reminder.
2 minute write-up
Suggest the team return to the development continuum if they’re struggling to master something. Let them know it’s important to be proactive so they can get what they need to succeed. It’s easy to run through the process on your own or with a colleague, so you can identify the kind of support or direction you need.
Pick a close of your choice.
Welcome aboard retrospective — when new team members join
Golden moments retrospective — when a project or phase ends
Individual strengths retrospective — reinforce everyone’s contributions
Google Forms remote retro — step-by-step guide with pros & cons
The Treasure Island retrospective — learn what motivates your team
