Plus Delta Template: Our Favorite Miro Retrospective Template

What's the point of a Retrospective Template?

Retrospective templates have so many benefits when facilitating retrospectives. Firstly, they reduce the preparation time significantly because you don’t have to think about columns or sections - they’re done for you! Retrospective templates are also tried and tested. You can trust that by following a template that others have used, and found value in, you’re likely to find value in it too.

One retrospective template that’s great to use is the Plus Delta Retrospective Template. It’s the perfect tool to help facilitate conversations around successes, failures, lessons learned, and how future projects can be improved. 

This user-friendly template was created by Miro, one of our favorite remote project management tools in the office! In this blog post, we will cover everything from setting up the template to analyzing the data it gathered, which can be used to improve team processes in the long run. 

With this simple yet powerful retrospective analysis method, you'll find yourself buzzing with ideas on further streamlining your project cycles!

What is the Plus Delta Retrospective?

The Plus Delta Retrospective involves the use of an online collaboration platform (such as Miro) to evaluate the success of a project, experience, or event. It helps to gather feedback, determine success, and identify areas of improvement for the future.

Miro is a versatile digital whiteboard that allows teams to share visuals and documents to brainstorm, discuss, and review ideas. 

This tool enables the Plus Delta Retrospective process by providing a virtual field for teams to map their experience into two distinct columns labeled “Plus” and “Delta.” Plus columns represent anything that went well during the period under review, while Delta Columns symbolize what could have gone better during the same period. 

Focusing on each column allows teams to evaluate their work and find areas for improvement, resulting in a greater potential for innovative growth and professional success.

What are the benefits of the Plus Delta Retrospective?

There are several benefits of the Plus Delta retrospective, some of which include:

1. Makes it simple to break way from the usual Retrospective

The Plus Delta retrospective is a powerful tool for teams to assess their projects and capitalize on strengths and weaknesses. It encourages team members to voice their opinions openly and honestly, using a simple "Plus" and "Delta" approach. 

This differs from the usual Sprint retrospective examples, which can be rigid and unengaging. By switching it up to the Plus Delta process, all team members feel heard and actively strategize solutions for improvement. 

Plus Delta effectively identifies solutions quickly without long, drawn-out conversations or debates between team members. This method results in a successful review of the project while providing valuable insights into how the team can move forward more successfully on future projects.

2. Collect feedback and constructive criticism after the Sprint

Following the Plus Delta model is an excellent Agile practice that helps teams evaluate the successes and shortcomings of their Sprints. It allows teams to gather feedback safely and in a non-judgmental way, promoting collaboration and constructive criticism. 

Plus Delta Retrospectives improve team communication by allowing each member to voice their opinion without fear of retribution or shutting down of ideas. It also gives teams more information to determine future tasks and streamline processes. 

Teams can use the gathered data from Plus Delta Retrospectives to identify areas for improvement for future Sprints and generally better individual performance within the team. 

Overall, this type of retrospective offers great benefits the entire team can use to help develop successful Sprints moving forward.

3. Examine your job from a new angle

The Plus Delta is an extremely useful retrospective template for evaluating and improving work, allowing you to focus on a project's positive aspects and identify areas for improvement. 

It utilizes a simple but effective process, beginning with reflecting upon what went well during the project’s lifecycle and then looking at “deltas,” or areas needing improvement. 

This valuable process allows you to gain increased insight into your job by focusing on things that may be easy to miss in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day tasks. 

Periodically pausing to reflect through this reflective practice can support continuous learning, which helps in pursuing excellence and achieving desired outcomes. 

The Plus Delta Retrospective fosters a more comprehensive understanding of job performance and organizational processes, promoting greater efficiency and success.

4. Use Participants' Responses to Evaluate the Implementation of the Knowledge and Skills Taught Afterwards

The Plus Delta Retrospective is a powerful tool for evaluating the implementation of knowledge and skills after being taught. It involves respondents assessing their experience positively or negatively to pinpoint what went right and what could be improved upon in the future. 

This method relies on participants expressing how they felt regarding the effectiveness of the newly acquired knowledge they were taught while also allowing them to recognize improvements that can be made in terms of how it is presented and understood. 

Doing this creates a feedback loop to make learning more efficient, effective and enjoyable, leading to higher morale amongst people partaking in the process. This dynamic exercise allows instructors to invest their energies more effectively into customizing learning experiences tailored towards the participant's needs for long-term success. 

You can also incorporate fun retrospective games and ideas into this process to make it more engaging.

How to run a Plus Delta Retrospective

A Plus Delta Retrospective is an effective way to assess the successes and setbacks of a project or team. To do this exercise, you must first note the achievements in the Plus column. 

Successes should include processes, strategies, collaborations, and accomplishments such as gaining new clients or increased sales or positive feedback. 

It is important to remember that to make for a successful retrospective, it is necessary to accurately indicate all successes without repeating any items from the Delta column; That is where you will have to write down what needs to be improved. 

These could be frustrations, difficult clientele that need additional help managing or structural changes that need to be made for things to run more smoothly—all of which can be measured based on specific actions taken. This information should help craft useful and effective solutions to improve your business operations.

Conclusion

You’ve seen why the Plus Delta template is our favorite Miro retrospective template among many retrospective formats. It's straightforward and easy to use, which makes it perfect for scrum teams that want to improve their sprint process. 

Check out our blog if you're looking for more tips and tools on scrum team management. We cover everything from retrospectives to stand-ups to Agile principles.