Taking biases into account:Why retrospectives promise more & deliver less
summary
Argument that retrospectives fail because cognitive biases corrupt recall and power dynamics and that frequent, in-sprint journaling fixes most problems. Recommends a concrete change: add a custom JIRA field called Lessons learned and require ticket-level notes so retros collect distributed micro-retrospectives instead of relying on memory affected by recency bias. Cites Kahneman’s colonoscopy memory example, Bain’s maturity stages, and a 30‑day journaling study showing reflection is trainable. Notes biases like the sunk cost fallacy and halo effect and urges enforced equal speaking so fixes surface and are actionable.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:45Agenda
- 1:22Reflection
- 3:00Reflection in action
- 5:10Thinking fast and slow
- 7:00Modern retrospectives
- 8:35Framework for reflection
- 10:55Recency bias
- 15:03Takeaway
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