4 Frameworks for Reflecting on Your Work and Running Better Projects

Once you’ve wrapped up a project or finished a difficult task it’s easy to want to move on and never look back— especially if the project was challenging. However, it’s important to take time to reflect on high and low points in order to make smart next steps and run better projects in the future.

In today’s article, we’re going to share four activities to conduct during reflection meetings. Some of the methods introduced in this article can be used not only for team discussions, but also as a way to reflect independently on the results of the day (or week) and make regular improvements and adjustments.

The main purpose of a reflection meeting is for team members and individuals to discuss the results of development with each other using a systematic process and from an objective point of view to stimulate better action plans. These tools can also help us avoid more formal but indirect and unproductive project wrap-ups, which often end with a vague conclusion, like “things didn’t go well this time, so we’ll be more diligent next time,” or “let’s do all of our projects this well in the future.”

1. KPT(A)

The KPT(A) or “Keep Problem Try (Action)” method is a simple way to review a project and brainstorm suitable next steps by visualizing the high points and issues you’ve faced thus far. It was invented by American computer scientists and initiator of the agile software development movement, Alistair Cockburn, and has since become very popular among Japanese product teams.

The important thing is to make your “Try’s” into concrete actions

In the “Try” section of the KPT, it is important to write down specific actions as well as a general description of what you will do next. The point is not to simply write “increase sales,” but to make the action clear. For example— “increase customer visits by 20 times per month.”

It is also important to note that the KPT method entails iteration. The key is to test the “Try” you decide on in an iterative flow. Most of the time, it is difficult to identify a single best solution, so if you find things worth trying and keeping, these “tries” can be saved for the next KPT reflection session. Likewise, if new doubts arise after testing your “try”, they will enter the “Problem” section in the next KPT.

Why use the KPT method?

There are several characteristics of the KPT method that we can learn from. The first feature is that it does not ask about strengths and weaknesses. In reflection sessions, people often get lost in the discussion of pros and cons, tending to hide the bad and bring out the good, or fall into self-denial, forgetting that the pros and cons this time are not as important as determining what to do next time.

The KPT recording method effectively clarifies oneself and establishes structure quickly, allowing one to accumulate those parts of one’s competencies that are worth maintaining on the one hand, and to focus on improving them on the other.

2. Starfish

The Starfish Retrospective was created by global tech leader and consultant Patrick Kua, to encourage thinking beyond a “good” and “bad” action dichotomy while doing reflection activities, and develop a mutual understanding about how different actions are valued within a team.

It’s all about approaching the biggest issue in front of you and improving it.

While KPT is extremely simple, the Starfish is exercise makes it easier to organize information because it is broken down step by step. For example: Less of and Stop Doing are in a sense similar to the Problem in KPT.

Another difference is that in point 4 of the process, instead of discussing all elements, you have to choose to focus in on the most important ones and solve them. The main characteristic of Starfish exercise is to approach the biggest issue in front of you and improve it.

3. World Cafe

The World Cafe allows participants to hear a wide variety of opinions and gain inspiration from one another in a short amount of time by getting into groups and having brief discussions.

Best for use in situations where there is a large number of participants and topics.

It is preferable to use World Cafe in situations where there are many participants and many topics to discuss. If it is a large project, with as many as 15 participants, it may be desirable to randomly divide each group into smaller groups to discuss different topics, and to promote different points of view by rotating group members.

4. Timeline

The “Timeline” activity is quite like it sounds— roughly laying out your actions in chronological order. Viewing actions chronologically and across departments, even roughly, can help you reflect on the relationships between stakeholders and offers a chance to discover points for improvement.

Since it is our human tendency to associate clues with information, reviewing timelines stimulates associations and memories and helps us gather more information.

For example, if a team is reviewing a project on a monthly basis, by the time the team reviews it, they may have forgotten what happened a month ago.

Summary

We hope that the five ways of conducting a reflection sessions introduced here will be helpful to product development teams when they conduct their weekly or monthly reviews. Depending on the size of the project, the timing of the review, and the attributes of the team members, sessions will vary greatly, so we recommend that you try them out and find the best method for your team.

The most important objective here is to identify problems and think of ways to improve them, rather than focusing on the methods themselves. These methods can also be used in your own work, by recording your day-to-day tasks work, identifying problems, and prescribing appropriate remedies.

We also have Design Sprint Reflection Worksheet, so please check it out if you are looking to have a reflection session or follow-up a Design Sprint!