Team radar
Its main advantage over other data-gathering techniques is that it produces a persistent, comparable visual picture: the chart is kept and the activity is repeated two or three iterations later, which makes it possible to see objectively whether the team has improved on the factors it identified as problematic.
When to use it
- When the team wants to measure its progress on practices or values over time.
- When imbalances between different factors of the process are suspected: the team may be very strong in some and weak in others.
- As a complement to other data-gathering activities that reveal what happened but not how well the team is performing across different dimensions.
How to run the activity
- The team agrees on the list of factors to assess. These can be engineering practices (TDD, code review, continuous integration), agile values (transparency, commitment, respect), the team's working agreements, or any other relevant dimension. Usually between six and ten factors.
- A blank radar chart is prepared with the factors and a scale from 0 to 10. It is placed somewhere visible to everyone (flip chart or digital whiteboard).
- Each team member scores each factor individually by placing a sticky note or dot on the chart. Anonymity at this stage encourages honesty.
- The team briefly discusses the factors with the widest spread of scores and those that receive the lowest scores. The facilitator can ask: "Where do you see the team following these values?" and "Where not?"
- The chart is kept so the activity can be repeated in two or three sprints and the evolution compared.
Group Average Radar (variant)
Instead of collecting visible individual scores, the group average is calculated for each factor:
- Each member is given a set of colored cards, one per factor.
- Each person scores in silence and hands in the cards.
- The cards are shuffled by color and the average for each factor is calculated.
- The result is transferred to the radar chart, connecting the points and filling in the area.
This variant reduces social conformity bias: if scores are given publicly, team members tend to drift toward what they perceive as the majority opinion before it has even been expressed.
In remote teams
In a remote format, the Team radar works well with digital whiteboards (Miro, FigJam) where everyone places their dots simultaneously before the result is revealed. This reproduces the anonymity effect of the physical version.
Common mistake
Not repeating the radar in subsequent sprints. A radar that is done once and never repeated is a diagnosis without follow-up. What sets the Team radar apart from other techniques lies precisely in the comparison over time: seeing whether the factors the team decided to work on have improved. Without that comparison, the radar is just a snapshot with no cumulative value.
Resources
🔧 Diseñar una retrospectiva [Designing a retrospective, in Spanish]Template · Scrum Manager
📄 Segunda fase de una retrospectiva: en busca de la mejora continua [Second phase of a retrospective: in pursuit of continuous improvement, in Spanish]Scrum Manager Blog · Aug 2023
📄 Ejemplo: cómo diseñar una sprint retrospective [Example: how to design a Sprint Retrospective, in Spanish]Scrum Manager Blog · Aug 2023
📄 Liderar retrospectivas y resolución de conflictos [Leading retrospectives and conflict resolution, in Spanish]Scrum Manager Blog · Aug 2023
📄 Apuntes: Agile Retrospectives [Notes: Agile Retrospectives, in Spanish]Scrum Manager Blog · Aug 2023
References
- Derby, Esther; Larsen, Diana. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
See also
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