In a few weeks time I’m facilitating a program level retrospective (Inspect and Adapt) with around 60-80 people invited to attend.

I’m planning to use the Sails and Anchors format by splitting the room into small focus groups (max 10 -12 people per group). To kick it off I’ll ask the groups to nominate a facilitator and then using their whiteboards (which we’ll provide) to draw a sail boat and anchor picture (see below).

After explaining the format I’ll ask the groups to spend 2x 15-20 minutes breakouts, brainstorming and discussing the following:

• The Sails – what are the things that push us forward?
• The Anchors – what is holding us back or slowing us down?

At the end of the two breakouts I’ll ask the facilitators to bring their top 2 topics from their groups sails and anchors and collate them on a program level boat (which I’ll draw at the start of the session).

We’ll the talk about those topics (getting the facilitators to present them) as one large group and take SMART actions that we can implement over the next 12 weeks (until we come back for the next Inspect and Adapt).

I’ll let you know how we go.