Glad!Sad! Mad!| Glossary

Definition

‘Glad!Sad!Mad!’ is a popular retrospective technique that allows the Team Members to introspect and bring their emotions into play during the Retrospective or the Sprint. It basically postulates how the team is feeling after the last Sprint cycle.

Before the retrospective begins, the facilitator hangs three posters on the wall (one for each emotion) and informs them of the timebox of the retrospective. The facilitator hands the sticky notes to the audience, which they are told to keep private, so as to not be influenced by each other’s ideas. After sticking, there is a voting and discussion process that concludes the retrospective (and is also TimeBoxed).

Further Reading

  • “Agile Retrospectives – Making Good Teams Great (Pragmatic Programmers)”(book), by Esther Derby

Timebox | Glossary

Definition

A ‘Timebox’ is a fixed and previously agreed upon period of time, during which a person/team assigned to specific task, works towards the completion of a goal. Once a time limit is reached, work is stopped and what was accomplished is evaluated. They can be used at varying time scales that can range from one day, to several months.

The critical rule of timeboxed work, involves evaluation after the end of the timebox: ‘Was the goal met? If not, was it partially met?’ etc.

Further Reading

  • “Timeboxing: A complete guide”(book), by Gerard Blockdyk.
  • For more on Timebox, read here and  here.