Purpose

The Agile Self-Assessment Retrospective provides a structured framework for teams to evaluate their agile maturity across key dimensions such as collaboration, continuous improvement, customer focus, technical practices, and delivery cadence. By rating and discussing each dimension, teams create a development roadmap aligned with agile principles rather than just reacting to sprint-level issues.

At a glance

• Group size: 4–12 people
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Facilitation style: Structured
• Setting: Both / Remote-friendly

How to run

1. Present 5–8 agile maturity dimensions (e.g., collaboration, CI/CD practices, customer feedback loops, retrospective follow-through, backlog health, team autonomy).
2. Each participant silently rates the team on each dimension using a 1–5 scale (5 minutes).
3. Aggregate scores and plot on a radar chart (3 minutes).
4. Discuss the lowest-scoring dimensions: what evidence supports the score? What would a higher score look like? (12 minutes).
5. Select 1–2 dimensions for focused improvement and define experiments (10 minutes).

Materials needed

• Pre-defined assessment dimensions
• Rating cards or digital polling tool
• Radar chart template
• Timer

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Dimensions being too abstract — provide concrete examples of what each level looks like.
• Rating inflation — encourage honest assessment by making it anonymous.
• Using this every sprint — it is more valuable quarterly as a development planning tool.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Provide written descriptions of each maturity level so everyone rates on the same basis.
• Anonymous scoring prevents seniority bias.
• Use screen-reader-friendly digital tools for visually impaired participants.

Variations

• Spotify Health Check: use the Spotify model with traffic-light indicators per dimension.
• Comparative Assessment: compare this quarter's assessment with the previous one.
• Cross-Team Assessment: multiple teams assess and compare to find systemic issues.

When NOT to use this

• When the team needs a quick, lightweight retro — use Plus/Delta or One Word.
• When the team is brand new and has no baseline to assess against.

Source & further reading

• Ben Linders, Agile Self-Assessment Game.
• Spotify Squad Health Check model.