While on the surface creating specific roles, goals, and expectations for a new project sounds simple enough, it can be challenging to implement effectively without a proper plan.

A retrospective refers to the last stage in a development cycle—reflection. Retrospectives present an opportunity to assess the process based on the experience and inform future practices.

Clearly defining the roles, goals, and expectations for a project is an important step in becoming a trusted workplace leader. A clear vision of the project and the steps you and your team will take to get there are invaluable. But it’s only one side of the proverbial coin.

Your team has defined roles, attainable and measurable goals, and clear expectations. So why is there still conflict?

Clashing visions, unclear expectations, and team members who don’t pull their weight—issues arise in every industry and on projects of all scales. But they tend to be especially common in large-scale, highly complex software projects. With so many moving pieces, nuanced tasks, and tight deadlines, it’s tempting to dive into a new project and build the plane as you fly it. However, conflict thrives when teams operate without a strong foundation.

As experienced product design consultants who onboard everything from multi-year engagements to quick and dirty month-long projects, we know that no two design projects are alike.

Is your Agile team moving from task to task without much awareness of the bigger picture? You need a Product Requirements Document.

Looking for a way to increase developer productivity and improve your code review process? Try Review Buddies.

Do you often find yourself shuffling between Jira boards and calendars, hoping this sprint, you’ll get the workload balance right? TPOs and Scrum Masters managing multiple teams know the struggle all too well. It’s difficult to know whether a team is at capacity until they’ve already exceeded it.