Tips for including quieter members (#138)

Co-authored-by: Adam Strickland <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: andyblundell <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

review.md

@@ -240,9 +240,10 @@ Good facilitation can help teams get the most out of the review and it is recomm
 * Remember (and remind the team) that this framework is continually evolving and "open source". Encourage them to suggest ways it can be improved and raise pull requests. As well as being a useful way to drive improvement of the framework, this encourages the idea that it is not set in stone and decreed from on high, which can build trust and engagement.
 * Help the team understand and compare where they are just now with what genuinely excellent looks like. The notes under each section try to describe what good looks like, and the [principles](principles.md), patterns and practices go into more detail. Help them trace the path to excellence by starting with achievable changes and working over time to more significant changes if relevant.
 * Be intimately familiar with the sections of the review and the supporting [principles](principles.md), patterns and practices. Try to keep conversation focused around the topic for each section, mentioning which section will cover the point being raised when suggesting that discussion be deferred.
+* Consider running an "ice breaker" to get the team engaged and talking in the session. This can help to reduce confirmation bias with only the more vocal members of the team contributing to the session.
 * Work through the review section by section. For each, briefly outline the scope and pick out a few key points from the list of what "good" looks like, then invite the group to describe how things work for them. Keep conversation and questioning open to start with and let the conversation be led by the team. Ask specific questions to fill in any gaps based on the points under each section. Identify any actions which come up and record these. Try to keep the conversation relevant and focused — there is a lot to go through.
-* Once the team has discussed the points for the section, it's time to score. A good way to do this is using "planning poker" style blind voting, which can be easily done by holding up 1 to 5 fingers. Discuss any differences and agree on a single score which is recorded. Refer to the definitions of each score at the bottom of the review sheet. While emphasising that the score is not the most important part of the process, advise the team when it feels like they are being too harsh or too soft on scoring. Accurate scoring will more clearly focus attention on the right areas.
+* Once the team has discussed the points for the section, it's time to score. A good way to do this is using "planning poker" style blind voting, which can be easily done by holding up 1 to 5 fingers. Discuss any differences and use these as a lever to bring some of the quieter team members into the conversation. Agree on a single score for the team which is recorded. Refer to the definitions of each score at the bottom of the review sheet. While emphasising that the score is not the most important part of the process, advise the team when it feels like they are being too harsh or too soft on scoring. Accurate scoring will more clearly focus attention on the right areas.
+* Consider going straight to scoring for some sections before the team discussion. This is a useful way to engage some of the more quiet members of the team, e.g. ask them to explain why they have put forward a score that is higher or lower than the team consensus. This is a great way to bring them into the coversation.
 * Encourage the team to identify what action could improve the score (especially if 3 or lower) and record these. Make sure the team is happy with the wording you use for the action.
 * At the end of the session work through the actions with the team to come up with the top 3 actions based on priority. Add these to the "Top Actions" section of the review sheet.
 * Wrap up the session by sharing a link (with editing enabled) to the spreadsheet with the team. The person who generated the blank sheet will have created this link at the time and have shared it with you. The review is owned by the team and they should feel free to refer to it and tweak the scores and actions over time.
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