🚨 2 Devs Quit in One Month. Here's the Meeting That Could've Saved Them

Hey there, developrrrs! 👋 Your team is either getting better or getting worse - there's no standing still. Let's talk about why skipping retrospectives is a DevEx killer and how this one simple meeting can transform your team's performance and retention.

— John Ciprian

Got ideas? Feedback? DevEx war stories? Hit reply - I read every response! 📬

🤿 DEEP DIVE

🚨 2 Devs Quit in One Month. Here's the Meeting That Could've Saved Them

I recently talked to a tech lead who proudly told me their team "ships too fast for retros." A month later, they spent two weeks fixing a production issue that stemmed from rushed processes and poor communication - precisely the kind of things a good retro would have caught. It's like saying you're too busy driving to check your gas gauge. Eventually, you're going to end up stranded.

According to the State of DevOps Report 2024, high-performing teams are three times more likely to have regular retrospectives than their lower-performing counterparts. Yet I keep encountering teams who either skip retros entirely or run them like they're checking a box on an agile checklist.

🎯 Why Retros Matter

Think of retros as your team's early warning system. Without them, problems fester until they become crises. I once worked with a team that skipped retros because they were "too busy." They didn't realize their deployment process was causing widespread burnout until two developers quit in the same month. A simple retro could have surfaced these issues before they lost half their institutional knowledge.

Retros aren't just meetings - they're your team's continuous improvement engine. They're where you identify process debt before it becomes technical debt, where you catch team friction before it becomes team dysfunction, and where you spot patterns that could either sink or elevate your entire operation.

🔌 The DevEx Connection

Poor retrospective practices (or their complete absence) are silent DevEx killers. When teams lack a structured way to improve their processes, developers end up fighting the same battles every sprint, dealing with the same friction points, and slowly losing their motivation to make things better.

🚫 The Common Pitfalls

The "Action Item Graveyard" ⚰️

This is where good intentions go to die. Teams love creating action items but rarely assign owners or follow-up dates. I watched one team create a "technical debt" Jira board from retro items that grew so large it became its own source of technical debt.

The "Complaint Department" 😤

Some retros devolve into venting sessions with no focus on solutions. While it's important to air grievances, if your retro feels like a reality TV confessional, you're doing it wrong. I once sat through a retro where the team spent nearly an hour debating which Slack channels were getting too noisy while completely ignoring that our CI pipeline was failing 40% of the time. Sure, Slack notifications are annoying, but I'm pretty sure the random deployment failures were costing us a bit more in developer productivity than having to mute a few channels.

The "Too Polite" Trap 🤐

When teams are too afraid of conflict to raise real issues, you end up with retros that focus on safe topics like "we should document more" while ignoring the elephant in the room like "our deployment process is a dumpster fire." I've seen teams dance around critical architectural issues for months because nobody wanted to be "negative."

🛠️ Making Retros Work

1. Keep them focused and timeboxed

   • Stick to a consistent format and timebox (30-60 minutes max)

   • Limit attendance to the actual team (7±2 people)

   • Create separate forums for cross-team issues

   • Schedule them at a time when people are fresh (not Friday afternoon)

2. Make action items actionable

   • Assign clear owners and realistic deadlines

   • Use the SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)

   • Limit to 2-3 items max (yes, max - more than that and nothing gets done)

   • Break larger issues into smaller, manageable chunks

   • Document them where they're visible daily, not buried in a meeting doc

3. Create psychological safety

   • Start with positive observations

   • Use techniques like "plus/delta" instead of "good/bad"

   • Create a blameless environment - focus on systems, not people

   • Use anonymous submission tools for sensitive topics

   • Celebrate when people raise tough issues

   • Actually fix things when people speak up

4. Follow up relentlessly

   • Begin each retro by reviewing the last session's action items

   • Hold people accountable for their commitments

   • If something isn't done, understand why and adjust scope or resources

   • Track patterns of incomplete items to identify systemic issues

   • Celebrate completed improvements, no matter how small

💡 The Bottom Line

If you're not doing retros, you're flying blind. If you're doing them poorly, you're creating disillusionment. Neither is good for your team or your product. Start with a simple format, focus on actionable improvements, and build trust through consistent follow-through. Remember: The cost of not having retros isn't just stagnation - it's the slow erosion of team morale, process efficiency, and, ultimately, your product quality.

Stay reflective! 🪞

Powered by coffee ☕️ and the courage to ask, "What could we do better?"

📊 STAT

26% of Teams Deploy Code 973 Times More Frequently Than Low Performers

According to the 2021 State of DevOps Report, elite teams deploy code on-demand (multiple times per day) and boast lead times of under one hour. These teams outperform low-performing organizations, which deploy code less than twice a year, by over 973x in deployment frequency​.

💡 Key Insight: Deployment frequency is a standout metric for DevOps excellence.

📌 ESSENTIAL READS

📊 Atlassian's 2024 Developer Experience Report Highlights Major Inefficiencies. Atlassian's recent research indicates that 97% of developers lose significant time due to inefficiencies, with many contemplating job changes over poor developer experience. The study reveals a disconnect between developers and leaders, particularly regarding AI's role in productivity. While leaders view AI as a productivity booster, two-thirds of developers haven't experienced substantial gains from AI tools yet. 

🤖 Google's Jules AI Agent to Assist Developers in Fixing Code. Google has unveiled "Jules," an experimental AI-powered code agent designed to automatically fix coding errors. Introduced alongside Gemini 2.0, Jules creates multi-step plans to address issues, modify files, and prepare pull requests for Python and JavaScript tasks within GitHub workflows. Currently in early development, Jules is expected to be more widely available in early 2025. 

📈 JetBrains' State of Developer Ecosystem 2024 Report Highlights AI Adoption. JetBrains' annual survey, gathering insights from over 23,000 developers worldwide, emphasizes the growing integration of AI in development workflows. The report notes that four out of five companies have adopted third-party AI tools, with 18% of developers incorporating AI capabilities into their products. Additionally, languages like TypeScript, Rust, and Python are on the rise, reflecting current industry trends. 

🛠️ TOOLS

• Batect is a cross-platform tool for automating development environments and CI/CD workflows using containerized dependencies.

• Grip is a command-line tool that renders GitHub-flavored Markdown files for previewing them locally.

• HTTPie is a modern command-line HTTP client with an intuitive UI for testing APIs and making HTTP requests.

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