1. Also Known as: Post-project review, lessons learned meeting, post-mortem, sprint retrospective, project debriefing, project review
2. Intent: Provide actionable insights for future projects or iterations
3. Context: Project management (agile or otherwise) in technology or business
4. Examples of Use Cases: Evaluating a sprint, project completion, or a product launch
5. Participants: Scrum team or project team; sometimes others participate as well
6. Scheduling: Scheduled in advance
7. Timing: End of a sprint, project phase, or entire project
8. Duration: 30-90 minutes
9. Focus: Identifying successes, challenges, and changes to be made for future work
10. Goal: Drive continuous improvement
11. Strategy: Structured and reflective, use prompts (see Questions to Ask)
12. Questions to Ask: What worked well? What didn’t? What should we change going forward?
13. Facilitator Role: Scrum Master, project manager, or team leader
14. Methods Employed: Retrospective frameworks, whiteboards, sticky notes, collaborative applications like Miro or Trello
15. Documentation: Usually formal (written), with a report documenting findings and recommendations
16. Emotional Tone: Fostering openness, introspection, and learning in a collaborative setting

1. Also Known as: Hot debrief, mission debrief, operational debrief, rapid debrief, tactical debrief, after-action review, immediate action review, post-event analysis
2. Intent: Capture lessons while fresh and inform immediate adjustments or decisions
3. Context: High-stakes operational settings such as intelligence, military, or emergency response
4. Examples of Use Cases: Assessing a high-stakes intelligence operation or an emergency response
5. Participants: Individuals involved in the immediate event or operation
6. Scheduling: Not scheduled in advance; occurs as needed
7. Timing: Immediately after an event, incident, mission, or exercise
8. Duration: 15–30 minutes, focused on speed and efficiency
9. Focus: Assessing immediate challenges and corrective actions required now
10. Goal: Implement real-time changes as needed
11. Strategy: Rapid, real-time, and conversational—focused on urgent issues
12. Questions to Ask: What went wrong? What needs immediate attention? What actions should we take now?
13. Facilitator Role: Team leader, mission commander, or operational lead
14. Methods Employed: Quick debriefs, oral discussions, brief note-taking
15. Documentation: Often informal (verbal), with key points summarized quickly for immediate use; there may or may not be a written report
16. Emotional Tone: Urgent, action-oriented, and often high-energy

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20. Graffius, Scott M. (2016, January 21). 2014 NSDM Publication on Leadership by National Security Affairs Professor Mary Raum Featured the 2008 Edition of Scott M. Graffius’ Work on Team Development. Available at: https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/nsdm-leadership.html. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.22276.33920.
21. Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.
22. Graffius, Scott M. (2018, August 25). Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement in the Agile Scrum Framework [Workshop]. Session at private event in Las Vegas, NV. 10.13140/RG.2.2.16620.51843
23. Graffius, Scott M. (2018, October 18). Agile Scrum Helps Innovators, Disruptors, and Entrepreneurs Develop and Deliver Products at Astounding Speed Which Drives Competitive Advantage [Presentation]. Talk delivered at Techstars Startup Week Conference. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25009.12647.
24. Graffius, Scott M. (2019). Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace.
25. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, February 20). But First, the Team! [Presentation]. Talk delivered at the Brno, Czech Republic DevConf.CZ 2021 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.29016.72964.
26. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, June 21). DevOps and Team Leadership [Workshop]. Session at private event in Las Vegas, NV. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15380.22401.
27. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, May 13). But First, the Team! [Presentation]. Lecture delivered at DevOps Pro Europe 2021 Conference. Based and simulcast live from Vilnius, Lithuania. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30524.36481.
28. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, November 10). An Error Was Introduced Into the Seventh Edition of 'A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).’ Los Angeles, CA: Scott M. Graffius.
29. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, November 8). Bruce Tuckman’s Model (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning) is Highly Relevant and Beneficial, But It Doesn’t Please Everyone. Los Angeles, CA: Scott M. Graffius.
30. Graffius, Scott M. (2021, October 5). Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility for Happier and More Productive Teams [Presentation]. Talk delivered at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE Day 2021 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.20055.19365.
31. Graffius, Scott M. (2022, February 4). Team Development Tradecraft: A Source of Competitive Advantage [Workshop]. Session at private event in Adelaide, Australia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14092.80002.
32. Graffius, Scott M. (2022, May 13). Want Happier and More Productive DevOps Teams? [Presentation]. Talk delivered at DevOpsDays Geneva, Switzerland 2022 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.22252.85127.
33. Graffius, Scott M. (2023, April 26). The Science of High-Performance Teams [Presentation]. Talk delivered at the DevOps Institute’s SKILup Day 2023 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.15888.28169.
34. Graffius, Scott M. (2023, July 15). Successful Video Game Development Teams Leverage an Extensive Range of Hard Skills and Soft Skills. Available at: https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/gamedev.html.
35. Graffius, Scott M. (2023, June 29). What Successful AI Teams Have in Common [Presentation]. Talk delivered at Conf42 Quantum Computing 2023 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.29382.45120.
36. Graffius, Scott M. (2023, May 1). Fueling the Development of Innovative and Life-Changing AI Solutions [Presentation]. Talk delivered to an audience of Technology professionals (including Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, Data Engineers, AI Researchers, Project Managers, Business Analysts, UX Designers, Software Developers, Cloud Architects, Data Privacy and Security Specialists, and others involved or interested in AI) at a private event in Mountain View, California, United States. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.27956.73601.
37. Graffius, Scott M. (2024, January 8). Scott M. Graffius’ Phases of Team Development: 2024 Update. Available at: https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/teams-2024.html. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28629.40168.
38. Graffius, Scott M. (2024, July 16). Consider Asking and Answering These Questions at Your Next Retrospective, Post Project Review or Debrief Meeting (But Not a "Hot Wash"). Available at: https://x.com/ScottGraffius/status/1813233611212222578.
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