analysis-retrospective

name	analysis-retrospective
description	Run a structured retrospective after completing an analysis project to capture learnings and improve future work. Use within one week of project completion while memory is fresh, or immediately after a project that had significant problems.

When to use

• Within one week of completing any significant analysis project
• Immediately after a project with significant timeline, quality, or scope problems
• When onboarding new analysts who can learn from past project experience
• Quarterly or after a cohort of similar projects to identify systemic patterns

Process

1. Timebox the session — allocate 30 minutes for individual retrospective or 60 minutes for team session; use Start/Stop/Continue or 4Ls (Liked/Lacked/Learned/Longed for) framework
2. Compare plan to actuals — compare actual timeline, scope, and effort to what was planned; note gaps and their causes
3. Identify what worked — document at least 2 things that went well and should be repeated; these are as valuable as problems
4. Root cause problems — for each significant issue, apply 5-whys to identify root cause rather than symptom
5. Extract reusable learnings — categorise each learning as: a template to create, a reference document to update, a checklist item to add, or a team norm to adopt
6. Log action items — document specific, owned, time-bound actions in assets/retrospective_template.md

Inputs the skill needs

• Required: brief description of the completed project
• Optional: original project plan or timeline
• Optional: stakeholder feedback received

Output

• assets/retrospective_template.md (filled) — structured retrospective with successes, issues, root causes, and next steps
• assets/learnings_log.md — cumulative log of learnings applicable to future projects