New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Why aren’t ‘team retrospectives’ a thing in ‘traditional’ industries?

Ask HN: Why aren’t ‘team retrospectives’ a thing in ‘traditional’ industries?
7 by firstbabylonian | 4 comments on Hacker News.
Like most people on here, I work in the software industry, and my team follows a version of ‘agile’ methodology that (disregarding all of the software-specific principles and aspects of it) is a result of continuous iteration and input from the team itself. Over the course of months and years, we’ve developed a system that more or less works for everyone on the team, accomodating not only the nature of the work we do, but certain personal needs and cultural quirks of every individual. While never perfect, the system is continuously revised, as we are encouraged to regularly ‘look back’, voice concerns, discuss issues, and come up with action items to solve problems that arise within and outside the team that affect our productivity and happiness. I almost take this for granted, feeling like this is ultimately the only way to get any team work done over a long period of time, as this gives room for everyone to speak up and bring to light problems that management may not necessarily be aware of (or be willing to solve otherwise). However, most ‘traditional’ industries don’t seem to be adopting this seemingly superior way or working. Why is that? I hear complaints from my working parents who are often dissatisfied with the way their work is organised, having concerns about their roles on their teams, the efficiency of the process, etc. Yet, my obvious suggestion of ‘just bring this up at your next retro’ doesn’t apply here, as there is no such thing in their world. Is there something special about software with the level of introspection workers in this industry are expected to do, which cannot (or shouldn’t) be done elsewhere?

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