Planet Check In
Background
In the past couple of months I dived into the topic of sustainability for scrum teams. Because I, like so many people inside (and outside) of my teams, am looking for ways to help the climate. We started with a Planet Retrospective about Green Software, in which we defined the first steps towards reducing the carbon footprint of our IT landscape.
Setting the stage with the Planet Check In
But before we started with the retrospective we first did this Planet Check In, in which I asked the team to take a few moments to express how they feel about our planetary challenges. (You can find the template here: Planet Check In template).
I asked them:
- Grab an emoji or picture that represents how you feel about our planetary challenges;
- Where do you stand in relation to the planet and it’s challenges (how involved are you)? Place your emoji on the board.
After that we did a round in which all team members explained their feelings and views in one or two sentences. This really helped to set the stage for this workshop! It immediately created common ground and understanding for each others points of view.
I used this check in for a session about sustainable IT, but you can also use this as a check in or icebreaker for any retrospective or session with your team.