For those who’ve had it up to here. Two last retro formats for the road before the next raid (September 2016): the “what the fuck” (what the hell is going on?), and the barbouzarde inspired by the magnificent film by George Lautner, with sublime dialogues by Michel Audiard, Barbouzes.
Be careful to use these retros with a good attitude and good intention, to highlight a safe space. This is not about stirring up animosity, but about having fun with a different format. Attitude: stay smiling, open, have fun with your frustrations, intention: be there to move things forward, learn, stay open to everyone.
On the night of September 13 to 14, 1964, the world lived in peace. And who, during that night, pulled the trigger first? Who broke the vase of Soissons again? In short, who gave the first kick in the ass? – Les barbouzes, dialogue by Michel Audiard
“What the fuck” Retrospective
First step: “fuck this”
On a board draw 5 categories:
- Fuck this (that really pissed me off)
- Fuck that (that really pissed us off)
- This is fucking urgent (that’s going to blow up in our face)
- Don’t fuck this up (don’t mess around with this)
- Fuck Yeah (oh hell yes)
Let people put post-its in each of these categories (one or two words in capitals that they will explain).
Second step: “fuck that”
Display the following image on the wall. Ask participants to place a post-it on each point in silence.
Reading from bottom to top and from left to right: * Note: the more the event is behind us (“it’s okay it’s over”), the more it is on the left (points 15, 8, 17 delimit the past section), if it’s hanging over us, if it’s going to happen more towards points 7, 18, 1, the right section. * The more massive the mess generated by the point is likely to be, the higher up the post-it is placed. The more important it is, the higher it is. Points 1 and 15 are much less important than 8 and 7.
Participants can move the post-its in silence if they judge their placements inappropriate. We keep 15mn at the end to talk if we still don’t agree.
Normally we then work on trying to lance the boil of point 7.
PS: Fabrice would you like to improve the translation of the English terms of the “What the fuck?” retrospective.
PS2: Marie-Anne I’m looking forward to your next retrospective in May.
The Barbouzarde Retrospective
The film Barbouzes starts in an enchanting way with the introduction of the protagonists (and the dialogues by Michel Audiard):
So here is Francis Lagneau, known as “Petit Marquis”, known as “Chérubin”, known as “Talon Rouge”, known as “Falbala”, known as “Belles Manières”. He is also known, in certain circles, under the nickname “Requiem “, known as “Bazooka”, known as “La Praline”, known as “Belle Châtaigne”. It’s curious how nasty people are.
Citizen of Geneva, representative of banks and custodian of neutralist thought, here is Eusébio Caffarelli, known as “le Chanoine”, entomologist and distinguished mind. His mysticism, at once very hostile to the rationalism of Saint Thomas and to the mechanistic orthodoxy of scholasticism, sometimes pushes him to brutal actions that his conscience disapproves of. But the best of men cannot be perfect.
Compatriot of Goethe and Wagner, here is Hans Müller, known as “the good doctor”, philologist, musician and humanist, researcher thirsting for truth, author of a work now impossible to find, “The sensitive points or therapeutics against lying”.
Apostle of coexistence, Boris Vassilief, very gifted subject, nicknamed from a very young age “Trinitrotoluene”, virtuoso pianist, confirmed pyrotechnician, Boris is classified by his superiors in the category of “turbulent aesthetes”.
During the retrospective, you must first introduce these characters by reading their descriptions aloud. Then you simply fill in the SWOT of the barbouzes.
SWOT of the barbouzes
- “Requiem, bazooka, praline, châtaigne”: It exploded…
- “Mechanistic orthodoxy”: What we repeat mindlessly.
- “The sensitive points or therapeutics of lying”: the things left unsaid…
- “Trinitrotoluene” (TNT): It’s going to explode…
There you go, some slightly different retrospectives. Seriously do this in a context that allows you to laugh about it or if you really want to lance a boil. But don’t forget benevolence.
A brute laughs at nothing. A missile going by, a mushroom rising in the sky, the temple of Angkor passing over Billancourt… I laugh at everything, I have simple tastes. – Francis Blanche, les Barbouzes
The other quotes.
Marie-Anne’s What The Fuck retrospective in Asia!
I was able to run a retrospective at a client’s, but Marie-Anne’s who’s traveling around Asia is worth the detour.
Her feedback:
F*** this: hiking a 1,717m high volcano at 4am to see the sunrise and arrive at the peak to see…clouds, and more clouds. No sunrise.
F*** that: running through Kuala Lumpur airport to get a flight in the evening and arrive at the gate to see it was delayed… A 8h delay, departure at 4am, another pleasant night in an airport!
This is f***ing urgent: find a Plan B volunteering, after a last minute cancellation (was supposed to stay in Lombok for 3 more weeks to teach English, but not anymore). Workaway.com is my last chance!
Don’t f*** this up: Ramadan starts next Monday, and I’ll probably be living with a muslim family at that time…which means I’ll need to adapt to their daily life, the local culture and maybe doing Ramadan too?
F** yeah: surfing the Indonesian waves for 2 weeks in a surfcamp which felt like a bootcamp…that was physically and mentally challenging but f**ing amazing!
Marie-Anne’s page: https://www.facebook.com/thefrenchieinasia/