Session Retrospective

Overview

Analyze accumulated PLAN/ACT/EVAL session data from context archives to surface coding habits, recurring patterns, and actionable improvement suggestions. Transforms passive session history into data-driven growth insights.

Core principle: Decisions improve when informed by patterns, not just memory. Review what actually happened, not what you think happened.

When to Use

• After completing a sprint or milestone
• During periodic team/personal retrospectives
• When noticing repeated issues across sessions
• Before planning process improvements
• When onboarding to understand team patterns

When NOT to Use

• Mid-session (wait until a natural checkpoint)
• With fewer than 3 archived sessions (insufficient data)
• For real-time debugging (use systematic-debugging instead)

Prerequisites

• Context archive system enabled (#999)
• At least 3 archived sessions in docs/codingbuddy/archive/
• MCP tools available: get_context_history, search_context_archives

Process

Phase 1: Data Collection

Gather session archives and extract structured data.

1. Retrieve recent archives

• Call get_context_history with appropriate limit (default: 20)
• If no archives exist, inform user and suggest running a few PLAN/ACT/EVAL sessions first
• Note the date range covered

1. Read archive contents

• Read each archived context document
• Extract from each session:
• Mode transitions (PLAN, ACT, EVAL, AUTO)
• Primary agent used
• Task description and title
• Decisions made
• Notes recorded
• Progress items (ACT mode)
• Findings and recommendations (EVAL mode)
• Status (completed, in_progress, blocked)

Phase 2: Pattern Analysis

Analyze collected data across five dimensions.

#### 2a. Mode Usage Patterns

• Count sessions per mode (PLAN, ACT, EVAL, AUTO)
• Calculate EVAL adoption rate: EVAL sessions / total sessions
• Identify sessions that skipped EVAL (potential quality gaps)
• Flag AUTO mode usage frequency

#### 2b. Agent Utilization

• Rank agents by frequency of use
• Identify underutilized specialists (available but rarely used)
• Detect agent concentration (over-reliance on one agent)
• Note any specialist gaps for the project's tech stack

#### 2c. TDD Cycle Indicators

Search archives for TDD-related patterns:

• search_context_archives with keywords: "TDD", "test", "RED", "GREEN", "REFACTOR"
• Count sessions mentioning test-first vs test-after
• Identify sessions where tests were skipped or deferred
• Calculate approximate TDD adherence rate

#### 2d. Recurring Issues

Search for repeated problems:

• search_context_archives with keywords: "blocked", "failed", "error", "issue", "bug"
• Group similar issues by category (build, test, integration, deployment)
• Identify issues that appear in 2+ sessions (systemic problems)
• Note resolution patterns (same fix applied repeatedly?)

#### 2e. Decision Patterns

Analyze decisions across sessions:

• Extract all recorded decisions
• Identify decisions that were later reversed or modified
• Spot recurring decision themes (architecture, tooling, process)
• Flag decisions made without EVAL validation

Phase 3: Report Generation

Generate a structured markdown report.

# Session Retrospective Report

> Period: {start_date} - {end_date}
> Sessions analyzed: {count}
> Generated: {current_date}

## Summary Statistics

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Total sessions | {n} |
| PLAN sessions | {n} |
| ACT sessions | {n} |
| EVAL sessions | {n} |
| AUTO sessions | {n} |
| EVAL adoption rate | {n}% |
| Completion rate | {n}% |

## Top Agents

| Rank | Agent | Sessions | % |
|------|-------|----------|---|
| 1 | {agent} | {n} | {n}% |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

## TDD Health

- Adherence rate: {n}%
- Test-first sessions: {n}
- Test-after sessions: {n}
- No-test sessions: {n}

## Recurring Issues

### {Issue Category}
- **Frequency**: {n} sessions
- **Pattern**: {description}
- **Impact**: {assessment}

## Key Decisions Timeline

| Date | Decision | Mode | Validated? |
|------|----------|------|------------|
| {date} | {decision} | {mode} | {yes/no} |

## Improvement Suggestions

### High Priority
1. {suggestion with rationale}

### Medium Priority
1. {suggestion with rationale}

### Process Observations
1. {observation}

Phase 4: Improvement Suggestions

Generate actionable suggestions based on findings.

Auto-generate suggestions for:

Phase 5: Output

1. Display report in conversation
2. Save report to docs/codingbuddy/retrospective-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md
3. Offer next steps:

• "Create GitHub issues for high-priority improvements?"
• "Update project rules based on findings?"
• "Schedule recurring retrospectives?"

Key Principles

• Data over opinion - Base all observations on archive evidence
• Patterns over incidents - Focus on recurring themes, not one-off events
• Actionable suggestions - Every finding should have a clear next step
• No blame - Focus on process improvement, not individual mistakes
• Incremental - Suggest 2-3 improvements per retrospective, not a complete overhaul