Snark Hunts #

A “Snark Hunt” is a project retrospective based around a facilitated discussion. This is typically carried out during a meeting that lasts for approximately one hour. The output of the meeting is a very short document which can be usefully re-read in the future. The hope is that anyone reading it might be able to find useful learnings to apply to their own work.

You can see notes from all previous Snark Hunts here.

We’re open to trying other ideas too!

How to set up a Snark Hunt #

• Find some people to take on the following roles
  • Facilitator: Someone not on the project to facilitate the session
  • Scribe: Someone else (also not on the project) to take notes and make these available after the session
• Find a suitable date
  • Ideally you want a date that multiple people who did and didn’t work on the project can make
• Invite people!
  • As this is mainly a learning exercise for REG, you should invite the whole team
  • Feel free to invite non-REG people if this seems appropriate - inviting the PI might make team members reticent to talk freely however!

Facilitator #

• Try to pursue questions almost to absurdity.
• Prefer “what” and “how” questions over “why” questions wherever possible.

Take a look at the example questions (on Sharepoint) for inspiration but don’t feel constrained by them.

Scribe #

• Use this note-taking template (on Sharepoint)
• Attach names to people’s questions and answers (unless they’d prefer to be anonymous).
• Confirm after the meeting that all attendees are happy with your notes.
• Add the completed notes to Sharepoint.

Note on naming #

The name comes from The Hunting of the Snark, a Lewis Carroll poem about the crew of a boat who are hunting a Snark - a creature which may turn out to be a dangerous Boojum.