Ceremony Facilitation Guides

TL;DR: Provides detailed facilitation guides for project ceremonies including opening/closing rituals, facilitation techniques, engagement activities, time management, and anti-pattern recognition. Each guide enables any team member to facilitate effectively, not just the Scrum Master or PM.

Principio Rector

La facilitación no es moderación — es el arte de crear las condiciones para que el grupo alcance mejores conclusiones que cualquier individuo. Un buen facilitador no tiene opinión en la discusión; tiene expertise en el proceso de discusión. La neutralidad es el superpoder del facilitador.

Assumptions & Limits

• Assumes ceremony design exists with defined purpose, participants, and agendas [SUPUESTO]
• Assumes facilitator has reviewed the guide before the ceremony [PLAN]
• Breaks when team size exceeds facilitation technique capacity (>15 for most techniques)
• Virtual facilitation requires different techniques than in-person — specify format upfront
• Does not replace facilitator skill development — guides are aids, not substitutes for practice
• Engagement techniques assume psychological safety; toxic environments need intervention first

Usage

# Generate facilitation guide for sprint retrospective
/pm:ceremony-facilitation $PROJECT --ceremony="retrospective" --format="virtual"

# Generate engagement technique cards for PI Planning
/pm:ceremony-facilitation $PROJECT --ceremony="pi-planning" --team-size=50

# Generate anti-pattern recognition guide
/pm:ceremony-facilitation $PROJECT --type=anti-patterns --ceremony="all"

Parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description
$PROJECT	Yes	Project identifier
--ceremony	Yes	Ceremony type (retrospective, planning, review, standup, pi-planning, all)
--format	No	virtual, in-person, hybrid
--team-size	No	Number of participants for technique selection
--type	No	guide, techniques, anti-patterns

Service Type Routing

{TIPO_PROYECTO}: Scrum ceremonies get specific facilitation techniques per event; Kanban cadences use flow-focused facilitation; SAFe PI Planning requires large-group facilitation; Waterfall reviews use formal presentation facilitation.

Before Facilitating

1. Read the ceremony design document to understand purpose, agenda, and expected outcomes
2. Read team composition data to select appropriate engagement techniques for group size
3. Glob skills/ceremony-facilitation/references/*.md for technique libraries and anti-pattern catalogs
4. Grep for previous ceremony feedback to identify recurring facilitation challenges

Entrada (Input Requirements)

• Ceremony design and calendar (from ceremony-design)
• Team composition and dynamics
• Facilitation skill level of team
• Virtual/in-person/hybrid meeting format
• Previous ceremony effectiveness feedback

Proceso (Protocol)

1. Ceremony selection — Identify which ceremony needs facilitation support
2. Preparation checklist — Create pre-ceremony preparation list (materials, data, participants)
3. Opening design — Design check-in activity to set tone and focus
4. Agenda facilitation — Create time-boxed agenda with facilitation notes per section
5. Engagement techniques — Select techniques (dot voting, 1-2-4-all, silent brainstorming, fishbowl)
6. Conflict navigation — Prepare approaches for common conflicts or disagreements
7. Decision protocol — Define how decisions will be made (consensus, consent, majority)
8. Closing design — Design check-out and action item capture
9. Anti-pattern alerts — Document common facilitation anti-patterns to avoid
10. Feedback mechanism — Plan how to gather ceremony effectiveness feedback

Edge Cases

1. Virtual ceremony with cameras off: Design engagement that does not rely on visual cues. Use polls, chat, and round-robin verbal check-ins. Time-box responses to prevent silence. [PLAN]
2. Dominant personality controlling discussion: Use structured techniques (silent brainstorming, round-robin) that equalize voice. Facilitate explicitly: "Let's hear from someone who hasn't spoken yet." [STAKEHOLDER]
3. Team of >15 people in a single ceremony: Split into breakout groups of 4-5. Use 1-2-4-all structure. Reconvene for synthesis. Never facilitate open discussion with >10 people. [PLAN]
4. Ceremony consistently runs over time: Review agenda time allocations. Identify which section overruns. Apply stricter time-boxing with visible timer. Parking lot off-topic items. [METRIC]

Example: Good vs Bad

Good Facilitation Guide:

Attribute	Value
Preparation checklist	8 items with responsible parties
Opening design	Check-in activity with 5-minute time-box
Engagement techniques	3 techniques selected for group size
Conflict protocol	Specific de-escalation steps documented
Decision method	Consent-based with fallback to majority
Closing	Action item capture + ceremony NPS poll

Bad Facilitation Guide: A document that says "run the meeting according to the agenda." No opening activity, no engagement techniques, no conflict protocol, no decision method, no closing ritual. Fails because it provides no facilitation value — any meeting can be "run according to the agenda" but few produce meaningful outcomes without deliberate facilitation design.

Validation Gate

• Every ceremony guide includes preparation checklist with ≥5 pre-ceremony items
• Opening check-in activity designed with specific time-box (≤10% of total ceremony time)
• ≥2 engagement techniques selected per ceremony, appropriate for group size and format
• Conflict navigation protocol includes ≥2 de-escalation approaches
• Decision protocol explicitly stated (consensus, consent, majority, or authority)
• Closing includes action item capture mechanism and ceremony feedback collection
• Anti-pattern alerts include ≥3 patterns with specific facilitator responses
• Guide usable by any team member, not just Scrum Master or PM
• Ceremonies produce meaningful outcomes visible to stakeholders [STAKEHOLDER]
• Facilitation fits methodology spirit, not just ceremony mechanics [PLAN]

Escalation Triggers

• Ceremonies consistently not achieving objectives
• Team disengagement increasing
• Facilitation skills insufficient across team
• Virtual facilitation tools unavailable

Additional Resources

Resource	When to read	Location
Body of Knowledge	Before designing guides to understand facilitation theory	references/body-of-knowledge.md
State of the Art	When exploring new engagement techniques	references/state-of-the-art.md
Knowledge Graph	To link facilitation to ceremony design	references/knowledge-graph.mmd
Use Case Prompts	When selecting techniques for specific ceremonies	prompts/use-case-prompts.md
Metaprompts	To generate custom facilitation guides	prompts/metaprompts.md
Sample Output	To calibrate expected facilitation guide format	examples/sample-output.md

Output Configuration

• Language: Spanish (Latin American, business register)
• Evidence: [PLAN], [SCHEDULE], [METRIC], [INFERENCIA], [SUPUESTO], [STAKEHOLDER]
• Branding: #2563EB royal blue, #F59E0B amber (NEVER green), #0F172A dark

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Sub-Agents

Planning Session Guide

Planning Session Guide Agent

Core Responsibility

Guides sprint/iteration planning: capacity calculation, story selection, commitment validation. This agent operates autonomously within the ceremony facilitation domain, applying systematic analysis and producing structured outputs that integrate with the broader project management framework.

Process

1. Gather Inputs. Collect all relevant data, documents, and stakeholder inputs needed for analysis. Validate data quality and completeness before proceeding.
2. Analyze Context. Assess the project context, methodology, phase, and constraints that influence the analysis approach and output requirements.
3. Apply Framework. Apply the appropriate analytical framework, methodology, or model specific to this domain area with calibrated rigor.
4. Generate Findings. Produce detailed findings with evidence tags, quantified impacts where possible, and clear categorization by severity or priority.
5. Validate Results. Cross-check findings against related project artifacts for consistency and flag any contradictions or gaps discovered.
6. Formulate Recommendations. Transform findings into actionable recommendations with owners, timelines, and success criteria.
7. Deliver Output. Produce the final structured output in the standard format with executive summary, detailed analysis, and action items.

Output Format

• Analysis Report — Structured findings with evidence tags, severity ratings, and cross-references.
• Recommendation Register — Actionable items with owners, deadlines, and success criteria.
• Executive Summary — 3-5 bullet point summary for stakeholder communication.

Retrospective Conductor

Retrospective Conductor Agent

Core Responsibility

Conducts retrospectives: format selection, safe space creation, action item extraction, improvement tracking. This agent operates autonomously within the ceremony facilitation domain, applying systematic analysis and producing structured outputs that integrate with the broader project management framework.

Process

1. Gather Inputs. Collect all relevant data, documents, and stakeholder inputs needed for analysis. Validate data quality and completeness before proceeding.
2. Analyze Context. Assess the project context, methodology, phase, and constraints that influence the analysis approach and output requirements.
3. Apply Framework. Apply the appropriate analytical framework, methodology, or model specific to this domain area with calibrated rigor.
4. Generate Findings. Produce detailed findings with evidence tags, quantified impacts where possible, and clear categorization by severity or priority.
5. Validate Results. Cross-check findings against related project artifacts for consistency and flag any contradictions or gaps discovered.
6. Formulate Recommendations. Transform findings into actionable recommendations with owners, timelines, and success criteria.
7. Deliver Output. Produce the final structured output in the standard format with executive summary, detailed analysis, and action items.

Output Format

• Analysis Report — Structured findings with evidence tags, severity ratings, and cross-references.
• Recommendation Register — Actionable items with owners, deadlines, and success criteria.
• Executive Summary — 3-5 bullet point summary for stakeholder communication.

Review Demo Organizer

Review Demo Organizer Agent

Core Responsibility

Organizes sprint reviews and demos: stakeholder invitations, demo script, feedback capture. This agent operates autonomously within the ceremony facilitation domain, applying systematic analysis and producing structured outputs that integrate with the broader project management framework.

Process

1. Gather Inputs. Collect all relevant data, documents, and stakeholder inputs needed for analysis. Validate data quality and completeness before proceeding.
2. Analyze Context. Assess the project context, methodology, phase, and constraints that influence the analysis approach and output requirements.
3. Apply Framework. Apply the appropriate analytical framework, methodology, or model specific to this domain area with calibrated rigor.
4. Generate Findings. Produce detailed findings with evidence tags, quantified impacts where possible, and clear categorization by severity or priority.
5. Validate Results. Cross-check findings against related project artifacts for consistency and flag any contradictions or gaps discovered.
6. Formulate Recommendations. Transform findings into actionable recommendations with owners, timelines, and success criteria.
7. Deliver Output. Produce the final structured output in the standard format with executive summary, detailed analysis, and action items.

Output Format

• Analysis Report — Structured findings with evidence tags, severity ratings, and cross-references.
• Recommendation Register — Actionable items with owners, deadlines, and success criteria.
• Executive Summary — 3-5 bullet point summary for stakeholder communication.

Standup Facilitator

Standup Facilitator Agent

Core Responsibility

Facilitates effective daily standups: timebox enforcement, blocker surfacing, parking lot management. This agent operates autonomously within the ceremony facilitation domain, applying systematic analysis and producing structured outputs that integrate with the broader project management framework.

Process

1. Gather Inputs. Collect all relevant data, documents, and stakeholder inputs needed for analysis. Validate data quality and completeness before proceeding.
2. Analyze Context. Assess the project context, methodology, phase, and constraints that influence the analysis approach and output requirements.
3. Apply Framework. Apply the appropriate analytical framework, methodology, or model specific to this domain area with calibrated rigor.
4. Generate Findings. Produce detailed findings with evidence tags, quantified impacts where possible, and clear categorization by severity or priority.
5. Validate Results. Cross-check findings against related project artifacts for consistency and flag any contradictions or gaps discovered.
6. Formulate Recommendations. Transform findings into actionable recommendations with owners, timelines, and success criteria.
7. Deliver Output. Produce the final structured output in the standard format with executive summary, detailed analysis, and action items.

Output Format

• Analysis Report — Structured findings with evidence tags, severity ratings, and cross-references.
• Recommendation Register — Actionable items with owners, deadlines, and success criteria.
• Executive Summary — 3-5 bullet point summary for stakeholder communication.