Jul 12

Jul 12 5 Simple Retrospective Templates You Can Use for Your Agile Team

Looking for retrospective formats or templates? You’ve come to the right post. Chances are if you are looking for templates you have already done some due diligence on what a retrospective is, how to run them, and what tools can help. If not, there are a few links below to checkout as well.

Enough preamble, here are 5 simple retrospective formats you can start using immediately.

1. Basic

What went well?
What did not go well?
What can be done to address issues that arose?

2. Performance

What was the biggest hindrance to your performance?
What can the team do to help increase performance?
What can you do to improve your performance?
What can management do to help you perform better?

3. Learning

What is something you learned last week?
Is this something other team members can benefit from learning?
If yes, how can they learn from you?

4. Well-being

What was your energy level on a scale of 1-5?
What can you do to improve your energy level?
What can management do to help increase your energy level?

5. Goal based

What is something you wanted to accomplish last sprint?
How successful were you?
What is something you want to accomplish next sprint?

Bonus format - Cross functional

What is something you did last sprint other teams should know about?
Was there something you learned from a different team?
What is something you would like another team to tell you about?

We mentioned keeping these short and engaging… include a flex question that taps into the individual creativity of each team member helps make retros not feel like a chore. They also help keep teams listening and engaged. If your team is siloed and works in groups, flex questions help build culture and let your team get to know people they might not work with on a day to day basis. Spice it up.

Some flex questions you can toss in to any retrospective:

What is an interesting way someone could use your product?
If you could implement a new feature to the product what would it be?
Where is a place you wish you could work from next week?
If you could take a trip anywhere this upcoming weekend, where would it be?
What’s a skill you’d like to have if you snapped your fingers?
What superpower do you wish you had?
Become any animal for the day, what would you be?
If you were a celebrity for the day who would you be?
If you were stranded on an island and could only eat one thing, what would it be?

You get the picture.