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| Criterion | ![]() Agile 4Ls Retrospective | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() Agile Mad Sad Glad | ![]() Operations After-Action Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. | When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible. | After missions or project phases with unclear outcomes, the method makes visible what actually happened and what can be learned from it. It separates course, effect, and causes so experience turns into solid improvement. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 45–75 min | 45-90 min | 30-60 min | 20-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | Team members involved | 4-12 | 3-10 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | LearningOperationsImprovement |



