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| Criterion |  Operations After-Action Review |  Agile Sprint Retrospective |  Agile Sailboat Retrospective |  Agile 4Ls Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | When a sprint is over and friction shouldn't simply be carried forward, it opens the view onto collaboration and patterns. It creates space to see causes and changes together. | When a team wants to read momentum, brakes, and risks together, it offers an easily understandable picture of the situation. It makes drive, obstacles, and headwind visible in the same picture. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | Up to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter | 45-90 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | Scrum Team | 4-12 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | Improvement actions, Team agreements | Sailboat Board, Risks, Improvement Actions | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | LearningOperationsImprovement | RetrospectiveImprovementLearning | RetrospectiveTeamImprovement | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |