View methods side by side.
Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.
| Criterion | ![]() Agile Mad Sad Glad | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() Operations After-Action Review |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | 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 |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 45-90 min | 20-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 4-12 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | LearningOperationsImprovement |
Often compared together
Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.






