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| Criterion |  Agile Sprint Retrospective |  Operations ALPEN Method |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Agile 4Ls Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | With an overloaded day full of too many tasks, a realistic picture of the day emerges. The method connects estimating, deciding, and buffer thinking so planning fits available energy and time. | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | 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 | Up to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter | 10-20 min daily | 30-120 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | Scrum Team | 1 | 2-6 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Improvement actions, Team agreements | Daily Plan, Time Estimates, Review Notes | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveImprovementLearning | PlanningTime managementProductivityOperations | LeanObservationProcessOperations | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |