RunsheetAgile

Mad Sad Glad

ComplexityLow

Time30-60 min

Participants3-10

FormatWorkshop

MaturityEstablished

Preparation

What needs to be ready before start

Materials

Whiteboard or Miro board with three areas (Mad, Sad, Glad); sticky notes in three colors (red, blue, yellow recommended); timer; shared note space for actions; optional anonymous mode in online tool.

People / roles

One facilitator with experience in emotional retrospectives; 3-10 team members; optional external coach in tense situations; one scribe.

Pre-read

Clear timeframe; inform the team that the format is emotional and depends on psychological safety; known crises or changes that affected the team; prior actions.

Time needed

30-60 min

Setup

Set up three areas on the wall. State the norm: contributions are valid and emotions are not evaluated. Online: allow anonymous participation if the team wants it. Put the timer on the first phase.

Core question

The one question this method answers

Which emotional signals from the last period indicate learning or change needs, and which actions follow from them?

Flow

Marker: Minute

Step	Duration	Action	Hint
10-5 min	5 min	Name the period, repeat the safety norm. Rule: each person adds 2-4 stickies per area, honestly, without filtering.	This opening matters. If someone starts too quickly, it signals to the team that emotions are not really welcome.
25-20 min	15 min	Silent work: add stickies to Mad (angry), Sad (disappointed/sad), or Glad (energized/grateful). Use concrete incidents, not general feelings.	Offer anonymity in online retros. In in-person retros, keep discipline without a prior explanation stuck to the wall. Be concrete: date or incident, not just "mood."
320-35 min	15 min	Present in turn, cluster. In Mad/Sad points, the facilitator asks "what is behind this," not "why." Say Glad points out loud.	"Why" provokes defensiveness. "What is behind it" opens the room. Give Glad points room, otherwise the mood shifts into the wrong direction.
435-50 min	15 min	Prioritize clusters (2 dots per person). Add one concrete action or insight per top cluster. Keep at max 3-4 actions.	Not every cluster requires an action; some need recognition. Glad clusters often need "consciously continue" rather than "improve."
550-60 min	10 min	Add actions with owner and date. Review previous actions briefly. Closing round: one word per person for the current mood.	The closing round is mandatory. Anyone opening a retro should also close it. A one-word check closes the emotional space.

Artifact

What comes out at the end

Form

Retro entry with timeframe, participant names or count (anonymous when applicable), stickies per area (anonymized or quoted), top clusters, agreed actions with owner and date, and status check of previous actions.

Versioning / ownership

One retro entry per series. Share sensitive content thoughtfully, possibly only internally; transfer actions into a shared tracking system. Keep patterns visible across multiple retros.

Tool alternatives

Miro or FigJam with Mad-Sad-Glad template
Retrium or TeamRetro with anonymous mode
Notion page with three sections
Whiteboard photo plus notes (only with full trust)

mad-sad-glad-working-template.md

Compact working template for Mad Sad Glad with emotions, patterns, and action items.

Mad Sad Glad Working Template

Goal

Surface emotional signals, friction, and positive moments in a retrospective.

Context

What time frame does this review cover, and what should the group examine?

Input

Time frame:
Group:
Notes, signals, or examples:

Working area

Mad:
Sad:
Glad:
Patterns:
Questions:

Output artifacts

Emotion board:
Theme list:
Action items:

Open questions

Decision / next step

Owner, date, and success signal.

Example output

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

mad-sad-glad-beispiel.md

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

Mad-Sad-Glad — Team Discovery, post-reorg (18.05.2026, 55 min, 8 people)

Mad (Top clusters):

New reporting structure without prior consultation (5 stickies, anonymous).
3 changing PMs in 4 months (4 stickies).

Sad:

Loss of @julia, who carried the team through Q1 (5 stickies).
Loss of the Wednesday lunch ritual (3 stickies).

Glad:

@anna takes over PM role and provides immediate clarity (6 stickies).
Discovery double sprint held despite reorg (4 stickies).
New relationship with platform team (3 stickies).

Actions:

Write a lessons-learned memo on reorg communication and share with leadership (Owner: @ben, by 25.05., success indicator: written response from @marcus).
Revive Wednesday lunch ritual (Owner: @lisa, starting 22.05.).
Fix onboarding for @anna with clear expectations (Owner: @ben + @anna, by 22.05.).

Session ends abruptly after hard topics, the team leaves emotionally exposed.

What to do

The closing round is not negotiable. One word per person. If time is short, shorten actions instead of shortening the closing round.

Stop criteria

Done signals checkable in under a minute

Acute personal issues or conflicts dominate, and the format is wrong; one-on-one or mediation is a priority.

Safety is missing, anonymity is not possible, and contributions would be filtered.

Team is newly formed without a shared context.

Sponsor expects action items for every emotion; the format is being misused.

Facilitator has no experience with emotional retros; escalation risk is high.

The period has no emotional spikes; a Start-Stop-Continue sprint retro is better.

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