What needs to be finished first
The current sprint is completed with review and increment demo, so concrete experiences exist.
Psychological safety is established or explicitly requested in the session, so critical points can be voiced.
What needs to be ready before start
Miro or FigJam board with template (for example Mad-Sad-Glad, Sailboat, Start-Stop-Continue); timer; action board for measures with owner and deadline; list of action items from previous retro.
One facilitator (rotating or Scrum Master); all development team members; optionally Product Owner; no external stakeholder without invitation.
Sprint burndown, velocity, completed and uncompleted items; major incidents in sprint; status of previous action items; shared initial mood (pulse check).
60-90 min per 2-week sprint
Vary format per retro to avoid routine. Make previous action items visible. State rules: Vegas rule (what is said here stays here), focus on system instead of people, one action beats ten.
The one question this method answers
Which one change to process or system will improve the next sprint most, and who will implement it bindingly?
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Set the Stage | 5-10 min | Name purpose of retro, repeat rules, pulse check (thumbs or 1-5). Briefly review previous action items: done, open, dropped. | If the same action items are unresolved across three retros, that is the only meaningful topic for this retro. |
2Phase 2: Gather Data | 15-20 min | Format-specific collection: Mad-Sad-Glad, what went well/badly, 4Ls, Sailboat. Silent writing first, then cluster. Include metrics (velocity, bug count, incident count). | If everyone repeats the same phrase in a format, topic breadth is too narrow. Change format or reframe question, otherwise retro becomes obligation exercise. |
3Phase 3: Generate Insights | 15-20 min | Vote top topics (dot voting, 2-3 points per person). Use 5 Whys or Fishbone on top topic to find cause. Work deeply on maximum two topics. | One topic with depth beats five superficial ones. If everything is important, nothing changes. |
4Phase 4: Decide What to Do | 15-20 min | One action per top topic: SMART wording, with owner, deadline and success indicator. Maximum two to three action items per retro. | Action item without owner is a wish. Owner must be present and say yes, otherwise it does not go on the list. Success indicator must be checkable in next retro. |
5Phase 5: Close the Retro | 5 min | Plus-Delta or round robin: what was helpful in this retro, what should differ next time. Summarize action items, confirm responsibility. | Closing is not "bye". If retro value is unclear, next engagement drops. Plus-Delta provides improvement loop for the retro itself. |
What comes out at the end
Retro documentation with sprint ID, participants, collected topics (clusters and bullets), top insights with root-cause analysis, action items (description, owner, deadline, success indicator), Plus-Delta notes.
One entry per sprint with date and sprint ID. Track action items with unique ID, status (open, in progress, done, dropped) across retros. Quarterly review of action-item completion rate as meta indicator.
Compact working template for Sprint Retrospective with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
A Scrum event to inspect and adapt collaboration, quality, and process.
When and for what do we use this method?
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Short notes along the runsheet.
Owner, date, and success signal.
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Participants: 6 engineers, 1 PO, 1 Scrum Master.
Previous action items
Gather (Sailboat format)
Top insight: Reviewer capacity is bottleneck. 5 Whys: current sprint load is 9.5 items per person, reviewers have no blocked time.
Action Items
Plus-Delta: Plus: concrete action with indicator. Delta: review previous action items earlier.
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Team arrives with same keywords, energy is low.
Vary format (Sailboat, 4Ls, Mad-Sad-Glad, Lean Coffee). Occasionally bring external facilitator eyes. Stretch timebox instead of shortening.
Seven measures are agreed, by next sprint two are done, five lie fallow.
Maximum three action items, preferably one with large effect. Reject items without present owner. Watch completion rate as meta indicator.
"X was too slow" or "Y did not see the bug" appears on cards.
Facilitator reframes: what in the system allowed the error. Person statements become process or tool statements. Otherwise psychological safety tips.
"We improve reviews" without measurable definition. In three sprints unclear whether it worked.
Indicator mandatory. What would be evidence of success in 1-2 sprints. If not definable, cut action item differently.
Manager or customer sits in, team stays silent on sensitive topics.
Retro is team event. Externals only with explicit invitation and topic relevance. If escalation is needed, separate session afterward.
Items from three retros are open, nobody addresses it.
First agenda item: status of previous items. If open for three sprints, the only retro topic is "why do we close no action items".
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.