Retrospective Templates

No more hours spent on searching for the perfect activity - we have it! Enjoy our +20 ready-to-use retrospective templates.

Start now

Free forever — no credit card required

Which retrospective template is best for your team?

We’re already aware of how retrospectives assist scrum and agile development teams to improve, collaborate, and progress productively from sprint to sprint. But which retrospective template is best for your needs and team engagement? Below is a list of retrospective formats available for your use as pre-built retro templates, so you can get started instantly and gain value as quickly as possible. Select any retro type to learn more about it or get started for free (no limit) and select the retro board of your choice.

Start-Stop-Continue

The Start-Stop-Continue retrospective template is truly a wonderful way to boost the team's productivity and creativity

Sailboat

The sailboat retrospective format, also called the Pirate Ship Retrospective, involves a little artwork and a lot of discussion

What Went Well

The ‘what went well’ retrospective template is one of the most popular and efficient methods for your agile team to complete their sprint retrospectives

Starfish

The best template to Inspire change, encourage value-generating actions and ideas. Especially suitable for newly formed teams or teams that have experienced a tough time

Lean Coffee

The best retro template to use when you want your team to own the discussion and ensure that the ideas that your team collectively wants to discuss are covered

Iteration

Reflective format to look back on the previous iteration, where your team focuses on qualitative and quantitative reviews to help paint a bigger picture and assess goals and techniques

Mad-Sad-Glad

Help your team members talk about their feelings and emotions. The Mad-Sad-Glad template can be used to highlight positive feelings following a Sprint, but also to highlight any concerns or questions your team might have

4Ls

Use the 4Ls retrospective template to break down the previous sprint to look deeper at what was learned. Look at what the team was lacking, and what they would like to see in the future

3 Little Pigs

Fun activity that uses the Three Little Pigs story to foster a conversation on how to make your process more solid

KALM

The best retro template to facilitate conversations among team members about the current activities being used and what their value is

Remote

An easy way for remote teams to coordinate a retro and improve together, even when working remotely

Rose, Bud, Thorn

Identify what's working (Rose), what's not (Thorn) and what can be improved (Bud) so it could be used by teams to self-reflect on current projects, day-in-a-life artifacts or overall processes

DAKI

Following DAKI template is a great exercise focusing on improvement and reflection, as its abbreviation declares: Drop, Add, Keep, and Improve

WRAP

Help dev and scrum teams learn from their mistakes and improve their performance in the next sprint

Oscar Academy Awards

Motivate your team by giving due credit to team members for the various areas they shined in during the previous sprint

SWOT

Identify the team's strengths and weaknesses, then reflect on the opportunities and threats that emerge from them

FLAP

A popular template used to Identify and address issues that may have arisen during the previous Sprint

Energy Levels

The Energy Levels retrospective template is a tool used by teams to reflect on their work and identify areas for improvement. It consists of four steps: rating overall energy level, discussing factors that contributed to energy levels, identifying action items, and setting goals for the next sprint

Hot Air Balloon

The Hot Air Balloon retrospective is a tool for teams to reflect on their project or sprint and plan for the future, using the metaphor of a hot air balloon journey to encourage reflection and action. This approach can help teams improve their processes and outcomes

Marie Kondo

The Marie Kondo retrospective template is a creative tool for teams to reflect on their project or sprint and plan for the future. It uses the KonMari method to evaluate team practices and identify areas for improvement. This approach can help teams improve their processes and outcomes

Mountain Climber

The Mountain Climber retrospective template uses a mountain climbing metaphor to help teams reflect on their project and plan for the future. It encourages reflection and discussion, and can help teams gain insights and improve their processes and outcomes

Project Retrospective

The project retrospective template is a guide for evaluating a project after its completion, identifying areas for improvement and lessons learned for future projects

Pre-Mortem

Anticipate potential project failures with the Pre-Mortem template. Identify risks and plan for success

Post Mortem

The post-mortem retrospective format is a tool for analyzing and evaluating incidents that occurred during a project or process. This template helps to identify what went wrong, why it happened, and how to prevent similar incidents in the future

All-Hands

The All-Hands retrospective format provides a structured approach for reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's All-Hands meetings, identifying areas for improvement and optimizing future meetings

Quarterly retrospective

The Quarterly retrospective template is a tool for reflecting on the previous quarter's accomplishments, feedback, and lessons learned. It helps to plan and prepare for the next quarter's goals and priorities

OKR

The OKR (Objectives and Key Results) meeting format helps ensure that all relevant topics are discussed, progress is reviewed, and plans for the next period are made

30-60-90 Days

Use the 30-60-90 days retrospective template to evaluate progress, identify areas for improvement, and plan for the next quarter

Hackathon Kickoff

Use this format to set the stage for a successful hackathon by ensuring that all relevant topics are discussed and important information is shared with team members

Brainstorming Session

Using the brainstorming session meeting format can help teams generate creative and innovative ideas, foster open discussion and collaboration, and organize and prioritize the ideas generated

Performance Review

The Performance Review meeting format provides a structured approach to evaluating the performance of employees, ensuring that all important topics are covered and helping to identify areas for improvement and growth

1 on 1

The 1 on 1 meeting format is a valuable tool for building stronger relationships between managers and team members, fostering open communication, and providing opportunities for feedback and growth

Standup

Using the daily standup meeting format can help teams stay aligned, identify and address potential blockers, and keep the momentum going towards achieving their goals

Sprint Review

Using the sprint review meeting format is important to evaluate the progress of a team during an Agile sprint and to plan for the next sprint

What is a retrospective template?

Retrospective templates are used to structure positive and negative feedback after a project is completed or a working sprint is completed. During retrospectives, teams reflect on their ways of working and continuously improve their production by examining current problems and goals, brainstorming new ideas, and identifying what actions are required to make progress.

GoRetro - What retrospective template good for

Why do you need retrospective templates?

Sprint retrospectives are a great way for your team to reflect on the previous sprint or milestone, the work that was done, the goals achieved, and to generate ideas for improvements. A good rule of thumb is to switch up the format every now and then – repeating the same agenda is tedious after a while. The use of different retrospective templates keeps meetings engaging and fun and allows team members to provide their own reflections.

3 benefits of using a retrospective template

Using the retrospective template, your team can discuss the challenges they encountered during a Sprint to solve problems and improve productivity. A good retrospective template is essential for maintaining a well-structured and organized retrospective, empowering all team members to express themselves, and gathering feedback in a simple way that can be implemented right away as an action item.

Keep the retrospective organized

Using our Sprint retrospective templates, your team will have a clear agenda for the meeting. The template is a tool that keeps you on track and brings everyone back to the central questions: What did we do well? How can we improve? What helped us move forward?

Incorporate feedback from different perspectives

By using the retrospective template, you can cultivate an environment where every team member feels comfortable sharing their ideas. The retrospective template is also a great way to analyze why your team is not progressing and how you might improve.

Boost efficiency and set actions

Generally, retrospective meetings are expensive since they require time and attention from a variety of stakeholders. The retrospective template will help you prepare for the meeting, keep everyone on task, and clarify what steps to take next. Using our Sprint retrospective template, your team has a structure to build on, so you can easily standardize your agenda but still update the retrospective project template over time.

How do GoRetro's templates work?

When creating a new retrospective board in GoRetro, you get to choose a template out of various popular retrospective templates. Once you choose a predefined template your board will be created with the template’s number of columns and respective names. You can then update the column titles, add more columns, remove and even change styling to adjust the template to your team’s flavor.

Can I create a custom retrospective template?

Yes you can! GoRetro’s simple and flexible boards can be customized to fit your team’s needs. When creating a board in GoRetro, you can either choose a predefined template, or choose a “Custom Columns” option.

To use your own template from scratch

Choose one of the “Custom Columns” options and click “Create”. Your board will be created with the number of columns you chose, each column will be named “Column 1", “Column 2” and so on.
Click on the column’s default name to rename it according to your desire.
If you need more columns for your custom template, click on the “New Column”.

To customize a predefined templates

Choose one of the predefined templates and click “Create”. Your board will be created with the template’s number of columns and respective names.
You can then update the columns’ title, add more columns, remove and even change styling to adjust the template to your team’s flavor.

Suggest your own retro template

Do you know or use another retrospective format which you found has been very effective for your dev team and process? Please share with us, and GoRetro may end up creating a new retrospective template to help others.

Suggest a template