What went well, what can be improved

This is the simplest and most popular form of retro. Two columns, “pluses” and “minuses” of the iteration.

Step 1:
Prepare a table and cards

Create a table with 2 columns: “what went well/what can be improved”, or “pluses” and “minuses”, “what did you like”/”what can be changed” – virtually e.g., on Miro, or physically e.g., on a flipchart. Distribute post-it notes to participants, assign tiles in Asana, or somehow otherwise give them a chance to write down thoughts on each of the 2 topics so that they can be assigned and discussed.

Step 2:
Set a time limit for this exercise

Give the team 5-10 minutes per column. They must place at least 1 post-it in each column.

Step 3:
Discussion

Everyone discusses their notes, in the order of the column → the whole team discusses and you move to the next column.

Step 4:
Voting round

This step is optional. You can assign each team member 1-3 dots, or points, to vote for one action from the “minuses” section.

Step 5:
Designating actions

Assign actions to yourself and help the team implement changes during the next sprint.

Other tools in the area of
Progress Monitoring

Start/stop/continue

This is an easy-to-conduct tool that can be used when conducting meetings such as: retrospective, 1:1, periodic review, or business analysis. It does not require much preparation and opens up discussion. What would you like to start happening in your work as a leader?

Wishes / Appreciation / Risk / Puzzles

A simple tool to use with your team when discussing a completed project, sprint, task, or goal. It’s also useful for everyday team discussions about collaboration. Do you know what your team perceives as risk?

Skill Matrix

A skill matrix is a graphical representation of the skills relevant to a given individual’s job and the entire team. The tool can be simple or highly complex. Do you have matrices available for your colleagues’ positions in your organization?

The Sailboat Retrospective

This section of the Toolbox shows an example of a creative approach to the retrospective through a playful metaphor of a boat or sailboat. This approach uses the metaphor of a voyage to help the team see what drives their progress and what hinders it.