Below I have given few retrospective formats with sample answers to provide clarity:
1. Start, Stop, Continue
- Question: What should we start, stop, and continue doing?
- Start: “Having a mid-sprint check-in to ensure we’re on track.”
- Stop: “Overloading the sprint with too many stories.”
- Continue: “Pair programming for complex tasks—it’s been very effective.”
2. Sailboat Exercise
- Scenario: Reflect on what helps or hinders progress.
- Wind (what pushes us forward): “Clear requirements from the Product Owner.”
- Anchors (what holds us back): “Slow code reviews delaying deployments.”
- Rocks (risks ahead): “Upcoming holidays might affect our velocity.”
- Island (our goal): “Successfully releasing the new feature set.”
3. Mad, Sad, Glad
- Prompt: Share moments that made you mad, sad, or glad.
- Mad: “The build broke three times, and we had to halt progress.”
- Sad: “We didn’t get feedback from the client before the sprint ended.”
- Glad: “Our daily stand-ups were short and focused—saved a lot of time.”
4. 4Ls Framework
- Prompt: Reflect on what you liked, learned, lacked, and longed for.
- Liked: “Our CI/CD pipeline improvements made deployments smoother.”
- Learned: “The new logging tool helped debug issues faster.”
- Lacked: “Better communication between front-end and back-end teams.”
- Longed for: “More time for knowledge sharing sessions.”
5. Lean Coffee
- Topics Suggested:
- “Improving sprint planning accuracy.”
- “Addressing delays in code reviews.”
- “Making retrospectives more engaging.”
- Discussion Example:
- Topic: Delays in code reviews.
- “Let’s set a 24-hour SLA for reviews and rotate responsibilities weekly.”
- Topic: Delays in code reviews.
6. Starfish
- Prompt: What should we start, stop, continue, do more of, and do less of?
- Start: “Proactively asking for help when blocked.”
- Stop: “Adding work mid-sprint without proper discussion.”
- Continue: “Documenting discussions and decisions in Confluence.”
- Do more of: “Testing early to catch bugs sooner.”
- Do less of: “Having lengthy debates in meetings.”
7. Timeline Retrospective
- Scenario: Reflecting on sprint events chronologically.
- Positive Event: “We completed a major feature ahead of time!”
- Negative Event: “Mid-sprint, we discovered a blocker due to missing dependencies.”
- Key Milestone: “All test cases passed in one go for the first time.”
8. Emoji Retrospective
- Prompt: Use emojis to describe the sprint and explain why.
- Example Emojis: 🚀, 😅, 🛑, 🎉
- 🚀: “We started strong and made a lot of progress initially.”
- 😅: “Midway, things got hectic with unexpected bugs.”
- 🛑: “One task had to be deprioritized due to lack of resources.”
- 🎉: “We delivered on time despite challenges!”
- Example Emojis: 🚀, 😅, 🛑, 🎉
9. Stoplight (Green, Yellow, Red)
- Prompt: Categorize items under green (good), yellow (needs attention), and red (bad).
- Green: “Our sprint goal was well-defined and achievable.”
- Yellow: “Team morale fluctuated due to workload.”
- Red: “We missed a dependency that blocked progress for two days.”
10. Reverse Retrospective
- Prompt: Imagine if the sprint was a disaster. What went wrong?
- Responses:
- “We didn’t test anything before deployment, leading to major issues.”
- “Communication broke down, and stories weren’t properly clarified.”
- “We overloaded the sprint and couldn’t finish key tasks.”
- Responses:
11. Pirate Retrospective
- Categories:
- Treasure (what worked well): “Team collaboration during crunch time.”
- Parrot (things to communicate better): “More frequent updates on blocker resolution.”
- Storms (challenges faced): “Delayed API responses impacted testing timelines.”
- Map (guidance or plans): “Document clear ownership of stories upfront.”
12. The Perfection Game
- Prompt: Rate the sprint on a scale of 1-10 and explain your rating.
- Example Rating: 7/10
- “I gave a 7 because while we delivered on time, the last-minute bug fixes were stressful. To make it a 10, we need more thorough testing early on.”
- Example Rating: 7/10
13. Happiness Histogram
- Prompt: Rate your happiness during the sprint on a scale of 1-10.
- Example Ratings:
- “8: I felt productive and supported throughout.”
- “5: I struggled with unclear priorities.”
- “7: Happy with the outcome, but the process was chaotic.”
- Example Ratings:
14. Kudos Cards
- Prompt: Share kudos with your teammates.
- Example:
- “Kudos to Alex for stepping in to help with testing when we were short-staffed!”
- “Shout-out to Maria for clarifying requirements quickly when we were blocked.”
- Example:
15. Reverse Retrospective
- How it works:
- Ask the team to imagine how the sprint could have been a disaster.
- Discuss what actions led to that outcome.
- Identify ways to avoid those actions in the future.
- Why it works: Helps identify hidden risks through creative thinking.
16. Stoplight
- How it works:
- Use three categories:
- Green (what’s working well, keep doing it).
- Yellow (needs attention or monitoring).
- Red (problems to stop immediately).
- Use three categories:
- Why it works: Simple and intuitive.
17. The Perfection Game
- How it works:
- Each team member scores the sprint from 1 to 10.
- Share what would make it a 10.
- Why it works: Drives specific suggestions for improvement.
18. Squad Health Check
- How it works:
- Use visual indicators (e.g., traffic lights or smiley faces) to assess team health in areas like collaboration, tools, or morale.
- Why it works: Tracks overall team well-being.
19. Pirate Retrospective
- How it works:
- Categories:
- Treasure (things of value).
- Map (guidance or plans).
- Storms (challenges).
- Parrots (things to improve communication).
- Categories:
- Why it works: Adds creativity and fun.
20. Happiness Histogram
- How it works:
- Ask team members to rate their happiness during the sprint on a scale (e.g., 1-10).
- Create a histogram and discuss patterns.
- Why it works: Focuses on team morale and motivation.
These sample answers showcase how to use different formats effectively. Tailor them to your team’s context for the best results!