Sprint Retrospective Templates
Browse our library of sprint retrospective templates to find the perfect format for your next scrum retrospective, project post-mortem, or team check-in.
Showing 88 of 88 retrospective templates, used 607,205 times by teams worldwide 🚀
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Went Well - To Improve - Action Items
This technique is the most basic template you can use for your retrospective. It's very simple to use and understand. First, the team needs to brainstorm what went well in the previous sprint. After t... - 0 uses
Green - Yellow - Red
Start Stop is a great format to focus on the things that are working (continue), things that are not working (stop) and things that the team should start doing (start). It focus on the past, present a... - 0 uses
4Ls Retrospective
The 4Ls Retrospective model is an attempt to capture the natural thoughts that team members might have that can lead to continuous improvement. We naturally tend to think and share in terms of things ... - 0 uses
Sailboat Retrospective
Image with a sailboat dragging an anchor heading towards rocks. This retrospective technique uses a sailboat as a metaphor for the team. The team identifies anchors (that are holding us back) and wind... - 0 uses
Mad Sad Glad
Mad Sad Glad is an example of an organization tool that is employed by a team in order to encourage discussion of pertinent issues. It is a great way to list down all the strengths that a team exhibit... - 0 uses
Lean Coffee
Having been started in Seattle in 2009, Lean Coffee is a new format of holding meetings. It is extremely easy to learn and to adopt. As with all other business operations, when the word “Lean” is asso... - 0 uses
Thumbs up, Thumbs down, new ideas and recognition
The main idea is to pass the common retrospective dynamics like thumbs up and down. Including new ideas (team brainstorming) and recognition to continue grateful of people around. - 0 uses
Original 4
Norman Kerth created this technique and retrospectives as well. - 0 uses
Starfish Retrospective
Better known as the Starfish retrospective, this technique was developed by Patrick Kua with the intention of helping teams carrying out a job better understand what they did wrong and how they can ma... - 0 uses
Three Little Pigs
Based on the story of the three little pigs and their quest for at strong house to live in. - 0 uses
Speed Car Retrospective
Simple retrospective using a Speed Car metaphor. Engine - Things that are moving is faster. Prachute - Things we believe are slowing us down and we can change. - 0 uses
Happy - Meh - Sad
Very similar to Mad - Sad - Glad, but a little more focused on the sentiment graduation - 0 uses
KALM Retrospective
Things that your team need to keep, things you need to add, things that you need more of and things you need less of. - 0 uses
Harry Potter
In this retrospective, your team will use Harry Potter spells and artifacts to brainstorm and improve. Felix Felicis! The good things that happened on the sprint. Baruffio's Brain Elixir! The things ... - 0 uses
Marie Kondo Method
This retrospective template was inspired by the KonMari method, created by Marie Kondo and described in her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up". - 0 uses
Game of Thrones
This retrospective format is inspired by the series Game of Thrones. Your team should reflect on what are you great at, what are the current issues on the team, what could make you better as a team an... - 0 uses
Pros and Cons
At one point or the other, we are all faced with difficult decisions that require taking immediate action. Sometimes, we are even convinced that we know the best solution to a problem, so we make quic... - 0 uses
Love - Want - Hate - Learn
Share what you love, want, hate and learn from the iteration phase - 0 uses
DAKI
DAKI retrospective is a technique that allows a team to assess the areas that it needs to work on while also adopting new methodologies in the way they function. DAKI is an abbreviation for: Drop, Add... - 0 uses
3 L's
Accounts for what the team thought went well, what they learned and benefited from and what we can improve upon - 0 uses
Sprint Diagnostics
A technique to analyse team's behavioural and technical changes, challenges, achievements over the sprint. - 0 uses
Kudos Retrospective
This technique consists of the basic retrospective template (What went well, Things to improve and action items), but it adds an extra column for the team to create Kudo Cards to give recognition of a... - 0 uses
The Pacman
Based on this information, what could be some actions to improve? - 0 uses
Six Thinking Hats
The Six Thinking Hats is an efficient technique that uses different points of view to look at decisions. It helps us see a different outlook from the usual styles of thinking to a more rounded view of... - 0 uses
Hot Air Ballon Retrospective
Imagine your project is a hot-air ballon and there are a couple of forces in place. The sandbags and storms are the things holding the project back and the hot air and fire is pushing the project forw... - 0 uses
Facebook Reactions
The template is based on emoji comment reactions from Facebook. The team uses the six categories based on the emoji faces- what they liked, what they loved, what made them laugh, what surprised them, ... - 0 uses
The Elvis Retrospective
The Elvis retrospective is most suited to development teams (in the broadest sense of the word) as not all elements might apply equally to run teams or groups that simply have to coordinate their sepa... - 0 uses
One word - Battery Check
Quick retrospective to determine any issues a team might have had and gage the team members mood going into next sprint - 0 uses
More Better Different Less
Go through each column in turn More, Better, Different, Less and then vote on them. - 0 uses
Rose Bud Thorn
Rose Bud Thorn is a technique used in Design Thinking to understand what's working, what is not and areas of opportunity. "Rose" is for things that are working well and positive things. "Bud" is for t... - 0 uses
Genie in a Bottle
This technique is inspired by the story of Genie in a bottle. What is the one wish you would like to ask for your team? - 0 uses
start stop continue
start stop continue - 0 uses
Good Bad Better Best
Section is called "Good, bad, better, best" https://backlog.com/blog/three-ways-run-productive-retrospective/ - 0 uses
Futurespective
Don't look back in anger. Look forward in hope - 0 uses
FLAP Retrospective
As good practice, remember to set the stage and ensure that people are reminded that is not a process of blame, but for identifying potential areas for change. If you have run this retrospective metho... - 0 uses
Likes / Wishes / Wonders
Things you liked, things you wished went different, thing you still wonder about the team / process - 0 uses
WWW
The WWW is a great data gathering activity for retrospectives. The 3 Ws stand for: Worked well, kinda Worked, didn’t Work. - 0 uses
Nailed It!
End of project retrospective to know what people learnt / enjoyed most on this project - 0 uses
Well Better Try Puzzle
What went well? (What were you pleased with or produced good outcome?) What could have gone better? (What went wrong or what areas do you see for improvement?) What do we want to try? (What innovative... - 0 uses
WRAP Retrospective
Inspired by Actions for Retrospectives from Innovationgames, this technique is good for keeping the team engaged and make the retrospective more fun. - 0 uses
First Feel
This technique gets the initial honest thoughts about the iteration from the scrum team - 0 uses
End of the year retro
End of year Team Retro focused with holiday themes - 0 uses
Team topics
This template focuses on gathering feedback on 4 team topics: - Speed / Velocity - Definition of Ready & Definition of Done - Workflow - Communication - 0 uses
Learning Matrix
After discussing the data from Gather Data The team members can add their input to any quadrant. One thought per sticky note. Cluster the notes. Hand out 6-10 dots for people to vote on the most i... - 0 uses
Hero's Journey
Hero's Journey the hero; who is the person or the group going through the journey the guide; the people and things guiding the hero the cavern; the challenges ahead the treasure; the awards and achie... - 0 uses
Futurespective Grow Model
The goals you wish to achieve.The realities you should consider in the context of the decision process.The options open to you in order to decide.Your way forward; your specific action plan to maximiz... - 0 uses
Winning-Puzzling-Improving
Recurring Retro for larger groups. Participants will highlight wins for the period, what still puzzles them and what can be improved on. - 0 uses
Pre Mortem Retro
Analyze what could go wrong in the next release - 0 uses
Goldilocks
Based on the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairy tale, this takes a new spin on Start, Stop, Continue. What are the things that are Too Cold that we need to turn up the heat on (start doing); What ar... - 0 uses
SSS - Start Stop Support
To get commitment from the team members to change their behaviour in the coming sprint to improve ways of working and increase transparency on expectations on each others. Very powerful tool to use! - 0 uses
Sharks and Chimps
This is based on a technique described in Radical Candor, and is designed to facilitate communication and openness about risk-taking. (In Radical Candor it's described as Tigers and Monkeys I believe... - 0 uses
Quintuple As Retrospective
Awesome - What were the things you liked or thought went well during the sprint? Aggravation - What were the things you did not like or were a source of aggravation during the sprint? Adjust - What ... - 0 uses
Coffee Appreciation Actions
This technique is very much based on lean coffee and enables the team to add items to discuss and be voted on, however, it also enables the team to add Kudos cards as well as track any actions that ne... - 0 uses
Your sprint as a movie
Think of the sprint as a movie and tell us title and genre of it For instance "Back to the future" - sci-fi The main proplem found was not knowing if everything was going to work as expected to s C... - 0 uses
Olympic Results
This is somewhat akin to the 'three little pigs' retro, but with olympic medals to represent how well we are doing something, plus a 'personal best' column to allow everyone to share a specific succes... - 0 uses
A Night at the Oscars
Think of this Retrospective as a "Night at the Oscars". - 0 uses
Celebrating success and failure
Celebration Grid: Celebrate both success and failure. We are learning equally from the both. This helps to stop, think and analyse. - 0 uses
Festive Christmas End Of Year Retro
Team to add cards in each column before the meeting, at the start of the meeting team will vote on the cards. Cards then discussed in order of the most votes first. - 0 uses
Glad - Wondering - Bad - Action - Appreciate
Enhances the classic 3-column (went well, could've been better, action items) format with 2 additional columns: "I'm wondering" is meant for thought-provoking questions, like "Are we getting value fr... - 0 uses
Appreciation Retro
The purpose of retrospectives * Continuous improvement of the team and its processes * Foster an empathetic team culture where members are unafraid to ask hard questions and have courageous conversa... - 0 uses
Retro StarWars
This template is based in Star Wars. The idea is to change the classical Good, Bad, Actions with The Light, The dark side, Padawns (optional) & the actions to reach the force - 0 uses
New Hire Connections
Retro on employees new hire experience when creating connections at work - 0 uses
Football Retro
The template consists of the following metrics, which are also used in a football statistic Shoot: What have I achieved? Assist: How could I help my team members? Pass: How get I help from my team mem... - 0 uses
Good, Bad, Learned, and Learning
4 columns for what went well, what didn't go well, what was or was expected to be learned, and I plan to learn next sprint. - 0 uses
Glad / Sad / How Might We / We Will
1) The team lists things that happened during the sprint that made them Glad / Sad (first 2 columns). 2) Come up with challenges to the current operation in the "How might we ... ?"* format (3rd colum... - 0 uses
Donut Shop
The Donut Shop Retro is best when done in person (you can bring actual donuts in) but also easy to run virtually. It helps teams reflect on what has hidden value, what can be improved upon and what is... - 0 uses
What a Good / What a Pity / What if
First column you present good things that happened in the last sprint and you want to keep it Second column you say things you think were not good Third you suggest ways to solve what you think was ... - 0 uses
Avengers-themed retrospective
Each team member bring their own perspectives and “super powers” for collaboration and teamwork. - 0 uses
Liked - Lacked - Change
Liked-Lacked-Change Retrospective is a retro exercise to help team members not only express what's been good or bad recently, but what they need to change individually and collectively in order to imp... - 0 uses
Quarantine Retro
To start the retrospective, the facilitator will share the team’s key data points to provide insight on the team's progress throughout the sprint and current PI. The team will then discuss the data p... - 0 uses
Baseball Retrospective
Start off with gauging initial reaction to the sprint with a press conference. Then go into the retro. Picked off - Did anything catch us off guard? Outs - What was not good. Foul Balls - What can w... - 0 uses
Among Us
Based on the popular game currently (in 2020) Among Us. The team would all jump in a round of Among Us to lift the mood. And then we start the Retro. - 0 uses
Happy Diwali Retro
Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available and the... - 0 uses
First retro of the year
Share your wishes to the Team, plan the year with your team and start it in a good mode. It's similar to "Happy-Sad" retro - 0 uses
ALC Retrospective
A 4 pronged approach where you can acknowledge the contributions of your team members, call out items that went well, identify areas for improvements and follow up on actions items. - 0 uses
Holistic Advantages and Impediments Team Review
Single or multi-team initiative has completed and it's time to have everyone review the structure of the teams and processes for improvement. This is a relatively longer session because it's meant to ... - 0 uses
Retro Wedding
This is a fun retrospective format that gets your team thinking of things from a different perspective. Source: https://retromat.org/en/?id=89 - 0 uses
The Grinch
This is a great retro for anyone familiar with the Grinch (book, movie or cartoon) and perfect around the holidays. The columns are fairly self explanatory. - 0 uses
Ghosts of Christmas
This template is perfect for a sprint or end of year retro. It also works well as a end or project post mortem tool - 0 uses
Something Positive
Take a positive look back at the previous sprint, while still giving space to share learnings and to vent. - 0 uses
Release Retro Template
This is a post-mortem after the release to capture not only the good, bad, ugly but also what and how to improve before the next release - 0 uses
Easy As Pie
Easy As Pie is a good retrospective activity to look for improvements, to apologize for personal mistakes, to present new ideas and to recognise the good things. Humble Pie -Admit a wrong that occurr... - 0 uses
Snow White
Based on Snow white fairytale and the most known retrospective technique - what went well / what to improve? - Seven dwarfs - a column to write positive actions and things during previous sprint - P... - 0 uses
Energy Levels
The energy levels retrospective asks team members to reflect on which parts of their work they feel excited about (high energy), which they feel good about (medium energy) and which parts they find di... - 0 uses
Who Moved My Cheese?
Retrospective template based on the quotes from the book "Who Moved My Cheese?". With this retrospective you and your team are going to reflect on: - What worked well this sprint? - What status quo c... - 0 uses
Cupid's Retrospective Template
This activity was conceived to generate positive discussions and warm the heart of your team members. Cupid retrospective helps you reflect on your last work cycle by emphasizing the positive elements... - 0 uses
Plus Delta Template
A plus delta template is a simple way to objectively evaluate your team or project's status. Here’s what it looks like, how to use it and why you should. What is the plus? + The plus is an operator ... - 0 uses
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What Is a Retrospective Template?
A retrospective template is a structured format that guides your team through a retrospective meeting. Each template provides a unique framework for collecting feedback, spotting patterns, and creating action items. Whether your team follows Scrum, Kanban, or another agile methodology, using a well-designed retro template keeps discussions focused, ensures every voice is heard, and turns reflections into concrete improvements for the next sprint.
Sprint Retrospective Templates for Scrum Teams
A sprint retrospective template is designed specifically for Scrum teams to reflect at the end of each sprint. The Scrum Guide recommends holding a sprint retrospective after every sprint review to inspect how the last sprint went with regard to people, relationships, processes, and tools. Popular sprint retrospective templates include Start Stop Continue, Went Well / To Improve, and the Sailboat Retrospective. Using a dedicated sprint retro template helps your Scrum Master facilitate the meeting efficiently, keeps the discussion timeboxed, and ensures the team walks away with clear, actionable improvements for the next sprint.
Popular Retrospective Template Formats
There are dozens of retrospective formats to choose from, each suited to different team dynamics and goals. Here are some of the most popular ones:
- Start Stop Continue — team members list what to start, stop, and continue doing.
- Mad Sad Glad — focuses on emotions to surface frustrations early.
- Sailboat Retrospective — uses a visual metaphor of wind, anchors, rocks, and an island.
- 4Ls — Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed For.
- Rose Bud Thorn — balanced positivity with growth areas.
- Starfish — nuanced action planning across five categories.
- DAKI — Drop, Add, Keep, and Improve framework.
Exploring different formats regularly prevents retrospective fatigue and keeps your team engaged.
How to Choose the Right Retrospective Format
The best retrospective format depends on your team size, meeting cadence, and current goals. For teams new to retrospectives, straightforward templates like Start Stop Continue or Went Well / To Improve work well because they are easy to explain and quick to run. If your team has been doing retros for a while and engagement is dropping, switching to a creative format like the Sailboat Retrospective or Speed Car can re-energize the conversation. For teams dealing with conflict or low morale, emotion-focused templates like Mad Sad Glad or Glad Sad Mad help surface feelings in a safe way. When you need deep analysis of a specific incident, try the Five Whys or Fishbone Diagram to get to root causes.
Benefits of Using Retrospective Templates
Running retrospectives with a template delivers several advantages over unstructured meetings. Templates provide a clear agenda so every team member knows what to expect and can prepare their thoughts in advance. They create psychological safety by giving people a structured way to share criticism and praise equally. Templates also make it easy to track improvements over time — when you use the same format periodically, you can compare outputs sprint over sprint. Finally, digital retrospective templates on tools like EasyRetro allow distributed and remote teams to collaborate asynchronously, making retrospectives inclusive regardless of time zones or work schedules.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should my team run a retrospective?
Most agile teams run a retrospective at the end of every sprint, typically every one to two weeks. The key is consistency — regular retrospectives build a habit of continuous improvement.
Can I customize these retrospective templates?
Yes. Every template on EasyRetro can be used as-is or customized. You can rename columns, add new ones, adjust voting rules, and set timers. You can also create your own template from scratch.
What is the difference between a retrospective and a post-mortem?
A retrospective is a recurring meeting for continuous improvement after each sprint. A post-mortem is held after a specific incident to find root causes. Retrospectives are lighter and more frequent.
How do I run a retrospective with a remote or hybrid team?
Use an online tool like EasyRetro — share a board link, choose a template, and let everyone add thoughts in real time or asynchronously. Anonymous posting, voting, and timers keep it focused and inclusive.
Ready to run your next retrospective?
Pick a template above and start your free retrospective board in seconds — no sign-up required.