claude-skills-reference/project-management/scrum-master/references/retro-formats.md

Sprint Retrospective Formats

Start/Stop/Continue

Best for: Teams new to retrospectives, quick format Duration: 45-60 minutes

Structure

Create three columns:

• Start: What should we begin doing?
• Stop: What should we stop doing?
• Continue: What's working well that we should keep doing?

Process

1. Team silently adds items to each column (10 min)
2. Group similar items (5 min)
3. Discuss each category, vote on top items (20 min)
4. Select 2-3 actions (10 min)

Example Output

Start:

• Pairing on complex stories
• Code reviews within 4 hours

Stop:

• Taking on work mid-sprint
• Skipping acceptance criteria

Continue:

• Daily standups at 9:30am
• Demo prep on Thursday

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Glad/Sad/Mad

Best for: Emotional check-in, team morale assessment Duration: 60-75 minutes

Structure

Create three areas:

• Glad: What made you happy this sprint?
• Sad: What disappointed you?
• Mad: What frustrated you?

Process

1. Silent brainstorming (10 min)
2. Share items, one person at a time (15 min)
3. Group themes (5 min)
4. Discuss top items from each category (20 min)
5. Identify action items (10 min)

Example Output

Glad:

• Shipped feature X on time
• Great collaboration with design team
• New deployment process worked well

Sad:

• Lost time to production bugs
• Didn't finish all committed work
• Documentation fell behind

Mad:

• Environment was down 2 days
• Requirements changed mid-sprint
• Still waiting on API key from vendor

Facilitation Tips

• Acknowledge emotions, don't dismiss
• Focus on what we can control
• Convert frustrations into actions

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4Ls (Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For)

Best for: Deeper reflection, learning focus Duration: 60-90 minutes

Structure

• Liked: What went well? What did we enjoy?
• Learned: What new insights did we gain?
• Lacked: What was missing? What did we need?
• Longed For: What do we wish we had?

Process

1. Individual reflection (10 min)
2. Round-robin sharing (20 min)
3. Group similar items (10 min)
4. Deep dive on top items (20 min)
5. Action planning (15 min)

Example Output

Liked:

• Pair programming sessions
• Clear acceptance criteria
• Product Owner availability

Learned:

• New testing framework capabilities
• How to better estimate stories
• Importance of architectural review

Lacked:

• Automated deployment
• Clear API documentation
• Sufficient testing time

Longed For:

• Better development environments
• More design time upfront
• Dedicated QA support

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Sailboat

Best for: Visual teams, identifying headwinds and tailwinds Duration: 60-90 minutes

Structure

Draw a sailboat with:

• Wind (propellers): What's helping us go faster?
• Anchors: What's slowing us down?
• Rocks (hazards): What risks are ahead?
• Island (goal): Where are we headed?

Process

1. Explain metaphor (5 min)
2. Team adds sticky notes to each area (15 min)
3. Group and discuss each area (30 min)
4. Prioritize anchors to remove (10 min)
5. Create action plan (15 min)

Example Output

Wind:

• Strong team collaboration
• Clear product vision
• Good tooling

Anchors:

• Slow CI/CD pipeline
• Too many meetings
• Technical debt

Rocks:

• Upcoming dependency on Team B
• Key person on vacation next sprint
• Infrastructure migration

Island:

• Launch v2.0 by end of quarter
• Improve system stability
• Reduce production bugs by 50%

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Timeline

Best for: Detailed sprint review, identifying patterns Duration: 75-90 minutes

Structure

Create a timeline of the sprint on a whiteboard:

• Days of the sprint across the top
• Events, milestones, feelings plotted on timeline

Process

1. Draw sprint timeline (5 min)
2. Team adds events chronologically (15 min)
3. Add emotion indicators (happy/sad/stressed) (10 min)
4. Identify patterns and themes (20 min)
5. Discuss high/low points (20 min)
6. Extract learnings and actions (15 min)

Example Timeline

Day 1: Sprint planning, feeling optimistic 😊
Day 3: Production bug discovered, stressed 😰
Day 5: Bug fixed, relieved 😌
Day 7: Design feedback changed scope, frustrated 😠
Day 9: Great pairing session on new feature 😊
Day 10: Demo went really well! 🎉

Facilitation Tips

• Focus on objective events first, emotions second
• Look for correlations between events and feelings
• Identify early warning signs
• Celebrate wins

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Starfish

Best for: More granular feedback than Start/Stop/Continue Duration: 60-90 minutes

Structure

Five categories:

• Keep Doing: What's working, don't change
• Less Of: What should we reduce?
• More Of: What should we increase?
• Stop Doing: What should we eliminate?
• Start Doing: What new practices should we try?

Process

1. Explain each category (5 min)
2. Silent brainstorming (15 min)
3. Share and group items (15 min)
4. Discuss each category (25 min)
5. Vote on top actions (10 min)
6. Create action plan (15 min)

Example Output

Keep Doing:

• Pairing on complex stories
• Demo every Friday

Less Of:

• Context switching
• Unplanned work

More Of:

• Automated testing
• Design upfront

Stop Doing:

• Skipping code reviews
• Working weekends

Start Doing:

• Mob programming for knowledge sharing
• Weekly architecture discussions

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Speed Dating

Best for: Large teams, fresh perspectives Duration: 60 minutes

Structure

• Pair up team members who don't usually work together
• Rotate pairs every 10 minutes
• Discuss sprint from different perspectives

Process

1. Create pairs (2 min)
2. Round 1: "What went well?" (10 min)
3. Rotate pairs (2 min)
4. Round 2: "What could improve?" (10 min)
5. Rotate pairs (2 min)
6. Round 3: "What should we try?" (10 min)
7. Full group synthesis (15 min)
8. Action planning (10 min)

Facilitation Tips

• Ensure quiet voices are heard
• Mix up pairs intentionally
• Capture themes as they emerge
• Focus on shared themes in synthesis

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Three Little Pigs

Best for: Architecture and technical decisions Duration: 60-75 minutes

Structure

Based on the story:

• Straw House: What's fragile? What will blow down?
• Stick House: What's okay but could be better?
• Brick House: What's solid and will last?

Process

1. Explain metaphor (5 min)
2. Team identifies items for each house (15 min)
3. Group and discuss (20 min)
4. Prioritize straw house items to fix (10 min)
5. Create action plan (15 min)

Example Output

Straw House (fragile):

• Manual deployment process
• No automated tests for API
• Undocumented code

Stick House (needs improvement):

• Test coverage at 60%
• Some documentation exists
• Partially automated builds

Brick House (solid):

• Strong CI/CD for frontend
• Well-tested core modules
• Clear architecture docs

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Facilitation Best Practices

Before Retrospective

• Review previous action items
• Gather sprint metrics
• Choose format based on team needs
• Prepare collaboration space

During Retrospective

• Set the stage: Create safe environment
• Prime directive: "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 situation at hand."
• Timebox discussions: Keep energy high
• Focus on actions: Not just talk
• Limit action items: 1-3 max for next sprint
• Get specific: Vague actions don't happen

After Retrospective

• Document immediately in Confluence
• Create Jira tickets for actions
• Assign owners and due dates
• Track completion
• Start next retro by reviewing these

Red Flags

• Same issues every retro → Need deeper intervention
• No action items → Team not engaged
• Blame game → Not safe environment
• No follow-through → Actions not valued
• Facilitator talks more than team → Not facilitating

Rotation Strategy

• Vary formats every 2-3 sprints
• Let team choose occasionally
• Match format to team mood
• Try new format when stuck