Retrospective Board

What is a Retrospective?

A retrospective (or "retro") is a structured meeting where teams reflect on recent work to identify improvements. Originating from Agile and Scrum methodologies, retrospectives embody the principle of continuous improvement—the idea that teams should regularly examine their processes and behaviors to become more effective over time. While common in software development, retrospectives benefit any team doing iterative work.

The Start/Stop/Continue Framework

This simple yet powerful framework organizes feedback into three actionable categories:

How to Run a Great Retrospective

1. Set the stage (5 min): Welcome everyone, state the retro's purpose, and remind the team that this is a safe space for honest feedback.
2. Gather data (10-15 min): Have each participant silently add items to Start, Stop, and Continue categories. Use timers to keep pace.
3. Group and discuss (15-20 min): Cluster similar items, then discuss each cluster. Focus on understanding, not defending.
4. Vote on priorities (5 min): Each person gets 3 votes to identify the most impactful items to address.
5. Define action items (10 min): For top-voted items, create specific, assignable action items with owners and due dates.
6. Close the loop: At the next retro, review action items from last time. Did we follow through? What was the impact?

Creating Psychological Safety

The effectiveness of a retrospective depends entirely on whether team members feel safe being honest. Without psychological safety, people will share only surface-level observations. To foster openness: establish that retros are blame-free zones, have leaders speak last (to avoid anchoring), consider anonymous input for sensitive topics, and always follow through on action items to show that feedback matters.

Alternative Retrospective Formats