Quick Retrospective Template

About the Quick Retrospective Template

A retrospective template helps structure positive and negative feedback and plan improvements after a completed project or a working sprint. This quick retrospective template focuses on four main areas:

• Continue (what helped us move forward?)

• Stop (what held us back?)

• Invent (how could we do things differently?)

• Act (what should be do next?)

Teams run retrospectives online to reflect on their ways of working and continuously improve their production by discussing current problems and goals, brainstorming new ideas, and exploring which actions need to happen to keep moving forward.

What is a retrospective template?

A retrospective template empowers you to run insightful meetings, take stock of your work, and iterate effectively. The term “retrospective” has gained popularity over the more common “debriefing” and “post-mortem,” since it’s more value-neutral than the other terms. Some teams refer to these meetings as “sprint retrospectives” or “iteration retrospectives,” “agile retrospectives” or “iteration retrospectives.”

Whether you are a scrum team using the agile methodology or doing a specific type of retrospective (e.g. a mad, sad, glad retrospective), the goals are generally the same: discovering what went well, identifying the root cause of problems you had, and finding ways to do better in the next iteration.

3 benefits of using an Agile retrospective template

Miro's quick retrospective template helps your team solve problems and improve productivity by discussing the challenges you encountered during a sprint. One of the benefits of the retrospective format is that it gives equal power to all team members to open up and present their views.

Here are a few more benefits of using the quick sprint retrospective template:

1. Keeps the retrospective organized

Using a scrum retrospective template helps you avoid common pitfalls. For example, the goal of the retrospective is to brainstorm areas of improvement, but some employees may use the meeting simply to air their grievances. The template functions as a project management tool that allows you to stay on track and bring everyone back to your central questions: What did we do well? How can we improve? What helped us move forward?

2. Incorporates feedback from different perspectives

Moreover, noting these central questions can empower participants to speak up. Use the quick retrospective template to foster an environment in which every member of the team feels comfortable sharing their ideas. The retrospective template is also a good exercise to analyze what held your team back and how you could do things differently.

3. Boosts efficiency and set actions

Equally important, the template increases efficiency and cuts down on resource usage. Retrospective meetings tend to be costly since they demand time and attention from various stakeholders. Using the retrospective template can help you prepare for the meeting, keep everyone on task, and clarify action items and what to do next. You can quickly refer to previous retrospective templates to ensure you’re not discussing a redundant topic.

How to use the retrospective template in Miro

Miro's quick retrospective template can help make your next sprints more productive. Here are some tips for using the retrospective template during your next retro:

1. Add the template to your board

Share the retrospective template with team members prior to the meeting so they can already start thinking about their feedback and ideas. During the meeting, have team members add their thoughts on sticky notes in the respective sections. This can be done using private mode to reduce bias and groupthink.

2. Discuss as a group

Once everyone has added their thoughts, go through each section. Discuss each point, grouping similar items to identify common themes or issues. You can use Miro's voting feature to prioritize topics if there are too many to discuss in detail. Each team member can cast votes on the items they feel are most important.

3. Assign action items

Identify actionable steps based on the discussion. Assign owners and deadlines for each action item to ensure accountability.

4. Review and share

By using the scrum retrospective template every time you run a retro, you can keep the meeting focused to maintain energy and engagement. Share the filled-in template with all team members and stakeholders to document the outcomes of the retrospective. You can also include other file types such as images, videos, GIFs, and documents to store everything in one place.

Explore our comprehensive guide to retrospectives to ensure that you maximize the potential of every team session.