15 Retrospective Templates Your Team Will Actually Enjoy
Your team has been doing "What went well / What didn't go well" for six months straight. Nobody says it out loud, but everyone's bored. The notes get shorter. The discussions get shallower. People start skipping the retro entirely.
The fix is simple: change the format.
A different retrospective template doesn't just add novelty - it changes which thoughts surface. A "Mad / Sad / Glad" retro pulls out emotional reactions that a standard pros-and-cons format never would. A "Sailboat" retro gets the team thinking about risks they're currently ignoring. The format shapes the conversation.
Here are 15 retrospective templates that work, organized from simplest to most creative. Each one includes what it is, when to use it, how to run it, and a link to try it.
1. Start / Stop / Continue
The most widely used retrospective template and the best starting point for teams new to retros.
Three columns:
- Start - things the team should begin doing next sprint
- Stop - things the team should quit doing
- Continue - things that are working and should keep going
When to use it: First retros with a new team, or anytime you want a quick, low-overhead session. Works well when the team is short on time.
Facilitation tip: The "Stop" column tends to fill up fastest. If "Continue" stays empty, prompt the team: "What's one thing we did this sprint that we should make sure doesn't accidentally change?" That reframe helps people recognize good habits they're taking for granted.
2. What Went Well / What Didn't / Action Items
A slight variation on Start/Stop/Continue that separates observation from action.
Three columns:
- What went well - successes and wins
- What didn't go well - problems and frustrations
- Action items - specific changes for next sprint
When to use it: Teams that generate lots of observations but struggle to turn them into commitments. The dedicated action items column forces the conversation toward "so what are we going to do about it?"
Facilitation tip: Don't let people put items directly in the Action Items column during the writing phase. Notes go into the first two columns, then the team collectively decides which ones graduate to actions during discussion.
3. Went Well / Didn't Go Well / Ideas to Try
Similar to #2 but with a more forward-looking third column.
Three columns:
- Went well - what worked this sprint
- Didn't go well - what fell short
- Ideas to try - experiments and changes for next sprint
When to use it: When your team tends to get stuck on problems without proposing solutions. The "Ideas to try" framing is deliberately experimental - it lowers the pressure of committing to a permanent change and encourages creative thinking. People are more willing to suggest something bold if it's positioned as an experiment rather than a new rule.
Facilitation tip: Push the team to be specific in the "Ideas to try" column. "Communicate better" isn't an idea to try. "Post a 2-sentence async standup in Slack every morning by 10am" is. If a note is vague, ask: "What would that look like in practice next sprint?"
4. 4Ls: Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
Four columns that add nuance beyond good/bad.
- Liked - what did you enjoy about this sprint?
- Learned - what new knowledge or skills did the team gain?
- Lacked - what was missing that you needed?
- Longed For - what do you wish you had?
When to use it: After a sprint where significant learning happened - a new technology, a new team member onboarding, or a shift in process. The "Learned" column captures value that a simpler format would miss. Also good after a tough sprint where you want to balance criticism with recognition.
Facilitation tip: "Lacked" and "Longed For" can feel similar. Explain the difference: "Lacked" is about this sprint specifically (we lacked clear acceptance criteria), while "Longed For" is aspirational (I wish we had automated deployment). This distinction surfaces both immediate fixes and longer-term improvements.
5. Mad / Sad / Glad
An emotion-first format that gets at how the sprint felt.
- Mad - what frustrated you?
- Sad - what disappointed you?
- Glad - what made you happy?
When to use it: When morale is low, when you suspect people are holding back, or when the team has been through a rough sprint and needs to vent constructively. The emotional framing gives people permission to express things they'd filter out in a more clinical format.
Facilitation tip: This template can surface heavy stuff. If someone shares something vulnerable in "Mad" or "Sad," acknowledge it before moving on. A simple "That sounds really frustrating - thank you for raising it" goes further than immediately jumping to solutions. Let the team sit with the emotion for a moment before problem-solving.
6. Sailboat
A visual metaphor that adds a forward-looking dimension most templates lack.
- Wind - what's pushing us forward? (positive forces)
- Anchor - what's holding us back? (drag and friction)
- Rocks - what risks are ahead? (potential future problems)
- Island - what's our destination? (the goal)
When to use it: When the team feels stuck or directionless, mid-project retros, or when you want the team to think about risks instead of only reflecting backward. The "Rocks" column is the unique value - most retro formats only look at what already happened.
Facilitation tip: Fill in the "Island" first as a group. Agree on the destination before discussing what's helping or hindering progress. This grounds the entire conversation in a shared goal, which prevents the retro from becoming a disconnected list of complaints.
7. KPT: Keep, Problem, Try
A Japanese-origin format popular in lean and kaizen-influenced teams. Simple but with a subtle shift that makes a big difference.
- Keep - what's working and should continue?
- Problem - what's not working?
- Try - what should we experiment with?
When to use it: Anytime, but especially good for teams that are familiar with lean thinking or continuous improvement cycles. KPT is less about how you feel and more about what you observe and what you'll do about it. The "Try" column (instead of "Action Items" or "Start") deliberately lowers commitment pressure - you're running an experiment, not making a permanent decision.
Facilitation tip: After each retro, track your "Try" items over 2–3 sprints. If a "Try" keeps showing up sprint after sprint without being attempted, it either needs to be promoted to a real commitment or dropped honestly. The experimental framing only works if the team actually experiments.
8. DAKI: Drop, Add, Keep, Improve
Action-oriented from the start. Every column implies a change (or a deliberate decision not to change).
- Drop - what should we stop doing?
- Add - what new thing should we introduce?
- Keep - what should stay exactly as it is?
- Improve - what exists but needs to work better?
When to use it: When the team has been doing retros for a while and is tired of vague observations. DAKI forces specificity because every column is a verb. You can't just say "code reviews are slow" - you have to put it in Improve ("improve code review turnaround") or Drop ("drop the requirement for two approvals on small PRs").
Facilitation tip: The "Keep" column is just as important as the others. It makes the team explicitly acknowledge what's working and commit to protecting it. Without it, good practices erode without anyone noticing.
9. Lean Coffee Retro
A format built around moving from conversation to commitment. No observation columns - the entire structure is oriented toward outcomes.
- Discuss - topics the team needs to talk about
- Decide - decisions that need to be made
- Do Next - concrete actions with owners
When to use it: When your retros produce good discussion but weak follow-through. This format makes the gap between talking and doing painfully visible. If the "Do Next" column is empty at the end, the team can see they've spent the whole session discussing without deciding anything.
Facilitation tip: During the writing phase, encourage notes in the "Discuss" column only. Then use discussion time to move items rightward - from Discuss into Decide, and from Decide into Do Next. The physical movement of sticky notes from left to right creates a visual sense of progress that keeps the team focused on reaching decisions, not just debating.
10. 5 Whys
Not a standard column-based template - it's a root cause analysis technique adapted for retrospectives.
How it works:
- The team identifies the single biggest problem from the sprint
- Ask: "Why did this happen?" and write the answer
- Ask "Why?" again about that answer
- Repeat 5 times (or until you hit the root cause)
- Define an action that addresses the root cause, not the surface symptom
When to use it: When the same problem keeps appearing sprint after sprint despite previous action items. Surface-level fixes ("let's be more careful") haven't worked because they're treating symptoms. 5 Whys forces the team down to the structural cause. Also great after an incident or outage.
Facilitation tip: Most teams stop at the second or third "why" because it gets uncomfortable. The deeper whys often point to systemic issues - unclear ownership, missing processes, or organizational constraints that feel hard to change. That discomfort is the point. Push through it gently. You won't always reach five whys, and that's fine - stop when the team hits something they can actually act on.
11. Rose / Bud / Thorn
A nature metaphor that balances positivity with growth.
- Rose - something positive that happened
- Bud - something with potential that hasn't fully developed
- Thorn - something painful or problematic
When to use it: When you want a gentler tone than "what went wrong." The language itself is softer - "thorns" feels less accusatory than "problems," and "buds" encourages optimism. Good for teams that are conflict-averse or newly formed.
Facilitation tip: Spend extra time on "Buds." This is where the most interesting ideas hide - things that almost worked, experiments that showed promise, process changes that need more time. Teams often rush past buds to get to thorns, but the buds are where growth actually happens.
12. Starfish
Five categories instead of the usual three, for teams ready for a more granular conversation.
- Keep Doing - things that work well
- More Of - things that work but we need to increase
- Less Of - things that aren't helping and should be reduced
- Stop Doing - things to eliminate completely
- Start Doing - new things to try
When to use it: Mature agile teams that find three-column formats too blunt. The distinction between "Less Of" and "Stop" is subtle but important - some things aren't worth killing entirely, just dialing back. Same with "Keep" vs. "More Of."
Facilitation tip: Give specific examples when explaining the difference between columns. "Less Of" might be "spending 90 minutes in sprint planning" while "Stop" might be "assigning stories to people who didn't pick them." One needs adjusting, the other needs eliminating.
13. Lean Coffee
Not a template with fixed columns - it's a format where the team sets the agenda in real time.
How it works:
- Everyone writes topics they want to discuss on sticky notes (5 min)
- Vote on which topics to discuss first (2 min)
- Discuss the top-voted topic for 5 minutes
- At the 5-minute mark, vote: thumbs up (keep going) or thumbs down (move on)
- Repeat until time runs out
When to use it: When the team has specific issues they want to dig into deeply rather than broadly surveying the whole sprint. Also good when the team is frustrated with surface-level retros and wants more substantive conversations.
Facilitation tip: Strictly enforce the 5-minute timebox and the thumb vote. The magic of Lean Coffee is that boring or resolved topics get cut quickly, and important topics get the time they deserve. Without the timebox, it's just a regular meeting.
14. Three Little Pigs
A creative format inspired by the fairy tale that evaluates the strength of your team's practices.
- House of Straw - what feels fragile and could break anytime?
- House of Sticks - what's okay but wouldn't survive real pressure?
- House of Bricks - what's solid and reliable?
When to use it: After a stressful sprint or incident. The metaphor frames the conversation around resilience, which surfaces different insights than "what went well/badly." It also naturally leads to action: how do we turn straw houses into brick houses?
Facilitation tip: Ask the team to put their CI/CD pipeline, testing strategy, documentation, on-call process, and other specific practices into the three houses. This makes it concrete instead of abstract. You'll often find that things the team assumes are "brick" are actually "sticks."
15. The Timeline
A chronological format that maps out the sprint week by week (or day by day).
How it works:
- Draw a horizontal timeline across the board representing the sprint
- Everyone adds sticky notes at specific points in time - positive events above the line, negative events below
- Discuss the patterns: where do problems cluster? When did things go well?
When to use it: After a chaotic sprint where a lot happened, or when you want to understand the sequence of events rather than just the outcomes. The timeline reveals patterns you'd never notice in a category-based format - like "we always have a bad day 3 because that's when requirements change."
Facilitation tip: Prepare the timeline visual before the retro starts. Label the days or weeks of the sprint. This gives the team an anchor and helps them recall specific events they might otherwise forget.
How to Pick the Right Template
Don't overthink it. Here's a simple decision framework:
New team or first retro? Start with Start/Stop/Continue (#1) or What Went Well/Didn't (#2). Learn the basics before getting creative.
Team is bored with retros? Switch to something visual: Sailboat (#6), Three Little Pigs (#14), or the Timeline (#15). The novelty alone re-engages people.
Morale is low? Use Mad/Sad/Glad (#5) or Rose/Bud/Thorn (#11). Give the team space to express how they feel, not just what they observed.
Team needs to focus on risks? Sailboat (#6). The "Rocks" column catches future problems that standard templates skip.
Retros produce talk but no action? DAKI (#8), Discuss/Decide/Do Next (#9), or KPT (#7). All three force the conversation toward concrete commitments.
Same problem keeps recurring? 5 Whys (#10). Stop treating symptoms and find the root cause.
Want deeper discussion, not broader coverage? Lean Coffee (#13). Let the team decide what matters most and go deep on it.
After a chaotic sprint? Timeline (#15). Map what happened chronologically to spot patterns.
A Rotation Schedule That Works
If you're running two-week sprints, here's a 12-sprint (6 month) rotation that keeps retros fresh:
Sprint 1: Start/Stop/Continue - Sprint 2: 4Ls - Sprint 3: Sailboat - Sprint 4: Mad/Sad/Glad - Sprint 5: DAKI - Sprint 6: Lean Coffee - Sprint 7: KPT - Sprint 8: Rose/Bud/Thorn - Sprint 9: 5 Whys - Sprint 10: Three Little Pigs - Sprint 11: Discuss/Decide/Do Next - Sprint 12: Timeline
Then reset, or swap in Went Well/Didn't/Ideas to Try (#3) and Starfish (#12) for the ones your team liked least. Over time you'll develop a shortlist of 4–5 formats your team prefers, and you can rotate through just those.
Make It Easy on Yourself
Switching formats every sprint is only sustainable if the setup takes seconds, not minutes. That's why we built StickyRetro - pick a template, click create, share the link. Your team is ready to go before the meeting even starts. No accounts needed for participants.
10 of the templates above are available as one-click boards in StickyRetro, with more on the way. Explore them at stickyretro.com/templates.
Want to try one of these right now? Create a free board - pick your template, share the link, and run your best retro yet.