Sprint Retrospective Templates: Five That Work

I once sat through the retro where the same three action items rolled over for the sixth sprint in a row — "improve test coverage," "tighten up PR review," "fix the flaky pipeline" — everyone nodded, no one moved, and we filled in the identical Start/Stop/Continue board we'd filled in the previous five times. Running the same format every sprint produces the same conversation every sprint: same complaints, same vague items, same absent behavior change. Rotating formats keeps the conversation alive and surfaces what a single format is blind to.

This guide is five formats that actually work, with notes on when each fits.

The Working Template

Whatever format you rotate through, the bones are the same: surface what happened, then convert it into a small number of owned, dated commitments. Copy this, run it live, or seed the top from a pre-retro survey.

SPRINT RETRO — Sprint <n>, <date>
Format used: <Start/Stop/Continue | Glad/Sad/Mad | Four L's | Sailboat | Five Whys>

What went well
  -
  -

What didn't
  -
  -

Action items (max 3 — each one owned and dated)
  1. <action>                 owner: <name>    due: <date>
  2. <action>                 owner: <name>    due: <date>

Carried over from last retro (review each for closure)
  -

The five formats in this guide — Start/Stop/Continue, Glad/Sad/Mad, the Four L's, Sailboat, and Five Whys — are just different ways to fill the top two boxes. The bottom box never changes: one to three items, each with a name and a date, reviewed at the next retro. Skip that box and you've run a venting session, not a retrospective.

1. Start / Stop / Continue

The classic. Three columns:

• Start — things we should start doing

• Stop — things we should stop doing

• Continue — things working well that we should keep

When it works: when the team is healthy and the conversation is functional. Quick, easy to facilitate, low overhead.

When it fails: when the team is stuck. The format doesn't probe deeply enough to surface what's actually wrong.

Variation: add a "More of / Less of" column for things that exist but need calibration.

2. Glad / Sad / Mad

Three columns by emotion:

• Glad — what made you happy this sprint

• Sad — what disappointed you

• Mad — what frustrated or angered you

When it works: when interpersonal friction is in the air and a clinical format won't surface it. The emotional framing gives permission to name what people are feeling.

When it fails: when the team is conflict-averse and "Mad" feels too strong. Reframe to "Confused" or "Concerned."

3. The Four L's

Liked / Learned / Lacked / Longed For.

• Liked — what we appreciated

• Learned — insights from the sprint

• Lacked — what was missing

• Longed For — what we wished we had

When it works: for periodic deeper retrospectives (monthly or quarterly). The Learned column is the key — it captures team knowledge that otherwise gets lost.

When it fails: for short sprints where there isn't enough material for four columns.

4. Sailboat Retro

A visual format. The team draws a sailboat with:

• Wind — what's propelling the team forward

• Anchor — what's holding the team back

• Rocks — risks ahead

• Sun — the goal or vision

When it works: when the team needs to reconnect to a longer-term direction, or when standard formats feel stale. The visual element shifts the conversation.

When it fails: with remote teams that can't easily collaborate on a shared visual, or with teams that find the metaphor too gimmicky.

5. Five Whys on One Theme

Pick one specific issue from the sprint and apply Five Whys. Instead of surveying the sprint broadly, drill into one root cause.

Example: "Why did the deploy fail on Tuesday?" → "The migration locked the table." → "Why did the migration lock the table?" → "It added a non-nullable column with default to a large table." → "Why didn't we catch that in review?" → "Our linter doesn't check for that pattern." → "Why doesn't our linter check?" → "We've never written that rule." → "Why haven't we?" → "We didn't realize the pattern was risky until this incident."

When it works: when there's one significant issue worth a deep look, or when broader retros have surfaced a recurring theme that needs root-cause analysis.

When it fails: for routine sprints with no clear single issue. Don't manufacture a Five Whys topic.

What All Five Have in Common

The format matters less than what comes after.

A retrospective that produces no action items is theater. A retrospective with 15 action items produces zero — too many to follow up on.

The discipline: 1-3 specific action items per retrospective. Each with an owner and a date. Each reviewed at the next retrospective for closure.

The Pre-Retro Survey

Independent of format, an async pre-retro survey often improves the conversation. A 5-minute survey sent the day before, asking each team member to write down a few items independently, prevents the meeting from being dominated by whoever speaks first.

Sample questions:

• What was the highlight of the sprint?

• What was the most frustrating moment?

• One thing you'd change about how we work?

Aggregated responses become input to the retrospective rather than discovered live.

Facilitation Patterns

Whatever format you use:

• Time-box each section. Without a timer, one topic eats the whole meeting.

• Silent generation first. Everyone writes for 3-5 minutes before discussion. Prevents groupthink.

• Dot voting on themes. When too many items emerge, dot vote to focus on the most resonant ones.

• End with action items, always. Reserve the last 10 minutes specifically for this. Don't let it get squeezed.

When to Rotate Formats

Default: rotate every 2-3 sprints. The team gets out of ruts; different formats surface different issues.

Patterns that suggest rotating:

• Same complaints recurring without movement

• Energy in retros is low

• Action items aren't being completed

• Team members start skipping

Patterns that suggest staying:

• Currently working through a deep issue with one format

• Newer team where format consistency aids learning

When to Skip Retrospectives

Counter to common advice: occasionally skip them.

Skip when:

• The sprint was uneventful and the team has limited capacity

• A retrospective is scheduled but a more important conversation is needed (incident review, planning session)

• The format has gone stale and the team will benefit from a break

A retrospective is a tool, not a sacred ritual. Use it when it serves the team; pause it when it doesn't.

Anti-Patterns

• Performance reviews disguised as retros. When managers use retros to evaluate, honest discussion dies.

• Manager-dominated. If only the manager talks, the format doesn't matter.

• Complaint sessions. All gripe, no constructive output.

• Action item shopping list. 12 action items, none of which will get done.

• The same five things every time. Symptom of unaddressed structural issues.

A Working Cadence

For a typical engineering team on 2-week sprints:

• Sprint 1-2: Start/Stop/Continue (low-overhead, easy to run)

• Sprint 3: Glad/Sad/Mad (surface emotional context)

• Sprint 4-5: Start/Stop/Continue

• Sprint 6: Four L's (deeper, monthly cadence)

• Sprint 7: Sailboat (visual reset)

• Sprint 8: Five Whys on the biggest issue

• Repeat.

The cadence is illustrative. Adjust based on what's surfacing. The point is rotation, not strict adherence.

Key Takeaway

Five working retro formats: Start/Stop/Continue, Glad/Sad/Mad, Four L's, Sailboat, Five Whys. Rotate between them to surface different issues and keep the conversation fresh. Format matters less than the discipline that follows: specific action items with owners and dates, reviewed at the next retro. Use async pre-surveys to improve in-meeting quality. Skip retros occasionally when they don't serve the team. The point isn't the format — it's the behavior change that follows.