Sprint Retrospective
Framework: Agile retrospective
Use for: End-of-sprint reflection that turns how the team worked into concrete improvements
Time required: 45–60 minutes at the end of each sprint
How to use this template
- Run it at the end of every sprint, before planning the next one. The cadence is the point.
- Review last retro's action items FIRST. Items that never got actioned are the real signal — usually that the retro isn't being taken seriously.
- Keep it safe. This is about the process, not blame. The moment it becomes a search for who to fault, people stop being honest and the retro dies.
- The output is action items with owners, not a list of complaints. A retro that produces no change is venting.
- Pick ONE or TWO changes to actually make. Trying to fix everything fixes nothing.
Header
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Team | [Name] |
| Sprint | [Number / name] |
| Date | [Date] |
| Facilitator | [Name] |
| Attendees | [Names] |
Last retro's action items — review first
Start here, every time. Unactioned items from last time are the most important data in the room.
| Action agreed last retro | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|
| [What we committed to] | [Name] | [Done / In progress / Not started] |
| [What we committed to] | [Name] | [Done / In progress / Not started] |
What went well
Name it so you keep doing it. Reinforcement is half the value of a retro.
- [Something that worked — a practice, a decision, a save]
- [Something that worked]
- [Something that worked]
What didn't go well
Honest, specific, and about the process — not the people.
- [Friction, miss, or failure — what happened, not who]
- [Friction, miss, or failure]
- [Friction, miss, or failure]
What still puzzles us
Optional. Things that happened that the team doesn't yet understand. Naming a puzzle is the first step to solving it.
- [Something unexplained — a metric that moved, an outcome nobody predicted]
Sprint metrics (optional gut-check)
| Metric | This sprint | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Committed vs completed | [X of Y] | [↑ / → / ↓] |
| Velocity | [points] | [vs recent average] |
| Carryover into next sprint | [items] | [↑ / → / ↓] |
| Notable burndown shape | [Flat early? Cliff at the end?] | — |
Root causes & insights
Push past symptoms. "We were slow" is a symptom. "Reviews sat for two days because there's no review SLA" is a cause you can fix.
- [Symptom → likely root cause]
- [Symptom → likely root cause]
Action items — the output
Cap at one or two. Each has a single owner and a date. This is the only part of the retro that changes anything.
| Change to make | Owner | By when |
|---|---|---|
| [Specific, doable change] | [Name] | [Date / next sprint] |
| [Specific, doable change] | [Name] | [Date / next sprint] |
A retrospective without action items is therapy, not improvement. More on Agile, Scrum, and Kaizen at biztechprimer.com.