Quick Retrospective Template

About the Retrospective template

A Retrospective template is a tool that helps structure positive and negative feedback and plan improvements after a completed project or a working sprint. Teams use Retrospectives to reflect on their ways of working and continuously improve their production by discussing current problems and goals, brainstorming new ideas, and exploring and planning 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 a Retrospective template

A 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.

1. Keep the retrospective organized

Using a 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. Incorporate feedback from different perspectives

Moreover, noting these central questions can empower participants to speak up. Use the 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 could you do things differently.

3. Boost 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 a variety of 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. Since Miro’s template auto-saves, you can quickly refer to previous retrospective meetings to ensure you’re not discussing a redundant topic.

How do you use the Miro Retrospective template?

The Miro Retrospective template can help make your next sprints more productive. Apply our template and customize it in a few seconds — all changes will be saved instantly!

Communicate with your team in real-time. You can use the video chat or @mention features to boost engagement. If you have some people writing out physical sticky notes, simply take a photo of the finished whiteboard and upload it to the visual whiteboard.

You can also include other file types such as images, videos, GIFs, and documents to store everything in one place.