When to Use
When facilitating sprint retrospectives or team improvement sessions.
Patterns
Start/Stop/Continue Format
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## Sprint X Retrospective ### 🟢 START (new practices) - [What should we begin doing?] - [New tools, processes, habits] ### 🔴 STOP (remove friction) - [What should we stop doing?] - [What's not working?] ### 🟡 CONTINUE (keep doing) - [What's working well?] - [What should we keep?] ### 📋 Action Items | Action | Owner | Due | |--------|-------|-----| | [specific action] | [name] | [date] |
4Ls Format (Alternative)
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LIKED: What went well? LEARNED: What did we learn? LACKED: What was missing? LONGED: What do we wish for?
Facilitation Tips
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1. Timebox: 45-60 min max 2. Equal voice: everyone speaks 3. No blame: focus on process, not people 4. Action items: max 3, specific, owned 5. Follow-up: review last retro's actions first
Action Item Quality
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❌ "Improve communication" ✅ "Daily 10min sync at 9am, owner: @lead, starts Monday" ❌ "Write more tests" ✅ "Add integration tests for auth module, owner: @dev, by Sprint end"
Anti-Patterns
- •No action items (talk shop only)
- •Too many action items (>3 = none done)
- •Blame individuals instead of process
- •Skip reviewing last sprint's actions
- •Manager dominates discussion
Verification Checklist
- • All team members contributed
- • Max 3 action items
- • Each action has owner + date
- • Previous actions reviewed
- • Notes documented