Guide
Sprint Retrospective Template: What to Include
A sprint retrospective should help the team make a few useful improvements, not just discuss what happened.
The best retrospectives create specific actions the team can realistically follow through on.
What the retrospective should cover
A useful retrospective usually creates space for reflection, discussion and action.
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Process
- Quality
- Planning
- Tools
- Dependencies
- Delivery challenges
Practical retrospective template
1. What went well?
Identify the behaviours and practices that helped the team deliver effectively.
2. What did not go well?
Capture the friction, blockers and delivery problems the sprint exposed.
3. What should change next sprint?
Turn observations into a small number of realistic improvements.
4. Actions
Assign owner, date and outcome for the next iteration.
What went well?
Start by looking for the behaviours and practices that helped the team work effectively.
- What worked well this sprint?
- What helped us deliver effectively?
- What should we continue doing?
- Did anything improve compared with the previous sprint?
What did not go well?
This should focus on problems that slowed the team down or created avoidable friction.
- What caused frustration?
- Where did we lose time?
- What blocked progress?
- What caused unexpected work?
- Were there communication problems?
- Did any dependencies cause delays?
What should change next sprint?
The team should turn observations into a few meaningful improvements rather than a long list of ideas.
- What could we do differently next sprint?
- Which problem is most important to address?
- What change would have the biggest impact?
- Is there something small we can change immediately?
Action items
Actions are the part that makes the retrospective useful. Each action should be practical and traceable.
| Action | Owner | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Improve story refinement checklist | Alex | Friday | Open |
| Review test environment process | Priya | Next sprint | In Progress |
| Document release handover | Sam | Friday | Open |
Good actions are specific, realistic and within the team's control.
- Important
- Realistic
- Within the team's influence
- Specific enough to act on
Keep the retrospective focused
The retrospective should not become a status meeting or a recap of tickets completed.
- Reporting progress
- Reviewing every completed ticket
- Giving stakeholders updates
- Repeating the Sprint Review
The goal is learning and a small improvement in the next sprint.