4 Google Docs Retrospective Templates
A retrospective is a (regular) meeting where teams re-analyze a sprint or project to better understand and learn from both the successes and failures.
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
Retrospective Tips and Templates
A typical project retrospective follows these steps:
- Set the frame: TO begin, you need to set the rules of the game, expectations and goals of the retro and create a safe and positive environment for open and honest feedback.
- Collect data: Collect relevant project data, such as metrics and feedback from your team members. Good preparation for the next step can be an initial classification into “what worked well”, “what worked badly” and “what we should test”. Retro templates provide an ideal framework for this.
- Generate insights: Analyzes data together to identify trends, causes, and effects.
- Deciding what to do: Plan concrete actions (action items) to better design the next work sprint. For each action item you should assign a responsible person and a deadline.
Make sure that no person is assigned too many action items.
If you want to go into more detail about the process of a retrospective, you can do that here: Easy to use sprint retrospective template
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
The core of a retro is the so-called retro format, which makes the retro adaptable to any context, the goals and preferences of the team.
Here I have compiled 4 popular examples:
1. Start Stop Keep Retrospective👍 👎
One of the absolute classics is the Start Stop Keep retrospective. This covers the most basic questions of a retro.
Keep stop start retro: How the retro works
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Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
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Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Keep: What should we keep?
- Stop: What should we stop doing?
- Start: What should we start doing?
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Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
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Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Keep stop start retro
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
2. DAKI / Drop Add Keep Improve Retrospective:
In this retro we now have 4 questions instead of 3. Retrospectives with 4 or more questions are more comprehensive, but can also cover more angles. ( Here you can find a detailed article about the DAKI retrospective ):
DAKI Retro: How the retro works
-
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
-
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Drop: What should we drop?
- Add: What should we add?
- Keep: What should we keep?
- Improve: What should we improve?
-
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
-
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
DAKI Retro
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
3. Three Little Pigs Retrospective: 🐷
There are also more creative approaches to retros. A great example is the “three little pigs retro”, which is based on the fable of the same name.
Three Little Pigs Retro 🐷: How the retro works
-
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
-
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- House of straw: What do we do that is just holding together, but could topple over at any moment? 🌱
- House of sticks: What do we do that is relatively stable, but could be improved?\n 🪵
- House of bricks: What do we do that is rock solid? 🪨
-
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
-
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Three Little Pigs Retro 🐷
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
4. The Campfire Retrospective:🔥
Retrospectives really come in all shapes and sizes. In this retro, for example, we create a cozy feeling, like around a campfire - please be careful not to start a real fire in your office 😉:
Campfire Retrospective 🔥: How the retro works
-
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
-
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
-
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Warm fire: What made you feel good in the last sprint?
- Turned to ashes: What did not work as desired and crumbled to ashes?
- The shooting star: What do you wish for the future?
-
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
-
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
-
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
-
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Campfire Retrospective 🔥
At Echometer we have many more retrospective templates on offer. You can try them for free in our tool, or read this blog article: 22 Refreshing Agile Retrospective Templates
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
How to use these templates in Docs?
You can use the Retrospective templates by following these steps (effort about 5-15 minutes):
- Open a new blank document in Google Docs.
- Insert a table with the necessary number of rows and columns. For example, if you want to use the Start-Stop-Keep Retro, you can insert a table with three columns and as many rows as you need for your action items.
- Now label the columns with the retro questions. For example: Start? Stop? Continue?
- Fill in each cell with your data, findings, or action items. You can use bullets, numbering, or checkboxes to organize them.
- Style the table according to your needs. You can change the font size, color, alignment, border style and so on.
- Save the document as a template (.dotx). This way you can use and adapt it again and again.
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
Docs as a tool for agile retrospectives?
At this point, I want to be very clear: As nice as Docs works as a writing tool, it comes with certain disadvantages, especially for retrospectives. Here are the pros and cons of Docs as a retro tool at a glance:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to use: Docs is a commonly known tool with a simple handling. | Static: Docs is text tool that offers quite static user interface. Simply moving notes around is not possible. |
| Flexible: Docs allows you to easily design your documents according to your preferences. | Limited: Docs is a limited tool that does not provide specific functionality for agile retros. |
| Compatibility: Docs works on most devices and platforms. | Boring: You can’t use gamification or feedback mechanisms to make your retrospectives more dynamic and interactive. |
Google Docs Retrospective Templates
Better alternatives to Docs for agile retrospectives
Since retrospectives are now used by hundreds of thousands of teams worldwide, there are now good tools to serve exactly this purpose. One of these tools is our own “Echometer”.
In it you can test more than 50+ templates for free and without registration:
If you are interested in more tools, you can also check out our tool comparison: The best retro tools for agile teams
