The Best Starfish Retrospective Tool: Echometer

Yes, Echometer supports mobile devices and has browser access so that participation in retrospectives via cell phone is also possible.

Yes, the software tool supports the copying or submission of recurring retrospectives in the identical format.

Yes, moderation can be transferred or rotated to other team members at any time if required. For example, two team members can be moderators at the same time. If someone is ill, the other person can then take over. Theoretically, you can also adjust the settings so that everyone in the team takes on the moderator role in Echometer one after the other.

Yes, teams can create their own retrospective formats, questions and templates and use them individually. You can also save your own favorite retrospectives, including whiteboards.

Yes, retrospectives can be planned and used asynchronously and flexibly - even across time zones in distributed remote teams.

Yes, Echometer is suitable for distributed, hybrid and co-located teams.

Yes, all these well-known retro formats are included in the tool, and many more that your team probably didn’t know about before.

Yes, the tool offers numerous creative, fun and sometimes novel templates, questions and ideas for entertaining and varied retros.

Echometer is ideal for both small and large teams - from 3 people up to large groups of perhaps 30 people. Retrospectives with over 100 participants have also been carried out in the Echometer retrospective software tool. Even large groups can implement productive retrospectives with Echometer, especially thanks to interactive tools and moderation support.

However, regardless of Echometer, it is recommended that retrospectives should be carried out in smaller teams in order to better reflect together and implement measures.

Echometer works for both regular and irregular retrospectives. Repetition of the same formats or flexible adjustments are easily possible. Typically, Echometer users conduct their retrospectives on a bi-weekly, tri-weekly or monthly basis. However, some teams also use it every week, while others only conduct a retrospective every three months.

Yes, Echometer uses modern, varied methods and playful elements to break up routine and prevent boredom.

Yes, Echometer is designed for teams of all experience levels – including experienced, older teams as it is flexible in terms of retro formats, facilitation roles and depth of reflection.

Yes, the retrospective software tool Echometer also allows you to save reminders for measures. These are sent by email individually to the person responsible for the measure. This ensures that the implementation of the measure is not forgotten.

Yes, Echometer is great for new teams that are perhaps just getting to know each other or at least want to get to know each other better. Various features, such as the library of icebreakers, help to increase psychological safety in new teams quickly and in a fun way with interesting questions.

Yes, Echometer is the retrospective tool with probably the strongest psychological focus, as it is originally a spin-off from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Münster (Germany). Specifically, Echometer helps to strengthen psychological safety in teams (with the primary target group of software development and hybrid product teams) through various icebreakers and retrospective templates.

On the one hand, the fun get-to-know-you questions in the Retro Check-In, for example, help to strengthen psychological safety in teams. On the other hand, there are, for example, dedicated templates for measuring psychological safety in teams.

Yes, Echometer is also very suitable for experienced Team Leads, Engineering Managers and Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches. On the one hand, it is very easy to set up and allows productive retrospectives to be carried out quickly. On the other hand, various features such as voting, action tracking and the Team Health Checks also allow teams with a high level of maturity and requirements to express their individual wishes in the software.

Yes, Echometer is probably one of the most gamified retrospective software tools on the market. It has some gamifying elements, such as the icebreaker templates and the balloon shooting in the online retrospective waiting room. If you’re looking for a fun retrospective software tool that won’t bore your software engineers, Echometer is the right choice.

As soon as you are logged into Retro as a moderator, you will see a QR code and the corresponding link to invite participants in the top right-hand corner of Retro:

• Use the QR code primarily for on-site retrospectives if participants are to take part via their smartphone
• Use the link in Remote Retrospectives if participants take part via their own PC

With both methods, guests only need to enter an email, but do not need to log in or register to participate in the retro as guests. They can then optionally complete their registration in Echometer.

If the participants via the invitation link or QR code are not yet team members in your team in Echometer, they are in the retro as guests. As a team admin, you can make guests team members with one click. As team members, they can then also access the archive of past retrospectives, for example.

First you can try out Echometer without logging in or registering: Start test run without login

If you like our Retro Board without login, you can register directly within the Retro Board.

The great thing is that other guests (apart from you) do not have to register for the tool or do not need a login. Guests only enter an email address and can then participate directly as a guest. If the same email address is used again in the future to participate as a guest in another retro, the email address must be confirmed via a login with a login link.

For continuous use, we recommend adding regular retro guests as team members so that they can access the team archive, dashboards and task lists. Team members must register to access the team.

No, you do not need to log in to Echometer or register to test the Retro Board and Retro Tool in Echometer.

You can try out Echometer’s Retro Board via the following link without logging in: Try a Practice Round

First, simply register for free in Echometer. Then navigate to the workspace for which you would like to purchase the retro tool. If you haven’t already done so, you can do so here: Create account in Echometer 1:1 tool

You can then manage your subscription (for both the retro tool and the 1:1 software) within the workspace settings.

You can choose from various payment methods when upgrading.

If you do not have access to your company’s credit card yourself, you can simply add a buyer as a workspace admin in your Echometer workspace so that this admin can carry out the upgrade for you.

In Echometer there are two separate software solutions that are available within each workspace in Echometer:

• 1:1 tool: Software for planning and conducting 1:1 meetings and tracking employee development
• Retrospective tool: Software for planning and moderating retrospectives and tracking team development through team health checks

Both are independent software solutions, so they can be used separately from each other.

However, they work according to the same principles and aim to achieve the same added value: The continuous improvement of agile teams. In this respect, the simultaneous use of both software solutions is recommended.

Yes, you can assign administration rights to any number of users at both team level and workspace level. Please note the following:

• Only workspace admins can take out and manage a Echometer subscription for a Echometer workspace.
• Only workspace admins can create additional teams and name or remove additional workspace admins.
• Team admins can appoint and remove additional team admins and team members for their team

If an agile team does not yet have much experience with retrospectives, a tool that effectively guides you through the retrospective and offers many templates is recommended:

• Echometer is known not only for being an intuitive online retro board, but also for offering a very effective guided flow through the retrospective. At the same time, Echometer offers whiteboards that can be flexibly integrated into the retrospective. This makes Echometer very beginner-friendly.
• Echometer also has extremely versatile and creative templates for retrospectives and team Health Checks that stimulate team reflection. Inexperienced teams in particular are very grateful for the food for thought in Echometer.

This makes Echometer the best software recommendation for beginners with agile retrospectives or Scrum beginners. By the way, you can try out Echometer for free without logging in: Echometer Try out the retro tool

The Echometer Retrospective software is designed to guide teams through the retrospective process with maximum ease and effectiveness, following best practices.

The steps and their sequence can be customized using the navigation within the retro. By default, a retrospective in Echometer is structured in this way:

• Icebreaker
• Review of open measures from past retros
• Collect feedback (first Health Checks, then open questions)
• Prioritization of feedback
• Deriving action items
• Concluding the retrospective with the “ROTI score” (Return on Time Invested)

Additional whiteboards (e.g. for workshops, for analyzing problems or for brainstorming measures) can also be added spontaneously at any point using the Retrospective navigation.

Yes, the Echometer Retrospective software has various detailed dashboards for monitoring the continuous improvement process of your agile team:

• On the one hand, you can get a quick overview of past team retrospectives in the retro archive.
• On the other hand, you can use the ROTI score and the Health Check items, which you can use as a regular happiness check, to visualize mood trends in the team based on specific KPIs or agile metrics.
• There are also other activity trends

Echometer distinguishes between Team Health and Workspace Health in the Health Checks:

• Results from Team Health are only ever made transparent within the team
• Results from Workspace Health are made transparent across all teams

Yes, the Echometer Retrospective Tool offers various export options for retrospectives.

The most popular method is to generate a PDF that contains the feedback, the votes from the prioritization and the measures of the retrospective. It is also possible to share the retrospective via a sharing link.

A summary of the retrospective is also automatically sent to other participants by email after the retrospective, provided they are registered as team members in the team.

Yes, the online retrospective tool Echometer is one of the few retrospective software tools that also optimally supports the recording and tracking of measures:

• Integration: You can also record measures directly in Jira via an integration.
• Automatic follow-up: All open measures from past retros appear automatically in the measure review of the next retrospective for tracking purposes. This gives the team an overview of which measures are currently still open and creates a commitment to implementing the agreed measures.
• Reminders: Measures are assigned to a person responsible, who automatically receives a reminder email when the measure is created so that the measure is not forgotten. In addition, each participant can flexibly receive action reminders via email and manage the action status at any time in the Echometer Retro Tool.

With this, Echometer’s tool for team retrospectives has extensive and well-thought-out functions for action item tracking.

Yes, Echometer allows grouping and prioritizing (voting on points) of feedback on the Retrospective Board.

All participants can easily drag and drop cards onto each other to group them.

There are 2 modes for prioritizing:

• In “Live Voting” (the recommended mode), the moderator selects how many votes each participant should have and then starts the blind voting. Once all votes have been cast, the moderator can close the live voting. During voting, you can see how many votes are still available. After the voting is closed, the cards in the columns are automatically sorted in descending order so that the cards with the most votes are at the top.
• In “Facilitated Voting” mode, the moderator simply selects how many votes are allocated to each topic. This mode is only necessary in exceptional cases.

Feedback can be optimally processed in the team using Echometer and the measures derived from it can also be easily recorded in Echometer in direct connection with the feedback.

Yes, with the online retrospective software Echometer you can collect asynchronous feedback on the retrospective in advance via a survey.

This means that obtaining feedback is asynchronous and you can make the most of the time spent together in retrospect.

Yes, absolutely: The online retrospective software Echometer is optimized for distributed teams working remotely and includes various options for interacting with each other in real time.

Both the retrospectives and the whiteboards are synchronized in real time for all participants and you can also optionally display your colleagues’ cursors.

Yes, the online retrospective tool Echometer is a free tool that you can try out without logging in.

You can get started right away using this link: Echometer Retro Tool without login.

To invite other participants to your online retrospective in Echometer, you will need to register. Participants only need to enter their email address to join the retrospective, but do not need to log in.

After the retrospective, participants can optionally log in to access the summary even after the retrospective has ended.

Yes, Echometer offers many high-quality templates for retrospectives and the respective steps of a retrospective.

Echometer is the retrospective software tool with probably the most integrated retrospective template ideas and patterns:

• The retro templates in Echometer include sample questions for the retro board. These are often creatively based on specific themes - such as the “Kart Racing Retrospective” or the “Time Travel Retrospective”.
• Some retro templates also contain templates for Health Checks. For example, to measure the Spotify Health Check or psychological safety in the team.
• When creating a team, you can choose from various team templates for management teams or scrum teams, for example. The team templates then put together a suitable team Health Check for the team.
• For icebreakers in the retrospective, Echometer has over 50 ideas for sample questions that can be used spontaneously and randomly in a retrospective via a random generator.
• And then there are whiteboard templates in Echometer, which contain ideas for check-ins, team building and the development of measures.

One of the greatest strengths of the Echometer Retro Tool are the various templates for retrospectives, which can be used as patterns for the creative design of your own retrospectives.

Here is a short list of the samples as an insight into the retrospective templates:

• Happy, Wondering, Sad
• Three Little Pigs
• Team Morale Health Check
• Easter and Christmas retrospective templates
• DORA Retrospective
• 5 agile values Health Check
• Spotify Squad Health Check Radar
• Psychological safety Health Check
• DORA Retrospective
• Unique retrospective templates such as the “7 Dwarfs Retrospective” or the “Football Retrospective”

If you are interested in the Retrospective Tools templates, take a quick look at the tool: Echometer Retro Templates & Templates

Yes, Echometer is an online tool for retrospectives that offers Jira integration.

With the Jira integration in Echometer, measures from Echometer can be created in Jira boards with a single click.

This makes Echometer a good retrospective software tool if your team is already using Jira.

Echometer is not available in the Atlassian Marketplace, but as separate software via my.echometerapp.com callable.

Yes, Echometer can be called a starfish retrospective tool, because with Echometer you can easily perform the starfish retrospective on an interactive online retrospective board.

Hot tip: If you are interested in the Starfish Retrospective, take a quick look at Echometer. Because the special thing about Echometer is that you can try out the starfish retrospective immediately (time-saving, without logging in) at this link: Echometer Starfish Retrospective Access without login

The agile retrospective tool Echometer has various unique features that set Echometer apart from other tools for online team retrospectives such as Parabol:

• Whiteboards for flexible brainstorming during the retrospective including “hidden notes” so as not to initially influence each other

• The “data collection” of the retrospective can take place asynchronously via a separate survey before the retro

• Anonymous feedback via survey or on the Retrospective Board

• Creation of health check surveys or pulse surveys as a happiness check and mood barometer to identify trends in the team early on (e.g. increasing dissatisfaction)

• Health Check KPIs and agile metrics in the analysis dashboard including trends and history

• Health Check Survey or pulse surveys also possible across teams

• Probably the most diverse library of Retrospective templates with special templates such as:

  • Spotify Squad Health Check Radar
  • Psychological safety Health Check
  • DORA Retrospective
  • 7 Dwarfs Retrospective

• The option to conduct retrospectives both online (i.e. in remote teams) and on-site, or hybrid. In on-site retrospectives, you can use the smartphone view to give feedback and vote, while the retro board is shared via a monitor visible to all participants.

The Echometer Sprint Retrospective software has very extensive features, both for beginners and experts. The following features form the core of the tool:

• Structured retrospective flow with integrated whiteboards for flexible brainstorming on individual focus topics
• Retrospective board for brainstorming, presenting, grouping and voting with live collaboration
• Moderator tools such as a timer, anonymity settings and control over the agenda step (focused for all participants)
• Integrated tracking of measures from past retrospectives with automatic resubmission and incl. Jira integration
• Unbiased brainstorming: Concealed cards on the retro board as well as on the integrated whiteboards prevent participants from influencing each other during the brainstorming session.
• Simple, quick setup of the tool: Many users report that they were able to start their first retrospective in less than 10 minutes.

The following features are Echometer’s unique selling points, which are relevant for experienced Scrum Masters and team leaders:

• Dashboard with retrospective history, including duration of the retrospective, number of participants and ROTI score
• PDF and Markdown export of the retrospective after completion
• The retrospective can take place asynchronously (e.g. also via a survey that is sent out before the retro) or in real time
• Anonymous feedback via survey or on the Retrospective Board
• Anonymous voting and prioritization of feedback on the retrospective board by awarding points
• Query or measurement of the “ROTI score” (i.e. Return on Time Invested) after the retrospective for continuous evaluation and improvement of the retrospective by team members
• Creation of Health Check surveys or pulse surveys as a happiness check and mood barometer in order to recognize trends (e.g. increasing dissatisfaction) in the team at an early stage
• Health Check KPIs and agile metrics in the analysis dashboard including history
• Health Check Surveys or pulse surveys also possible across teams

The Echometer Retrospective Tool offers the following features for retrospective template ideas, questions and samples:

• 50+ Retrospective Template Ideas including Keep Stop Start, Happy Wondering Sad and the Starfish Retrospective
• 200+ Retrospective Health Check questions and templates
• Retrospective Icebreaker Library with 50+ fun retrospective check-ins to promote psychological safety and team spirit etc.
• Whiteboard templates for visual, interactive retrospective icebreakers (including seasonal highlights for e.g. Easter and Christmas)
• Whiteboard templates to structure and facilitate the creation of measures

Yes, the retrospective software tool Echometer is easy to use even for beginners who are not yet familiar with retrospectives.

Many users report that they were able to conduct their first retrospective in Echometer with less than 10 minutes of preparation - in no time at all! Even users who are less tech-savvy can join the retrospectives in a few, simple steps.

Thanks to the structured process in Echometer, running the retrospective is also very easy. Setting up the Health Check is also not complex and does not require a steep learning curve - you can get started very quickly.

On the testimonial page of Echometer you will find numerous confirmed user reviews: Echometer Testimonials

Echometer is the best software tool for retrospectives compared to alternative retrospective software tools such as Retrium, EasyRetro, Reetro, Neetro and TeamRetro for three reasons:

1. Large selection of creative templates for retrospectives: Users of Echometer confirm that Echometer has a uniquely wide range of retro board ideas.
2. Echometer has a simple and intuitive structure for retrospectives that guides teams through retrospectives using best practices. This also makes Echometer very beginner-friendly.
3. Echometer offers a generous free version.

Users of Echometer particularly appreciate the unique function of Echometer to insert Health Checks into their agile retrospectives: These agile Health Checks make a massive contribution to stimulating team reflection and actively involving every team member in the retrospective.

To summarize, even alternative retrospective software tools such as Parabol do not have the unique features of the Echometer retrospective tool, which are both simple and effective. Therefore, it can be said that Echometer is the best software app for conducting agile sprint retrospective meetings.

Yes, in Echometer you can get anonymous feedback from the team.

Echometer is one of the few online retrospective tools that can be used to collect feedback anonymously.

In Echometer, feedback can even be collected anonymously before the retrospective via asynchronous surveys, which is unique among online retrospective tools and distinguishes Echometer positively from tools such as the retrospective software Parabol.

Yes, Echometer offers a generous free version of the online retro tool that can be used permanently free of charge for one team. This includes all functions for team retrospectives.

You only have to switch to a paid version for additional functions such as SSO, multiple teams or an unlimited number of retrospectives.

More information about the variants of Echometer’s retro tool can be found on the pricing page here: Retro-Tool Price List

Yes, Echometer is a free software for agile sprint retrospective boards. Echometer can be used free of charge in a team with no time limit. The free version has the following limitations:

• After registering, you can carry out as many retrospectives as you like for three weeks.
• After this free, unlimited test phase, you can carry out one retrospective per month free of charge in the permanently free Echometer tariff.
• The good news is that the free plan also includes the full range of functions for team retrospectives in Echometer. Only additional functions such as multiple teams and SSO are only available in paid versions.

More information about the subscription options for Echometer’s Retro tool can be found on the pricing page here: Retro-Tool Price List

The Sprint Retrospective software from Echometer costs €29 per month for an annual subscription for an entire team (unlimited number of team members).

The monthly subscription costs €35 per month for the entire team, regardless of how many team members or retro participants there are.

More information about the subscription options for Echometer’s Retro tool can be found on the pricing page here: Retro-Tool Price List

The greatest strengths of the Echometer retrospective tool are its impact on time savings, participant engagement and productivity.

• With hundreds of ideas for retrospective templates in combination with the integrated surveys, Echometer makes it very easy to prepare great retrospectives in just a few minutes.
• Thanks to the guided steps and the playful and interactive retrospective board, implementation is child’s play, focused and results-oriented at the same time.
• The integrated tracking of measures and team health makes it easier to recognize trends in the team at an early stage and ensure that measures from retrospectives are not forgotten

Combined with the unique features of the agile Health Checks and flexible whiteboards, Echometer is one of the best, if not the best, retrospective tool on the market, even better than the better-known Parabol retrospective tool.

Yes, Echometer’s retro tool is technically secure and GDPR-compliant.

Several European financial institutions and insurance companies have chosen to purchase Echometer’s retrospective tools over other alternatives due to the strict regulatory requirements.

The data is stored in Germany and processed securely. The data processing agreement with details on the technical and organizational security measures for processing by Echometer can be viewed here: https://echometerapp.com/gdpr-and-security/

Echometer’s tool for retrospectives offers the following integrations:

• Jira (for easy tracking of measures from retrospectives in Jira boards)
• Google login
• SSO (only in paid version)

Echometer are particularly positive about the increase in the effectiveness of retrospectives and the improved measurability of team development through Echometer.

Here are some officially confirmed quotes from users and customers of the Echometer software tool, all of whom hold leadership positions in agile teams:

Duane Hill, Scrum Master Coach:

• “Echometer is like a combination of Miro and a really smart retro board. It even provides metrics on the effectiveness of my coaching so I can easily spot trends in team development. I really love this tool – highly recommended for anyone who wants to make their retrospectives more effective!”

Lena Tölke, Agile Coach at Deutsche Bahn Sales:

• “Thanks to the targeted questions in Echometer, we keep coming up with new insights for our further development in retrospectives and can make these transparent and measurable for all team members.”

Clemens Schöne, Scrum Master at Communardo Products:

• “Echometer is like the combination of Mural and EasyRetro – I am thrilled! With Echometer, remote retros can work much better and even be fun!”

Patrick Böttcher-Exner, management position at Relaxdays GmbH:

• “One major advantage is that Echometer allows us to carry out and track both remote and on-site retrospectives in one tool.”

Carina McLane, Senior Software Developer at Volvo:

• “As a Scrum Master, it’s not about the tools, but this one really makes the work a lot more enjoyable. After two years of experience with Echometer, I can recommend it to anyone who wants to enrich their retrospectives and understand their team better!”

Echometer is the perfect retrospective software tool for busy team managers, team leaders, engineering managers, but also Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches in distributed or hybrid agile teams (“Remote Teams”).

Users particularly appreciate how much time the tool saves for retrospective moderators and how it increases the engagement of participants in the retrospective. Therefore, people who value time savings, retrospective effectiveness and engagement benefit most from the functions of Echometer.

In addition, Echometer offers an easy, playful introduction to retrospectives and is therefore particularly suitable for teams that do not yet have much experience with retrospectives or are just starting out with agile working methods.

The Echometer retrospective software works as follows:

• Simple preparation of retrospectives using templates for retro formats, surveys and whiteboards
• Intuitive and step-by-step implementation of retrospectives. Possible both online and on-site. Simply use the QR code on site so that participants can take part via their smartphone with the Mobile Companion app.
• Automatic follow-up through export functions and integrated tracking of developments and measures including retro archive.

The implementation of a retrospective in Echometer is as follows:

• The retrospective board allows the agile team to start with a fun welcome screen where they can wait for the rest of the team while playing an interactive game.

• Once all participants of the retrospective have arrived, continue with an icebreaker question. Echometer has several icebreaker question templates, including both open-ended questions and visual whiteboard templates with workshops and small games.
• After the icebreaker, you reach the screen for tracking measures: Here, the team reviews the open actions from past retrospectives and decides whether to keep, close or discard the actions. This step is unique to Echometer and significantly improves the quality of the continuous improvement process of agile teams.
• After that, we continue with the Team Health Check: All team members answer various questions, for example a question about satisfaction in the team or questions about psychological safety. This type of questioning increases both engagement in the retrospective, even among introverted team members, and the creation of agile KPIs to track the mood in the team over time.
• Then you continue with the retrospective board, where everyone can anonymously leave their feedback on open questions - if this hasn’t already happened in advance via a survey. There are hundreds of retrospective templates for different retrospectives on the Echometer retro board.
• Feedback is first written face down on the retro board so that the participants do not influence each other. The moderator can then reveal the feedback column by column.
• Once the feedback on the retro board has been uncovered, presented to the team and any queries about feedback have been clarified, the prioritization, i.e. the voting, can continue.
• Voting in Echometer is anonymous. During the voting process, you can see how many votes have already been cast and how many are still open.
• At on-site retrospectives, you can also vote using your smartphone.
• As soon as the voting is complete, you can derive measures. To do this, you can either create a measure directly for the feedback or open the feedback on a new whiteboard to analyze the problem in more detail and brainstorm ideas for measures.
• The brainstorming of measures on a separate whiteboard within the retro is a point of differentiation for Echometer compared to other tools for retrospectives such as Parabol. In Echometer, you can create a separate whiteboard for each topic within the retro and thus optimally control the focus of the discussion.
• Finally, Echometer enables the retrospective to be concluded by asking the entire team anonymously on a scale of 0 to 10 for the ROTI score (i.e. the “Return on Time Invested”): This helps the team and in particular the moderator to continuously improve the quality of the retrospectives in the team itself.

Given this unique, structured and flexible retrospective process, combined with the range of functions, Echometer is often described as the best tool for agile retrospectives.

Echometer is a software tool for sprint retrospectives that helps team leaders, Agile coaches and scrum masters to easily prepare and conduct agile team retrospectives and to track the results of the retrospectives as well as team health.