3 best retrospective questions with online templates
Did you just google “3 retrospective questions”? Great, then you’ve come to the right place🎉
In this article, I want to give you an overview of different retrospective formats that all have one thing in common: They are retrospectives with 3 questions.
Sprint Retrospective Meeting: A few hints before we start🚦
If you don’t have any experience with agile retrospectives or with retro templates, you can read through our short and crisp guide: Retrospectives – Everything you need to know👀
Good to know: Typically, a Scrum retrospective lasts between 45 (up to 5 team members) and 90 minutes (up to 12 team members). If possible, you should rather plan even more time.
In any case, you should actively timebox in each of the retro phases. If you are not familiar with them, you can learn more about them here: The 5 phases of a retrospective🔍 If you often have problems with timeboxing, here are some tips for you: How to conduct a short retrospective.
Given this tight schedule, you should definitely make sure to have your retro format and retrospective meeting notes well prepared - find some help for that below⏱
If the retro method takes place in a distributed team, you may be wondering: how can you conduct a retrospective online?
You can find an answer here: retro board tool comparison. But to make it short: Our recommendation for this is our tool: Echometer. At the bottom of each retrospective you will find a button right next to the retrospective methods that leads to our tool where you can test all retrospectives for free🚀
If you are looking for a sprint retrospective ppt template (i.e. a PowerPoint presentation), you can also easily copy and paste the questions and image of each method into a PowerPoint presentation. However, it would be even easier if you just click on the button – as you prefer 🙂
3 Retrospective questions #1
The What Went Well Retrospective👍
The “What Went Well” retrospective is probably the most popular or well-known among all the ideas for retrospectives. It is based on the pattern we find in many other retrospectives, but simply without all the gimmickry around it. Looking at the last sprint cycle, these 3 questions are asked:
What Went Well 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.
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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.
- What went well?
- What went not so well?
- How can we improve?
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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.
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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.
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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.
What Went Well Retro 👍
3 Retrospective questions #2
The Mad Sad Glad retrospective 😯
The “Mad Sad Glad” retrospective method has a similar pattern, but uses three typical emotions to make it a little more interesting for the team.
Mad Sad Glad 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.
-
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.
- What made you mad? 😤
- What made you sad? 😢
- What made you glad? 🤩
-
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.
Mad Sad Glad Retro 😯
3 Retrospective questions #3
The Scrum Retrospective Start Stop Keep 🔖
The scrum retrospective template “start stop keep” is also known as the start stop continue retrospective. We actively recommend using the “keep stop start retro” (in this order), because it changes how the feedback reinforces a positive effect on the following retrospective question.
Keep stop start 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.
- Keep: What should we keep?
- Stop: What should we stop doing?
- Start: What should we start doing?
-
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.
Keep stop start retro
3 Retrospective questions #4
Three Little Pigs Retro 🐷
The “Three Little Pigs” retrospective is based on the fairy tale of the same name, in which 3 pigs build three houses from completely different materials. Of course, the three houses are built differently robust. The question is – what material are the results built from in your team?
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 🐷
3 Retrospective questions #5
Respect for all the challenges? The Pacman Retro 🟡
Last but not least, maybe you or your team have vivid memories of playing Pacman. Let’s use them to take a fresh perspective on our teamwork – with these retro questions:
Pacman 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.
- What ghosts were hunting you in the last sprint?
- What allowed us to turn from hunted to hunter?
- What new tactics might lead us to winning in 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.
Pacman Retro 🟡
Conclusion - Retrospectives with 3 Questions⚡
I hope you were able to get a feel for how retrospectives are structured with 3 questions through these 5 retrospectives.
Also, I’d love for you to try some of the retrospectives I mentioned. I guess it always depends on the agile maturity level and retro fatigue which of the methods is most suitable.
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