What is a retrospective? Definition, process & examples
A retrospective is a regular team meeting in which teams look back on the collaboration of the last iteration, project phase or period, learn from it and agree on concrete improvements. It answers the question “What made our collaboration better or worse?” and thus creates the basis for continuous improvement.
Briefly explained
Retrospective - explained briefly & understandably
A retrospective is a structured team meeting in which a team reflects on past collaboration and derives concrete improvement measures from it. The goal is continuous improvement (Kaizen) and a more open team culture. Retrospectives typically take place after sprints, projects, or regular periods of time.
Basics
What is a Retrospective?
Definition of the retrospective
The term comes from the Latin “retrospicere” (to look back). In art, a retrospective originally referred to an exhibition about a person’s life’s work. In a work context, it is also about deriving concrete changes for the future from the review.
A retrospective is not blame assignment, but a structured learning process for collaboration. It is important to distinguish it from similar formats:
- Sprint Review: Focus on product and result, not on collaboration. See Sprint Review vs. Retrospective .
- Lessons Learned: usually once at the end of the project, retrospectives take place regularly. See Lessons Learned vs. Retrospective .
- Feedback round: often informal; a retrospective follows a clear process and leads to measurable actions.
See also: Purpose and benefits of retrospectives (simply explained)
Goal and purpose of a retrospective
A retrospective pursues three central goals:
- Learn from the past and recognize patterns
- Agree on concrete improvement measures
- Strengthen trust, transparency and team culture
Benefits
Why are retrospectives important?
Benefits and advantages of retrospectives
- Continuous improvement (Kaizen) instead of stagnation
- Early detection of problems in processes and collaboration
- Higher team satisfaction through participation and transparency
- Better results because real causes become visible
Possible disadvantages and challenges
- Alibi retrospectives without clear results or implementation
- Repetitions without progress (“The same discussion again”)
- Uncertainty or fear of openness in the team
- Time expenditure without a clear focus
Agility
Retrospectives and Agility
In Scrum, the Sprint Retrospective is an integral part of every sprint cycle. It is the heart of the empirical way of working: inspection and adaptation. You can find a good introduction in the Scrum Guide as well as in our article Retrospectives and Scrum .
But retrospectives don’t just work in Scrum. Kanban teams or OKR cycles also benefit from regular reviews:
- Kanban: Service Delivery Reviews reflect flow and collaboration (see Service Delivery Reviews).
- OKR: At the end of an OKR cycle, an OKR retrospective can help improve goals and measurement.
Process
The process of a retrospective - the 5 phases
Regardless of the format, a retrospective usually follows a proven pattern. A detailed description can be found here: agenda and phases of a retrospective .
- Set the Stage - create a framework, clarify the goal and establish security
- Collect data - gather facts, impressions and feelings
- Gain insights - recognize patterns and understand causes
- Derive measures - agree on 1-2 concrete action items
- Finalize - secure commitment and get feedback on the retro
Framework
Organization & framework conditions
When and how often does a retrospective take place?
Most teams conduct retrospectives regularly, e.g. every 1-4 weeks. The optimal frequency depends on team size, project phase and pace of change.
How Long Does a Retrospective Take?
As a rule of thumb, 60-90 minutes apply. 30-45 minutes are also possible for short sprints or small teams. Further tips: short retrospectives .
Who participates in a retrospective?
Typically, the entire team as well as a moderator (Scrum Master or rotating within the team). Whether managers are involved depends on the context. More details can be found here: Who participates in a retrospective?
Principles
Rules & principles for successful retrospectives
The most important rule is the Prime Directive (Supreme Directive). It creates psychological safety and prevents blaming:
Regardless of what we discover, we must assume that everyone did the best they could, given their knowledge, skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.
- Norman L. Kerth, Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews
Further principles:
- Focus on improvement, not blame
- All voices count (balanced speaking time)
- Measures must be binding
- Learning is more important than perfection
More practical knowledge: The big analysis of 30,000 retrospectives and 20+ moderation tips .
Obstacles
Typical stumbling blocks in retrospectives (and how to avoid them)
Human stumbling blocks
- Fear of openness or conflicts
- Dominant people displace quieter voices
- Silent team members without active involvement
Procedural stumbling blocks
- No follow-up of measures
- Always the same format without variation
- Too little time for real reflection
Tool & format stumbling blocks
- Unsuitable tools or too complex methods
- Remote retros without clear structure and moderation
- Missing visualization of results
Especially with remote or hybrid teams, a clear process and a suitable tool are worthwhile: Remote Retrospectives . Retrospectives are also a strong lever for remote team building .
Practice
Practical tips for effective retrospectives
- Start each retro with a clear guiding question
- Vary methods (e.g. Keep-Stop-Start, Sailboat, Starfish )
- Focus on 1-2 real improvements instead of long wish lists
- Formulate measures SMART and with responsible parties
- Check in the next retro what has been implemented
If you want to start directly, try a simple method like Keep-Stop-Start:
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
Open questions
After one or two runs, you will have a good feeling for the process and moderation.
Examples
Examples for retrospectives
Example from a Scrum team
After a two-week sprint, the team uses a Keep-Stop-Start retro, collects feedback, prioritizes two topics and defines an action item (e.g. “Sharpen Definition of Done”).
Example from a non-agile team
A marketing team looks back on campaigns monthly, analyzes bottlenecks in coordination and decides to start briefings with a clear checklist in the future.
Example from workshop or project completion
After a customer project, the team reflects together with stakeholders on what went well in communication and handover and which points should be different in the next project.
If you are looking for concrete examples for the design of retrospectives, you will find them here: Simple Retrospective Examples
Areas of application
Retrospective outside of Scrum & IT
Retrospectives work wherever teams want to learn and improve:
- Marketing, HR and management teams
- Project teams after events or releases
- Personal retrospectives (e.g. monthly or annual review)
Checklist
Checklist for your first retrospective
- Preparation: Clarify goal and timeframe, choose method, invite participants
- Execution: Create security, collect data, derive insights
- Follow-up: Document measures, name responsible parties
- Success monitoring: Check progress in the next retro
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the retrospective (FAQ)
What is a retrospective?
A retrospective is a structured team meeting in which a team reflects on the collaboration of a past period and agrees on concrete improvements. It takes place regularly (e.g. after a sprint or project section) and serves for continuous improvement.
Why are retrospectives important?
Retrospectives help teams identify problems early, understand root causes, and collectively decide on improvements. This increases transparency, team satisfaction, and the quality of results.
Which steps are part of a retrospective?
Typically, there are five phases for retrospectives: Set the stage, Gather data, Generate insights, Decide what to do, and Close. The exact process can vary, but it should always lead to concrete action items. In addition to the classic 5 phases of retrospectives, there is also the Double Diamond model for the phases of retrospectives , which provides facilitators of retrospectives with a more intuitive image for successful and result-oriented facilitation.
How do you measure the success of a retrospective?
The success of retrospectives is reflected in the fact that agreed measures are implemented and measurable improvements are achieved. In addition to productivity indicators (which should be treated with caution), teams use, for example, the tracking of action items, trends on feedback scales in team health check / pulse check surveys.
For which teams are retros suitable?
Retrospectives are suitable for any team that wants to improve its collaboration - regardless of whether it works agilely or not.
Retros are particularly helpful when:
- regular collaboration and common goals exist
- Teams can talk openly about problems or want to work on them
- there is a desire to make processes visible and improve them
New teams can also carry out retros. A safe environment and clear moderation are crucial.
Conclusion
Conclusion - Why retrospectives enable real change
Retrospectives are more than a ritual: They make collaboration visible, create space for learning and lead to concrete improvements. Those who consciously moderate them and really follow up on measures set continuous change in motion within the team.
Try a Retrospective in EchometerCredits: Woman thinking photo created by wayhomestudio - freepik
