retro

name	retro
description	Facilitates a sprint retrospective using Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls, or Sailboat format, producing 2-3 prioritized action items with owners and deadlines. Use after a sprint or milestone to drive continuous improvement. Triggers on: retrospective, retro, sprint review, what went well, lessons learned, team improvement, action items, start stop continue, post-mortem, sprint reflection.

Retrospective (Retro)

Core Philosophy

A retro that produces no action items is a venting session with good intentions. The measure of a retro is not the quality of the conversation — it's whether anything changed in the next sprint.

Limit action items to 2-3. More than that means none of them will get done. Be specific and assign an owner. "We should improve communication" is not an action item. "Maria will set up a 15-minute daily sync starting Monday" is.

When to Use

• End of every sprint (or bi-weekly if sprints overlap)
• After any significant milestone, launch, or incident
• When team morale or velocity is declining and the cause is unclear
• When the same problems keep recurring sprint after sprint

Workflow

1. Choose a Format

Pick based on team maturity and what the sprint needs:

Start / Stop / Continue (default — versatile, familiar)

• Start: What should we begin doing?
• Stop: What should we stop doing?
• Continue: What's working well that we should keep?

4Ls (for deeper reflection after a major milestone)

• Liked: What did the team enjoy?
• Learned: What new knowledge did we gain?
• Lacked: What was missing?
• Longed For: What do we wish we had?