5 Fun Retrospective Formats to Keep Your Team Engaged

I still remember that one retrospective where half my team was secretly checking their phones under the table. Can't blame them - we'd been using the same "What went well? What didn't?" format for months, and honestly, I was bored too. That's when I knew we needed to shake things up.

1. Start/Stop/Continue

This one's become my secret weapon when the team energy is low. Nothing fancy, just three simple questions:

  • What should we start doing? (You know, those "wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas)
  • What should we stop doing? (The stuff that makes us want to bang our heads against the wall)
  • What's actually working? (Because hey, some things aren't broken!)

Just last sprint, this format led to one of our junior devs suggesting we start pair programming. Turns out they'd been too nervous to bring it up in our usual retros. Sometimes all it takes is framing the question differently.

2. Mad/Sad/Glad

I stole this one from a colleague when I noticed how guarded my team was being about their feelings:

  • Mad: The things that make you want to flip your desk
  • Sad: The moments that felt like a punch to the gut
  • Glad: The wins that made you do a little victory dance at your desk

It's amazing what comes out when you give people permission to be emotional. Plus, the emoji game gets pretty intense in our Slack channels 😤 🥺 🎉

3. The Sailboat Retrospective

This is my personal favorite for visual thinkers. Imagine your team's sprint as a sailboat journey:

  • Wind (helping forces): What's pushing us forward?
  • Anchors (holding us back): What's slowing us down?
  • Rocks (risks): What dangers should we watch out for?
  • Sun/Island (goals): Where are we heading?

I once had a team draw this on a whiteboard, and it led to our best retrospective discussion ever. The metaphor really helps people think differently about challenges and opportunities.

4. The 4 L's

Perfect for when you want to dig deep into learning:

  • Liked: What did you enjoy about the sprint?
  • Learned: What new insights did you gain?
  • Lacked: What was missing or could have been better?
  • Longed For: What do you wish you had?

This format is especially powerful after trying something new, like a new technology or process change.

5. The Movie Critic

This is my absolute favorite for those "everything went wrong" sprints. Trust me, nothing diffuses tension like treating your disaster sprint as a B-movie:

  • Genre: We once categorized a particularly chaotic sprint as "Horror-Comedy"
  • Plot: "Everything was fine until the production database decided to take a vacation..."
  • Characters: Including that one API that played the role of the villain perfectly
  • Rating: Sometimes a solid 2/5 is the most honest review you can give
  • Sequel: "In the next exciting installment, we actually remember to backup our data!"

The first time I suggested this format, my team thought I'd lost it. By the end, even our most serious architect was pitching movie titles for our next sprint.

Real Talk: Making These Work

Look, I've crashed and burned with some of these formats too. Here's what I've learned the hard way:

  1. Read the Room If your team just dealt with a major production issue, maybe skip the movie critic format. Sometimes simple and straightforward wins.

  2. Don't Force It Had a format fall flat? No biggie. Be ready to switch gears mid-retro if people aren't engaging. Your team will appreciate the flexibility.

  3. Make It Yours These formats are starting points, not sacred texts. My team added a "Plot Twist" category to the Movie Critic format because we had too many surprise scope changes. It stuck because it fit our experience.

I've found that the best retrospectives happen when people feel comfortable enough to be honest and maybe even a little silly. Sometimes that means drawing terrible sailboats on a whiteboard, and sometimes it means having tough conversations about what's really holding us back.

Need some tools to try these out? I've put together some templates at freescrumtools.online. And if you're wondering why we even do retrospectives in the first place, check out my thoughts on Why Retrospectives Matter.