🍏🍎 Apple Orchard Gathering
Welcome to the Apple Orchard! Let's harvest the fruits of our work—celebrate our ripest successes, spot the spoiled apples (challenges), and plant seeds for a more fruitful sprint ahead.
Template Columns
🍏 Crispest Picks
Celebrate the successes and sweet moments we picked during this sprint.
Base column: What Went Well🍎 Rotten Apples
Identify the challenges or spoiled apples that impacted our recent work.
Base column: What Went Wrong🌱 Plant New Seeds
Suggest ways we can nurture our orchard and grow even better next time.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The Apple Orchard Gathering retrospective helps teams celebrate successes, address challenges, and identify opportunities for growth using a simple and engaging metaphor. It creates space for honest reflection and actionable improvement.
When to use this template
Use this format at the end of a sprint or project when you want to balance recognition of achievements with practical areas for growth. It's great for teams who benefit from a warm, supportive atmosphere and structured feedback.
How to facilitate
Open the meeting by introducing the Apple Orchard theme and explain the column meanings for clarity.
Invite each team member to add notes to the Crispest Picks column, highlighting positive outcomes and achievements from the sprint.
Encourage participants to post candidly in the Rotten Apples column, describing obstacles, difficulties, or issues experienced.
Guide the group in the Plant New Seeds column to suggest improvements, experiments, or fresh ideas for the next iteration.
Review each column as a team, discussing key patterns, insights, and any surprises noticed.
Collaboratively select a small number of high-impact action items from Plant New Seeds to focus on for the next sprint.
Close with a quick appreciation round, thanking the team for their openness and contributions.
Pro Tips
Frame successes in terms of both outcomes and team behaviors to deepen recognition.
For sensitive challenges, offer anonymous commenting or use a warm-up exercise to build safety.
Encourage team members to link each improvement idea to a challenge or missed opportunity for focus.
Limit the number of action items to prevent overwhelm and ensure follow-through.
Rotate the facilitator each session to keep the format fresh and encourage new perspectives.
FAQ
How do we handle negativity when discussing Rotten Apples?
Encourage a constructive tone by focusing on what can be learned or changed, and remind the team that the goal is continuous improvement, not blame.
What if we have too many improvement ideas?
Prioritize as a group and select only one or two for action, ensuring each has a clear owner and timeline for follow-up.
How can we make the most of our celebrations in Crispest Picks?
Ask follow-up questions about what made successes possible, and link them to team values or goals to reinforce positive patterns.
How do we prevent recurring Rotten Apples?
Review past action items regularly, and dig deeper to find root causes so you can address underlying issues rather than surface symptoms.
At a glance
- Duration
35–50 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
What Went Well, What Went Wrong, What We Want to Improve
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective