🍏🍎 Apple Orchard Retreat
Welcome to our Apple Orchard Retrospective! Let’s plant new ideas, prune old habits, and nurture fruitful practices together for a thriving project harvest.
Template Columns
🌱 Seed New Growth
Share fresh ideas or actions we should start planting to bloom together.
Base column: Start✂️ Prune the Branches
Identify habits or blockers to cut out for a healthier project orchard.
Base column: Stop🍎 Nurture the Orchard
Highlight what’s bearing fruit and should be continued to nourish our team's success.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Apple Orchard Retreat retrospective guides teams to cultivate new ideas, eliminate unhelpful habits, and celebrate practices that help them thrive.
When to use this template
Use this format at the end of a major sprint, project milestone, or when the team needs to refresh routines and spark creative improvements.
How to facilitate
Welcome everyone and introduce the Apple Orchard Retreat theme, explaining each column so everyone understands the metaphor.
Ask each participant to add their thoughts to the three columns: new ideas to 'Seed New Growth', obstacles or unhelpful habits to 'Prune the Branches', and successful practices to 'Nurture the Orchard'.
Allow time for silent addition of notes, then invite members to upvote or comment on others’ contributions if your tool supports it.
Facilitate a discussion around each column, focusing first on what to nurture, then brainstorming how to prune blockers, and finally how to plant new ideas.
Encourage action: For each column, identify 1-2 actionable items to bring forward into the next cycle and assign clear owners.
Close by celebrating shared successes and reaffirming the team's commitment to evolving together.
Pro Tips
Use the orchard metaphor to spark playful, open sharing and creative thinking.
Ask participants for visual or story-based examples linked to the theme to deepen engagement.
Encourage quieter team members to reflect on 'pruning'—they often spot subtle habits that need change.
Reference previous retrospectives to see which habits or new ideas have already been nurtured successfully.
Set aside time for follow-up at your next retrospective to review what’s taken root since this session.
FAQ
How do I encourage fresh ideas for the 'Seed New Growth' column?
Prompt with creative questions or ask team members to bring one idea each ahead of time. Relate the theme to spark out-of-the-box thinking.
What if team members hesitate to suggest what to prune?
Model psychological safety by sharing your own suggestions first and emphasize that pruning is about growth, not blame.
How do I turn insights from this retrospective into action?
Summarize key points for each column and agree on specific, manageable next steps with clear owners before closing the session.
Is this template effective for remote or hybrid teams?
Yes—its visual, story-driven structure works well for distributed groups and helps foster engagement in a virtual environment.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective