📚✏️ Back to School
Sharpen your pencils! Let’s gather in our virtual classroom to reflect, learn, and ace our next project tests together. Time to swap stories from the hallways of our last sprint and graduate to new levels!
Template Columns
🌟 Gold Stars
Share the wins and high marks we earned this sprint.
Base column: What Went Wellđź“Ś Detentions
Discuss the missteps and challenges that landed us in hot water.
Base column: What Went Wrongđź“ť Study Plans
Propose strategies and new lessons we can study to improve next time.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The Back to School retrospective invites your team to reconnect, recognize achievements, address challenges, and collaboratively set improvement goals using a fun, classroom-themed structure.
When to use this template
Use this format at the start of a new project cycle, after a sprint with mixed results, or when you want to encourage reflection and learning in a lighthearted way.
How to facilitate
Kick off the session by introducing the Back to School theme and encouraging everyone to embrace the learning mindset.
Invite team members to populate the Gold Stars column with moments they’re proud of or successes from the last sprint.
Guide discussion around the Detentions column, allowing participants to surface pain points and difficulties without blame.
Transition to the Study Plans column where the team proposes solutions, sets priorities for improvement, and identifies new skills or practices to try.
Facilitate a group discussion to agree on 1–2 concrete actions or experiments to commit to before the next sprint.
Wrap up by acknowledging everyone’s contributions and reflecting on what the team learned from this conversation.
Pro Tips
Build a playlist of school-themed background music to set a playful mood and help everyone settle into the session.
Encourage shy team members to use anonymous entries or chat comments if they’re hesitant to share challenges.
Bring in a 'show and tell' segment where team members briefly present a tool or learning that helped them this sprint.
Summarize key action items visually at the end—consider creating a digital 'report card' to display team goals.
FAQ
How do I keep the session light and productive if there were tough sprint outcomes?
Acknowledge difficulties but lean into the learning theme—frame setbacks as 'study opportunities' and keep energy positive by celebrating any progress, however small.
What if team members repeat the same items every time?
Dig deeper into recurring topics during discussion and focus the Study Plans section on exploring new approaches or removing blockers that fuel repetition.
How can I make sure action items actually get done after the retro?
Assign clear owners to each action item and revisit them at the start of the next retro, treating them like homework assignments to review together.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 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