🏫📘 Back to School 2025
Sharpen your pencils! Let's head back to class and examine our project like students prepping for a new school year. What new habits should we learn, outdated ones to leave behind, and what classroom traditions to keep?
Template Columns
📓 New Subjects to Study
Identify the fresh practices or experiments we should start, like signing up for an exciting new subject.
Base column: Start❌ Homework to Drop
List the activities or habits we should stop, just like dropping an unnecessary class from our schedule.
Base column: Stop📝 Class Goodies Keep
Highlight routines or strengths to continue, like a favorite tradition or class treat worth keeping.
Base column: Continue🔁 Changing Seats
Suggest improvements or tweaks—like changing your spot for a new perspective or collaboration.
Base column: ChangeAbout this template
The Back to School 2025 retrospective helps teams refresh their approach by identifying new practices to start, ineffective habits to drop, successful routines to keep, and improvements to try—framed in a light-hearted, school-inspired theme.
When to use this template
Use this retrospective at the start of a new project phase, after a holiday break, or any time your team needs a reset and fresh perspective.
How to facilitate
Kick off the session by inviting everyone to reflect on your project as if you’re starting a new school year and explain the four columns and their school-themed connections.
Allow team members a few quiet minutes to add their thoughts to each column: New Subjects to Study (fresh starts), Homework to Drop (what to stop), Class Goodies Keep (continue), and Changing Seats (improvements or experiments).
Once ideas are posted, review each column as a group. Encourage participants to clarify or elaborate on their notes—especially if some items need more context.
Facilitate a discussion to cluster similar ideas, spot patterns, and prioritize which actions or changes should be tackled first.
Co-create concrete action items based on your discussion, assigning owners or volunteers for accountability.
Wrap up by sharing closing thoughts, key takeaways, and inviting feedback on the retro format.
End with a quick appreciation round, encouraging each teammate to share one thing they value about the team or project.
Pro Tips
Encourage participants to get creative with their suggestions—tie insights to school experiences for added fun and engagement.
Keep the energy up by incorporating playful language or visuals related to school (like using emojis or backgrounds) during the session.
If discussion stalls, ask questions like: What’s one new 'subject' you wish we could master as a team, or what ‘class rule’ should we update?
Consciously rotate the facilitator role next time, just as students might rotate class duties, to foster shared ownership.
FAQ
How do we avoid getting too many generic suggestions?
Prompt the team for specific examples and relate them back to recent team experiences or sprints to generate actionable insights.
What if the team resists the playful school theme?
Frame the session as a fresh way to spark creativity but assure them the focus is on improvement; adjust the tone if needed to fit your team's culture.
How do we ensure follow-through on action items?
Assign clear owners for each action and review progress at the start of your next retrospective to build accountability into your routine.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
4 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue, Change
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective