🍌🍦 Banana Sundae Sprint
Welcome to the Banana Sundae Retro! Let’s blend our team flavors, add new sprinkles of improvement, and scoop out blockers to make our agile journey as delightful as a perfect sundae.
Template Columns
🍒 Add New Toppings
Suggest new ingredients (actions or practices) we should introduce for a sweeter workflow.
Base column: Start🍫 Lose the Soggy Wafers
Identify the habits or blockers that are melting away our progress and need to be removed.
Base column: Stop🍨 Keep the Classic Scoops
Highlight the winning flavors in our process that we should keep dishing out.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Banana Sundae Sprint retrospective invites teams to mix new ideas, remove obstacles, and celebrate what’s working using a dessert-inspired theme for fun, engaging reflection.
When to use this template
This format works best when your team needs a fresh, informal approach to identify improvements, especially after a fun or stressful sprint.
How to facilitate
Begin with a warm welcome and explain the Banana Sundae Retro theme, emphasizing the playful metaphor for mixing, adding, and refining team processes.
Review the three columns: Add New Toppings (new ideas), Lose the Soggy Wafers (blockers to remove), Keep the Classic Scoops (successes to maintain).
Invite each participant to quietly add their notes to any or all columns for a set time, encouraging creative thinking and honesty.
Group similar or duplicate items together as a team, discussing each cluster to ensure shared understanding.
Facilitate a focused discussion, starting with blockers (Lose the Soggy Wafers), then brainstorming new actions (Add New Toppings), and finally highlighting what to preserve (Keep the Classic Scoops).
Vote on the most impactful action items in 'Add New Toppings' and 'Lose the Soggy Wafers,' then agree on top priorities and next steps.
Wrap up by celebrating your team’s wins and confirming ownership for action items.
Pro Tips
Lean into the playful theme to encourage participation and lighten the mood, especially if your team is feeling retro fatigue.
Prompt quieter team members with direct, friendly questions or use anonymous note submission to gather a variety of inputs.
Connect blockers and improvement ideas to specific moments in the sprint, making them tangible and actionable.
Set aside extra time if deeper issues emerge—use breakout rooms for larger groups to keep discussion focused.
Capture action items with clear owners and review them at the beginning of your next retro to reinforce accountability.
FAQ
What if our team gets stuck coming up with new ideas for improvements?
Use prompts like 'What would make work sweeter?' or revisit recent challenges to spark suggestions. Sometimes starting with blockers helps generate new topping ideas.
How do we ensure action items actually lead to change?
Assign a clear owner and timeframe for each improvement. Review progress on these items at the start of the next retrospective to maintain momentum.
My team is not engaging with the playful theme—should I use it anyway?
Adapt the energy to match your team’s mood. Use the dessert metaphors lightly, focusing on the structure of reflection rather than the theme if needed.
What if we have too many items in each column to discuss?
Prioritize by group voting and focus discussion on the top two or three per column to stay on time and ensure actionable outcomes.
At a glance
- Duration
35–50 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective