🦖🐲 Beasties Bash
Welcome to the lair of legendary beasties! Reflect on your team's journey by confronting dragons (challenges), nurturing friendly critters (good practices), and setting loose new monsters (ideas). Let’s tame our project, one beast at a time!
Template Columns
🌱 Hatch New Creatures
Share new ideas or practices you'd like the team to start, unleashing helpful beasties for our adventure.
Base column: Start🚫 Tame the Wild Ones
Identify habits or processes that should be stopped—let's rein in unruly monsters that slow us down.
Base column: Stop🦕 Befriend Loyal Sidekicks
Highlight the awesome practices we should continue to nurture, keeping our trusty beasties by our side.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Beasties Bash retrospective uses a playful fantasy theme to help teams identify new ideas, tackle unhelpful habits, and celebrate effective practices.
When to use this template
This format is great when your team needs an energizing, creative retro or when you want to reframe challenges and routines using a fun metaphor. Best for reflecting after sprints or major project milestones.
How to facilitate
Introduce the Beasties Bash theme and explain the meaning of each column, encouraging playful and imaginative thinking.
Set the stage with a brief group check-in—ask everyone to share the 'beastie' that best represents their mood.
Invite team members to spend several minutes silently adding notes to all three columns: Hatch New Creatures (new ideas), Tame the Wild Ones (things to stop), and Befriend Loyal Sidekicks (what’s working).
Review and group similar notes together in each column. Read each note aloud and encourage teammates to clarify or add examples as needed.
Facilitate a group discussion, starting with taming the wild ones (stop), then nurturing sidekicks (continue), and finishing with hatching new creatures (start).
Choose 2–3 actionable items from the discussion, assign owners, and agree on next steps to introduce in the next sprint or cycle.
Close the session with a quick round where each person shares the beastie they're taking forward from the session (a challenge, lesson, or strength).
Pro Tips
Embrace the fantasy theme by using beastie language and encouraging playful or visual brainstorming.
Ask team members to draw or describe their 'beasties' for each column to spark deeper engagement.
Balance time between columns, but ensure new ideas (hatch) get meaningful discussion so creativity isn’t rushed.
Celebrate loyal sidekicks (good practices) with specific praise or a virtual high-five.
If discussion is quiet, prompt with fun 'beastie' questions, like 'What would help us tame this dragon?'
FAQ
What if my team finds the theme too silly?
Encourage a lighthearted approach, but assure the team it's fine to stick with practical language if preferred; the metaphors are meant to support, not distract.
How do we prevent new ideas from being forgotten?
End the session by agreeing on 2–3 new actions with clear owners and follow up in the next retro to track progress.
Can this format work for serious topics?
Absolutely; the playful theme can actually make it easier to discuss tough issues by adding gentle humor and distance.
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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