🧗♂️🌊 Canyoning Adventure
Dive into this canyoning retro! Let's navigate project rapids, celebrate smooth descents, and plan better routes as an agile team. Harness what we've mastered and discover new ways to keep our collaboration flowing!
Template Columns
💦 Smooth Slides
Share what made our canyon journey enjoyable and smooth.
Base column: Liked🧭 New Routes Discovered
Discuss fresh insights or skills gained on our project adventure.
Base column: Learned🪨 Rough Waters
Highlight resources or support we missed while navigating challenges.
Base column: Lacked🌈 The Perfect Drop
Imagine what enhancements would have made our project experience even better.
Base column: Longed ForAbout this template
The Canyoning Adventure retrospective uses the metaphor of exploring a canyon to help teams reflect on their project journey, celebrate successes, explore challenges, and brainstorm future improvements.
When to use this template
Use this format when you want to energize your team, encourage creative thinking, or mark the end of a major project phase with a fresh perspective.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team and introduce the canyoning adventure theme, explaining each column and its metaphor.
Set a brief timer for silent idea generation. Ask participants to add their reflections to each column: Smooth Slides, New Routes Discovered, Rough Waters, and The Perfect Drop.
Invite team members to review all contributions and group similar items for clarity, using comments or emoji reactions for quick agreement.
Facilitate an open discussion, starting with Smooth Slides and working across all columns. Encourage stories and ask follow-up questions to draw out specifics.
With Rough Waters and The Perfect Drop, identify actionable insights and potential improvements for future sprints.
Prioritize ideas and agree on key actions as a team, clearly assigning owners and due dates where possible.
Close by having each team member share a key takeaway or something they are excited to do differently next time.
Pro Tips
Set a canyoning scene with a fun background or playlist to boost engagement.
Prompt team members to give specific examples in each column, which makes discussions more constructive.
If participation slows, share your own reflection first to set the tone and encourage sharing.
Balance discussions so the group doesn't focus too long on one 'rough water'—keep things moving forward with the adventure theme.
FAQ
What if team members aren't familiar with canyoning?
Give a quick overview and relate each column to common project experiences—no outdoor experience needed.
How do we prevent the conversation from getting stuck on challenges?
Move between columns in a set order and use timeboxes to ensure balanced reflection and keep momentum.
Can we use this for remote or hybrid teams?
Yes, the metaphors are engaging and work well online; just leverage collaboration tools for contributions and voting.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
4 columns
- Base Format
Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective