🌵🐛 Dune Desert Journey
Venture into the sands of Arrakis! Reflect on our team's epic journey, uncover hidden strengths, dodge sandworms (challenges), and plan which tracks to follow or abandon as we master our agile spice flow.
Template Columns
🌅 Spark New Fremen Ways
Identify fresh practices we should adopt to thrive amid the shifting sands of our project.
Base column: Start🛑 Evade the Sandworms
Reveal habits, blockers, or risks we must stop before they threaten our spice harvest.
Base column: Stop🏜️ Ride the Spice Flow
Share the stable and successful practices we must continue, just like riding the crest of a sandworm.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Dune Desert Journey retrospective invites teams to reflect on their agile adventure by surfacing new practices, eliminating risks, and reinforcing successes—using the epic landscape of Dune for inspiration.
When to use this template
Use this retrospective when your team needs a fresh thematic approach to evaluate processes, especially after facing unique challenges or exploring new territory in your workflow.
How to facilitate
Introduce the Dune-inspired theme to set an adventurous and imaginative tone, explaining the purpose of each column.
Invite team members to share observations and experiences since the last sprint, encouraging them to connect stories and insights to the theme.
Give everyone quiet time to add their notes under the three columns: new practices to adopt, blockers or risks to avoid, and effective processes to keep.
Open the board for team members to discuss and group similar points, highlighting key trends or standout contributions.
Facilitate a focused discussion on each column, prompting the team to dive into causes, impacts, and actionable next steps.
Prioritize actionable items and assign clear owners to follow through on the agreed actions.
Close with a team reflection on the journey—what feels different after this exploration and what everyone is excited about for the path ahead.
Pro Tips
Set the mood by sharing a fun Dune-inspired visual or quote to spark team creativity.
Encourage quieter team members to share by prompting with theme-related questions, e.g., 'What spice-powered practices energized us?'
Nudge the team to be specific when identifying sandworms (blockers) so plans to evade them are realistic.
For large groups, consider splitting into smaller desert 'expeditions' for discussions before sharing highlights with the whole team.
FAQ
How do I help the team connect with the Dune theme if not everyone knows the story?
Give a brief, lighthearted intro to the setting and the column meanings. Emphasize that the Dune elements are metaphors for agile processes—no prior knowledge needed.
What if the team lists too many 'sandworms' (blockers) and feels overwhelmed?
Prioritize and tackle 1-2 blockers that have the biggest impact. Focus on what's realistically achievable in the next sprint.
How can we encourage actionable ideas in the 'Spark New Fremen Ways' column?
Prompt for examples, encourage small experiments, and ask the team what small step they could try immediately.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 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