🗝️🏰 Dungeon Crawler Carl
Brave the labyrinth of our sprint like Carl, slaying bugs and gathering loot. Share the monsters we faced, the traps we avoided, and the treasures we keep.
Template Columns
🚪🔓 Open New Corridors
Identify new practices or experiments to begin exploring in our dungeon quest.
Base column: Start⚔️🛑 Halt Monster Traps
Pinpoint harmful habits or blockers to cease, avoiding damage to the party.
Base column: Stop🗡️💎 Keep Looting Gems
Maintain effective strategies that yield treasure and progress.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A gamified sprint retrospective where the team maps sprint challenges as dungeon monsters, avoids traps, and keeps treasure‑earning practices.
When to use this template
Use when you want an engaging, story‑driven format that highlights obstacles, successes, and new ideas in a playful way.
How to facilitate
Gather the team on a shared board and explain the dungeon metaphor, assigning each column to monsters, traps, and loot
Ask each participant to write down items for each column: monsters (issues), traps (blockers), loot (effective practices
Group similar items together, discuss the most critical monsters and traps, and decide on actions to defeat or avoid them
For each loot item, confirm how the team will continue to apply it in the next sprint
Prioritize the top three actions, assign owners, and set clear acceptance criteria
Pro Tips
Encourage vivid, story‑based descriptions to make the monsters memorable
Limit each column to 5‑7 items to keep discussion focused
Add emojis or icons to the board to reinforce the dungeon theme and boost engagement
FAQ
What if the team struggles to come up with monster examples?
Prompt them with specific sprint pain points like missed deadlines, bugs, or unclear requirements to spark ideas.
How do we ensure the retrospective stays focused and not just storytelling?
Set a timebox for each column (e.g., 10 minutes) and limit discussion to actionable insights.
Can this format work for non‑technical teams?
Yes, replace monsters with any obstacles and loot with successful practices; the metaphor works for any workflow.
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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