🌱🌸 Garden of Growth
Step into our garden! Let’s nurture team blooms, weed out troubles, and cultivate brighter sprints together. Share what flourished, wilted, or needed pruning in our project’s plot.
Template Columns
🌷 Blossoming Blooms
Celebrate the achievements and positive moments that blossomed this sprint.
Base column: Glad🍂 Wilting Leaves
Reflect on experiences or efforts that didn’t thrive as hoped during our growth cycle.
Base column: Sad🪓 Pesky Weeds
Identify frustrations or blockers that invaded and stunted our team’s progress.
Base column: MadAbout this template
The Garden of Growth retrospective uses a gardening metaphor to help teams celebrate wins, reflect on challenges, and address blockers with fresh perspectives. It encourages open, constructive conversations to nurture continuous improvement.
When to use this template
Use this retrospective at the end of a sprint, after a project milestone, or whenever your team needs an engaging approach to uncover wins and address pain points.
How to facilitate
Introduce the Garden of Growth theme and explain the meaning behind each column to set a positive, open tone.
Invite team members to individually add notes to each column: Blossoming Blooms for achievements, Wilting Leaves for disappointments, and Pesky Weeds for blockers.
Allow everyone a few minutes to silently review and reflect on the shared notes.
Discuss each column as a group, starting with Blossoming Blooms to celebrate successes, then Wilting Leaves for disappointments, and finally Pesky Weeds to surface ongoing blockers.
Cluster related notes and encourage the team to identify patterns or connections between items.
For the most significant Wilting Leaves and Pesky Weeds, brainstorm practical solutions or action items as a team, ensuring accountability.
Conclude by summarizing key takeaways and assigning owners to action items to ensure progress and closure.
Pro Tips
Start with the positive column to build energy and psychological safety before discussing challenges.
Encourage visual metaphors—invite team members to use gardening terms in their notes to stay engaged.
Rotate the facilitator each sprint to keep the process fresh and involve all voices.
If some topics are sensitive, offer an anonymous input option to encourage candor.
FAQ
What if team members only add notes to negative columns?
Prompt the team to think of even small wins for Blossoming Blooms. Start discussions by sharing your own positives to set the example.
How do we ensure action on recurring weeds (blockers)?
Document persistent blockers as explicit action items, assign clear owners, and track progress in future retrospectives until resolved.
What if discussion gets stuck on one column?
Set clear time limits for each column and gently steer the conversation to ensure balanced attention across all areas.
Can this format work for distributed or hybrid teams?
Yes, just ensure everyone has equal access to the board and consider using anonymous input to encourage honest sharing.
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At a glance
- Duration
40–55 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Glad, Sad, Mad
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective