⛏️💰 Gold Rush Prospectors
Grab your pickaxe! Let’s mine for agile gold by uncovering new opportunities, dropping rocky obstacles, and keeping those nuggets of success. Strike it rich with insights that fuel our team’s fortune!
Template Columns
⛏️ Stake a New Claim
Share new actions we should dig into for greater team discoveries.
Base column: Start🛑 Avoid the Fool’s Gold
Identify unproductive efforts or detours that should be left behind in our rush for real value.
Base column: Stop🏆 Keep the Golden Nuggets
Celebrate the proven practices and routines that continue to bring us project success.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
Gold Rush Prospectors is a playful, action-oriented retrospective that helps teams uncover new opportunities, avoid unproductive work, and celebrate proven successes.
When to use this template
Use this retrospective when your team needs fresh ideas, clarity on what's not working, and a boost of momentum by reinforcing successful practices. It's great for projects seeking innovation or recalibrating focus after a challenging iteration.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team and introduce the Gold Rush Prospectors theme to set a positive, exploratory tone
Review each column’s purpose to ensure everyone is clear about where to capture their thoughts
Give team members 5–7 minutes to add digital sticky notes in each column: new opportunities to pursue, unproductive habits to drop, and successes to keep building on
Invite participants to group related notes together to spot patterns and common themes
Facilitate a discussion on each column, encouraging teammates to share perspectives and elaborate on key items
Prioritize actions from the 'Stake a New Claim' column and determine next steps as a team
Wrap up by acknowledging successes highlighted in 'Keep the Golden Nuggets' and confirming ownership for action items
Pro Tips
Reinforce the playful mining metaphor throughout to keep energy high and engagement strong
Encourage specific examples over general statements for more actionable insights
Revisit past action items to celebrate wins and accountability
Prompt quieter team members directly to ensure all voices are heard
Select one or two top opportunities to focus on, rather than overcommitting
FAQ
What if team members struggle to come up with 'new claims' or opportunities?
Provide prompting questions about pain points, wish lists, or recent surprises to spark ideas. It's helpful to review recent challenges for inspiration.
How do we avoid repeating the same 'fool’s gold' items every retro?
Review previous notes and discuss why items reappear; this might indicate a need for root cause analysis or a new approach to address persistent issues.
How can we keep the discussion on track with such a creative theme?
The facilitator should use the metaphor to focus the conversation but remain mindful to bring discussions back to specific team actions and project context.
What’s the best way to celebrate the golden nuggets?
Encourage team members to call out colleagues’ contributions and consider giving small virtual rewards or public acknowledgements to reinforce positive practices.
At a glance
- Duration
30–45 min
- Team Size
3-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective