💡🏁 Hackathon Showdown
Welcome to the Hackathon Showdown! Let's channel our inner innovators, share our hacks and hurdles, and build a better sprint together. Prepare to brainstorm, debug obstacles, and keep the code flowing!
Template Columns
🚀 Kickoff Initiatives
Suggest new experiments or practices we should 'kick off' in our agile journey, just like hackathon day one ideas.
Base column: Start🛑 Buggy Blocks
Highlight practices or habits that hindered our progress—let’s squash these bugs for good!
Base column: Stop💾 Power-Up Projects
Share the tried-and-true hacks and strategies we should continue boosting in our workflow.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
Hackathon Showdown is an energetic retrospective focused on sparking innovation, surfacing blockers, and amplifying proven practices, all through the lens of a hackathon.
When to use this template
Use this format after a sprint with lots of experimentation or when you want the team to adopt a creative, solution-oriented mindset. It's great for breaking routine and encouraging forward-thinking discussions.
How to facilitate
Set the scene by inviting the team to approach the session like a hackathon—open, creative, and focused on quick wins.
Explain each column so participants know what type of input to share: new ideas for 'Kickoff Initiatives', problems for 'Buggy Blocks', and best practices for 'Power-Up Projects'.
Give everyone time to add their notes individually to each column without discussion to encourage open thinking.
Invite the team to review all posted items, ask clarifying questions, and cluster similar ideas together to spot patterns.
Facilitate a group discussion, focusing on why particular bugs emerged, which hacks really worked, and how new initiatives might be tested.
Let the team vote on which new initiatives or 'bug fixes' should be prioritized for the next sprint.
Agree on clear action items or experiments to run, designating owners when possible.
Wrap up by celebrating the team’s innovative spirit and summarizing key takeaways.
Pro Tips
Encourage playful, hackathon-style energy to spark bolder suggestions and candid blockers.
Ask quieter team members to submit ideas asynchronously if live input is slow—this helps surface more diverse perspectives.
Frame experiments as low-risk 'trials' for the next sprint to ease team anxiety about trying new things.
Keep the session moving with a visible countdown timer for each stage to maintain momentum.
FAQ
What if the team doesn't generate many new initiative ideas?
Prompt with examples from past hackathons or invite everyone to share even small process tweaks they've been considering.
How do we avoid overloading ourselves with too many action items?
Limit next steps to one or two experiments or changes per sprint, using voting to focus efforts where they'll matter most.
What if someone dominates the discussion during clustering?
Use a round-robin approach or rotate facilitators to ensure everyone has space to share their perspective.
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