🐻 Into the Wild: Grizzly Man Retro
Step into the wilderness! Channel your inner explorer as we reflect on our agile journey, learning from the wild successes and cautionary tales found in nature. Let’s discover how we can work together with the heart of a true adventurer.
Template Columns
🌱 New Trails to Blaze
Identify fresh strategies or practices we should start exploring, like forging new paths in the wilderness.
Base column: Start🚫 Bear Traps to Avoid
Highlight processes or habits we must stop before they become hazards on our journey.
Base column: Stop🏞️ Habitats to Protect
Celebrate the practices and rituals that nurture our team’s ecosystem and should be continued.
Base column: Continue🌲 Adapt to Survive
Suggest changes needed to adapt to our ever-changing environment, just as animals do in the wild.
Base column: ChangeAbout this template
The Into the Wild: Grizzly Man Retro invites teams to reflect on their agile journey using wilderness-inspired themes, focusing on exploring new practices, avoiding pitfalls, sustaining strengths, and adapting to change.
When to use this template
Use this template when your team needs a fresh perspective on continuous improvement, particularly after big changes or when energy for retrospectives is lagging. It's ideal for energizing reflection with adventurous thinking and natural metaphors.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team, share the wilderness theme, and set the tone for open exploration. Optionally, invite everyone to share a fun outdoor or adventure story to break the ice.
Briefly revisit the purpose of each column: blazing new trails (start), dodging bear traps (stop), protecting habitats (continue), and adapting to survive (change).
Ask each team member to add insights or stories to every column, encouraging both wild successes and cautionary tales from the recent sprint or project.
Facilitate a round of discussion around each column, looking for common themes, surprises, or connections between the natural metaphors and team experiences.
Prioritize or cluster the most pressing or promising items from each column, using votes or group consensus.
Guide the team to choose clear action steps for new strategies, necessary stops, protected strengths, and key adaptations.
Review and document agreed actions, assigning owners and timelines where relevant. End with a short, positive closing focused on team adventure and growth.
Pro Tips
Lean into the nature metaphors to encourage creative, out-of-the-box thinking and storytelling.
Invite quieter team members to share by asking exploratory, open-ended questions using the 'wild' theme.
Reference past retrospectives to identify which habitats (practices) are consistently strong or which bear traps keep appearing.
For each action item, ask the team to imagine how it will help the 'ecosystem' of their work environment.
Wrap up by asking the group to identify their 'expedition leader' for each key action.
FAQ
What if the team struggles to connect with the wilderness theme?
Encourage them to treat the metaphors playfully—use storytelling or shift focus to the core retrospective questions if needed.
How do we keep the session focused with a creative theme?
Revisit the column goals frequently, and guide discussions gently back to action-oriented insights if the conversation drifts too far.
What if we can't agree on which changes to prioritize?
Use anonymous voting and time-box decision-making to keep momentum; remind the team that adapting is an ongoing process.
Is this format suitable for a retrospective with stakeholders?
It works best with core teams, but stakeholders can join if they're open to creative reflection and focused on collaborative improvement.
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At a glance
- Duration
50–65 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
4 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue, Change
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective