🎃🍂 October Harvest
Gather around the autumn fire to sow fresh ideas, prune old habits, and celebrate the harvest of our sprint successes.
Template Columns
🚀🌱 Seedlings
Plant new initiatives to grow our sprint momentum.
Base column: Start🛑🍂 Falling Leaves
Drop practices that are withering and hinder progress.
Base column: Stop🔄🍁 Golden Harvest
Nurture the thriving processes that yield abundant results.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A seasonal sprint retrospective that plants new ideas, drops ineffective habits, and celebrates successful practices.
When to use this template
Use when the team wants a fresh, thematic way to reflect on what to start, stop, and continue, especially after a few sprints of steady work.
How to facilitate
Set the scene by sharing the October Harvest theme and briefly explain the three columns: Seedlings, Falling Leaves, and Golden Harvest.
Ask each participant to write one idea per sticky note for each column: new initiatives for Seedlings, practices to drop for Falling Leaves, and thriving processes for Golden Harvest.
Collect the notes, group similar items together, and place them under the appropriate column on the virtual board.
Facilitate a round‑robin discussion, letting the team elaborate on each grouped item, focusing on why it belongs in that column and what actions are needed.
Summarize the agreed actions, assign owners and due dates for Seedlings, and capture the agreed continuations and stops in the sprint backlog.
Pro Tips
Use a timer for each column discussion to keep energy high and prevent over‑analysis.
Encourage the use of emojis or icons on sticky notes to visually reinforce the autumn theme and aid quick scanning.
After the session, create a visual “harvest board” that tracks the progress of Seedlings into future sprints.
FAQ
What if the team runs out of ideas for a column?
Prompt with specific examples or ask each person to think of at least one item; you can also use silent brainstorming for a few minutes to generate more.
How do we turn Seedlings into actionable work?
Select the most valuable seedlings, break them into small tasks, assign owners, and add them to the next sprint backlog with clear acceptance criteria.
Can we reuse the Harvest board for future retrospectives?
Yes, keep the board as a living artifact; update the Golden Harvest column with ongoing successes and move completed seedlings to a ‘Collected’ section for reference.
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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