🏴☠️💰 Pirate Adventure
Ahoy, mateys! Set sail for a swashbuckling retrospective where we hunt for treasures, avoid sea monsters, and map out smoother journeys ahead. Let’s turn challenges into gold and chart our pirate legacy!
Template Columns
⚓️ Hoist the Sails (Start)
Share new practices or ideas we should set in motion as we launch into new waters.
Base column: Start🦑 Walk the Plank (Stop)
Reveal habits or obstacles we should cast into the deep to keep our ship swift and safe.
Base column: Stop💰 Plundered Treasures (Continue)
Highlight the valuable actions or strategies we should keep in our chest for future voyages.
Base column: Continue🗺️ Chart a New Course (Change)
Suggest course corrections or experiments to steer us toward more bountiful shores.
Base column: ChangeAbout this template
The Pirate Adventure retrospective uses a nautical theme to help your team identify what to start, stop, continue, and change, all while making reflection fun and memorable.
When to use this template
This retrospective is ideal after project milestones or sprints where you want to inspire creativity and get the crew excited about improvements.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team aboard and introduce the Pirate Adventure theme, encouraging everyone to adopt a playful mindset.
Explain each column—Hoist the Sails, Walk the Plank, Plundered Treasures, Chart a New Course—making sure everyone understands what type of feedback goes where.
Give participants time to reflect and add their thoughts to each column, aiming for honest and constructive input.
Invite the team to group and discuss similar ideas, focusing on patterns or surprises in the feedback.
Facilitate a discussion to prioritize which suggestions or actions will shape your team's next voyage, capturing clear next steps together.
Close by celebrating wins and creative insights, and ask each person to share one thing they're looking forward to as the crew sets sail again.
Pro Tips
Encourage everyone to use pirate lingo or fun metaphors to make the session more engaging.
Use themed backgrounds or music to set an adventurous atmosphere.
Make sure quieter crew members get a chance to share their hidden treasures and worries.
If many action items emerge, focus on picking just a few impactful changes to avoid overwhelming the crew.
FAQ
How can I keep the team engaged with the pirate theme?
Incorporate fun elements like pirate names, themed music, or visuals to bring the adventure to life without losing focus on actionable outcomes.
What if ideas repeat across columns?
Group similar items together and discuss the underlying theme, then clarify where they fit best for more effective action planning.
How do we avoid the retrospective becoming all fun and no action?
Balance playfulness with clear goal setting by summarizing top actions in each column and assigning owners before closing.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
4 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue, Change
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective