💀⚓️ Pirate Plunder
Ahoy, crew! Sail the agile seas as pirates in search of buried treasure. Let's uncover new opportunities, dodge the doldrums, and keep our ship sailing true toward legendary success! Hoist the anchor and let’s chart our course!
Template Columns
🏴☠️ New Quests to Begin
Hoist the sails with fresh ideas and actions we should start on our next voyage!
Base column: Start🦜 Cut the Deadweight
Call out what anchors us down so we can toss it overboard and sail swifter!
Base column: Stop💰 Golden Habits to Keep
Spot the successful routines and teamwork—our gold doubloons—to treasure and continue!
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Pirate Plunder retrospective invites teams to embrace their inner pirates, exploring new ideas, letting go of unhelpful practices, and celebrating valuable routines for smoother, more adventurous sprints.
When to use this template
Use this template at the end of any sprint or project phase when your team needs a playful, morale-boosting way to uncover actionable insights and energize improvement.
How to facilitate
Set the scene by encouraging the team to imagine themselves as a pirate crew embarking on the next voyage.
Introduce the three columns: New Quests to Begin, Cut the Deadweight, and Golden Habits to Keep. Clarify what types of feedback belong in each and share the pirate theme for engagement.
Provide private time for team members to brainstorm and add their notes to each column anonymously if possible to promote openness.
Invite participants to review the board and group similar ideas. Encourage discussion around common themes and important suggestions.
Facilitate a roundtable discussion for each column, focusing on actionable takeaways and prioritizing what to start, stop, and continue.
Collaboratively decide on concrete action items, assigning ownership where appropriate, and summarize your team’s course for the coming weeks.
Close with a quick round where everyone shares what treasure they’re most excited to pursue or deadweight they’re happy to toss, keeping energy high.
Pro Tips
Infuse pirate lingo and playful banter to spark creativity and comfort, but keep discussions focused on actionable topics.
Combine this format with a quick icebreaker or team-building activity to get everyone into the theme and engaged from the start.
Encourage quieter team members by directly inviting their ideas or using anonymous input features.
Recap agreed actions with pirate-themed names for better recall and motivation.
FAQ
How do we keep the pirate theme fun without derailing the retrospective?
Set clear expectations for constructive discussion upfront, then weave the theme into prompts and language, keeping the mood light but focused on outcomes.
What if some team members are hesitant about playful formats?
Reassure them that participation is about sharing insights, not acting in character. Emphasize that the theme is there to keep things fresh and make honest feedback more approachable.
What if too many ideas end up in one column?
Facilitate grouping and dot-voting to highlight the most significant items, then prioritize discussion to avoid overload and ensure clear actions emerge.
At a glance
- Duration
40–55 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective