🕵️♀️⚰️ Post‑Mortem Investigation
Detective hats on! Dive into the project's afterlife, uncover clues of success and failure, and plan the next mission with fresh insights.
Template Columns
🔎 Initiate New Leads
Identify fresh actions to begin improving future projects.
Base column: Start🛑 Close the Case
Highlight practices or habits to cease, preventing recurring issues.
Base column: Stop🔄 Keep the Evidence
Maintain effective processes that helped uncover valuable insights.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A detective‑style post‑mortem that uncovers what to start, stop, and keep after a project ends.
When to use this template
Use when a project has concluded and you need deep insights into both successes and failures to improve future work.
How to facilitate
Gather the whole team and briefly recap the project’s goals, timeline, and outcomes.
Ask participants to write anonymous notes on virtual sticky notes for each column: Start, Stop, Continue, focusing on specific actions or behaviors.
Cluster similar notes on the board, then discuss each cluster, probing for root causes and evidence.
Prioritize the most impactful items in each column using dot voting or a quick poll.
Create concrete action items for the top Start and Stop items, assign owners, and agree on a follow‑up date; keep the Continue items as affirmed best practices.
Pro Tips
Use a timer for each discussion segment to keep energy high and prevent over‑analysis.
Encourage storytelling by asking “What evidence showed this worked?” to turn vague ideas into actionable insights.
Capture decisions in a shared document linked to the board so remote members can reference them later.
FAQ
What if team members are reluctant to share failures?
Assure psychological safety by emphasizing that the goal is learning, not blame, and allow anonymous submissions via the chat or a private form.
How do we keep the discussion focused and avoid endless debate?
Set a clear timebox for each column, use a facilitator to steer conversation, and move items to voting once consensus is reached.
Can we run this retro for a very large project with many stakeholders?
Yes, split the group into sub‑teams to generate notes, then have a representative share the top themes, ensuring the final synthesis captures all perspectives.
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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