🏰🪵 Rustic Castle Keep
Gather round the great hall and reflect on our quest: celebrate the victories, confront the dragons, and forge stronger fortifications for the next sprint.
Template Columns
🛡️🏰 Strong Walls
Highlight the sturdy defenses and successful strategies that protected our kingdom.
Base column: What Went Well🐉⚔️ Dragon Attacks
Identify the breaches and challenges that let the dragons into our castle.
Base column: What Went Wrong🔧🏗️ Castle Upgrades
Plan enhancements to reinforce our keep and improve future campaigns.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
A themed sprint retrospective that celebrates wins, surfaces obstacles, and creates concrete improvement actions using a castle metaphor.
When to use this template
Best for teams that enjoy narrative themes and need a structured way to balance celebration with problem‑solving.
How to facilitate
Introduce the castle metaphor, explain the three columns, and set the tone for a collaborative session
Ask participants to silently write one idea per sticky note for Strong Walls, Dragon Attacks, and Castle Upgrades
Place all notes in the appropriate columns and give everyone a moment to read the collective input
Group similar notes together, discuss each group, and capture the key insights on the board
Vote on the Castle Upgrades to prioritize the most valuable improvements for the next sprint
Summarize the decisions, assign owners for each action, and close with a quick reflection on the retrospective itself
Pro Tips
Add themed emojis or icons to each column to keep the castle atmosphere vivid and boost engagement
Limit each sticky note to a single concise idea to keep discussions focused and efficient
Set a timer for each column discussion to prevent over‑analysis and maintain momentum
FAQ
What if the team struggles to come up with items for Strong Walls?
Prompt them with specific examples like completed user stories, smooth deployments, or positive stakeholder feedback to spark ideas.
How do we handle dominant voices during the discussion?
Use a round‑robin format or a virtual “talking stick” timer to ensure everyone gets equal airtime.
Can we combine this with other retrospective formats?
Yes, you can run the Rustic Castle Keep as the main structure and add a quick “Mad‑Sad‑Glad” round at the end for additional emotional check‑in.
What if we have more than 12 participants?
Split the group into two smaller castles, run the activity in parallel, and merge the top voted upgrades in a final plenary.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
What Went Well, What Went Wrong, What We Want to Improve
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective