🎓📚 Semester Portfolio Finale
Let’s celebrate the journey of our semester portfolio! Review our achievements, lessons, and aspirations as we close this chapter and plan for an even better next term.
Template Columns
🏅 Semester Successes
Highlight the accomplishments and best practices that made this portfolio semester shine.
Base column: What Went Well⏳ Hurdles in the Hallways
Reflect on the challenges or setbacks we faced as the semester unfolded.
Base column: What Went Wrong🚀 Level Up for Next Semester
Share ideas and suggestions to make our next portfolio journey smoother and more impactful.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The Semester Portfolio Finale retrospective provides teams with a structured space to celebrate achievements, reflect on challenges, and collaboratively set goals for a stronger next semester.
When to use this template
Use this format at the end of a semester, major project, or significant portfolio milestone to capture learnings, recognize successes, and shape forward plans.
How to facilitate
Set a collaborative tone by welcoming everyone and explaining the purpose: reflecting on the semester’s portfolio journey together.
Invite each participant to share key successes in the Semester Successes column, focusing on team wins, standout projects, and adopted best practices.
Encourage honest reflection as team members contribute to the Hurdles in the Hallways column, listing obstacles, setbacks, or frustrations experienced.
Ask the team to brainstorm actionable ideas and aspirations for next semester in the Level Up for Next Semester column, emphasizing practical changes or new experiments.
Guide group discussion to look for patterns or recurring themes across all columns, allowing everyone to comment and add insights.
Prioritize improvement ideas as a team, selecting a few key actions to carry forward and assign clear owners where possible.
Wrap up with appreciation, highlighting both accomplishments and the team’s commitment to growth, and ensure agreed actions are summarized and visibly documented.
Pro Tips
Share a summary of portfolio progress with visuals beforehand to spark memories and deeper discussion.
Ask quieter team members direct questions or use anonymous input methods to encourage balanced participation.
Revisit learnings from past retrospectivesto see growth trends and avoid repeating discussions.
Use real examples when discussing challenges to surface root causes, not just symptoms.
FAQ
How do we avoid the conversation focusing only on problems?
Start with successes to build positive momentum, and actively prompt the team to identify wins before moving to hurdles.
What if the same issues come up every semester?
Address recurring challenges directly and focus on brainstorming new approaches or assigning clear action owners to drive change.
How do we include quieter or remote team members?
Use anonymous input tools and actively invite responses from everyone, especially those less vocal. Consider rotating the facilitation role for fresh perspectives.
What is the best way to ensure follow-up on next semester's improvement ideas?
Agree on specific action items, assign owners, set review dates, and check in on progress in your next retrospective or planning session.
At a glance
- Duration
40–60 min
- Team Size
4-15 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