❄️🌪️ Snowstorm Sprint
Brace the blizzard of our sprint—share the flurries of new ideas, melt the drifts that held us back, and keep the warm currents that propelled us forward.
Template Columns
🚀❄️ Ignite New Flurries
Identify fresh practices to launch like fresh snowflakes in our next sprint.
Base column: Start🛑🌨️ Halt Snowdrifts
Spot obstacles that pile up and slow our progress, and decide to stop them.
Base column: Stop✅❄️ Keep the Cozy Warmth
Maintain the effective habits that keep our team’s momentum glowing.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A sprint retrospective that uncovers fresh ideas, removes blockers, and reinforces what’s working, using a snowstorm metaphor.
When to use this template
Use when the team needs a vivid, energizing way to surface new practices, eliminate impediments, and celebrate strengths after a busy sprint.
How to facilitate
Set the stage by reminding the team of the snowstorm metaphor and the three columns: Ignite New Flurries, Halt Snowdrifts, Keep the Cozy Warmth
Give each participant five minutes to write individual notes on virtual sticky notes for each column, focusing on concrete sprint examples
Collect all notes, group similar items together, and place them under the appropriate column on the board
Facilitate a discussion for each column, first exploring new ideas to start, then identifying obstacles to stop, and finally highlighting habits to keep, encouraging voting on the top three items per column
Create actionable next‑step items for the top voted ideas and blockers, assign owners, and close the retro by summarizing the agreed commitments
Pro Tips
Use a timer for the silent writing phase to keep energy high and prevent over‑analysis
When voting, give each person a limited number of dots (e.g., three) to surface the most critical items quickly
Capture the final action items in a shared document that syncs with your sprint backlog to ensure follow‑through
FAQ
What if the team runs out of ideas for new practices?
Prompt them by asking what worked in other projects, what they observed in other teams, or what small experiment they could try next sprint.
How do we handle dominant voices taking over the discussion?
Stick to the structured format: after each column’s discussion give each person a brief turn to share, and use a round‑robin or virtual hand‑raise to ensure equal participation.
What if the ‘Stop’ column becomes a blame session?
Reframe obstacles as system‑level impediments, focus on the behavior or process rather than individuals, and keep the tone solution‑oriented.
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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