🦑🕹️ Squid Game Challenge
Welcome to the Squid Game Retro! Let’s playfully compete to improve our team by identifying winning moves, risky plays, and reliable strategies that help us survive (and thrive) in our project arena. Only collaboration and improvement make us all winners!
Template Columns
🔵 Green Light Moves
Share new actions and ideas we should start to keep progressing toward victory safely.
Base column: Start🔴 Red Light Risks
Identify actions or behaviors we should stop to avoid elimination and setbacks.
Base column: Stop🟡 Golden Strategy
Highlight reliable practices we should continue for consistent success in our project challenges.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Squid Game Challenge retrospective uses playful competition to help teams identify new actions, risky behaviors to stop, and reliable strategies to continue, fostering safer, smarter ways to thrive together.
When to use this template
Use this format when your team wants to energize reflection, tackle upcoming challenges, or reset after a demanding sprint or project milestone.
How to facilitate
Kick off the session by explaining the Squid Game theme and how playful competition leads to better collaboration.
Review the three columns: Green Light Moves (start), Red Light Risks (stop), and Golden Strategy (continue), making sure everyone understands each category.
Set a timer and have team members add their thoughts to the boards anonymously to encourage participation.
Invite the group to read the ideas, then cluster similar items for easier discussion.
As a team, discuss each cluster, focusing on why the move, risk, or strategy matters and its impact on team survival and success.
Facilitate a vote for top items in each column to prioritize actions.
Agree on a few key action items or experiments from the most voted cards to try before the next retro.
Wrap up by reflecting on how the playful format influenced the discussion and thank everyone for their contributions.
Pro Tips
Use the thematic language to keep the discussion lively but ensure psychological safety for honest sharing.
Turn key action items into short-term experiments to see what truly helps your team thrive.
Encourage quieter team members by giving everyone a voice with anonymous contributions.
Revisit previous 'Golden Strategies' at the beginning of future retros to track their effectiveness.
FAQ
What if the 'competition' aspect makes someone uncomfortable?
Emphasize that the challenge is collaborative, not about 'winning' individually, and that everyone's input helps the team succeed together.
How do we prevent focusing only on negatives (risks)?
Balance discussions by dedicating equal time to each column and prompting the team for successes and new ideas, not just problems.
What if we have too many action items?
Prioritize as a group by voting, then select only the top one or two per column to focus on improvement and avoid overload.
Can we adapt the format for a larger group?
Yes, split into smaller groups for initial brainstorming, then bring everyone together to share highlights and agree on actions.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 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