🦃🍁 Thanksgiving Harvest
Gather around the virtual table to share our project’s bounty, reflect on the feast of successes, the leftovers of challenges, and plan the next harvest together.
Template Columns
🥧 Sweet Successes
Celebrate the tasty wins and moments that delighted the team.
Base column: Liked📚 Harvested Lessons
Share the knowledge and insights we gathered this sprint.
Base column: Learned⚖️ Missing Ingredients
Identify the resources or support that were scarce.
Base column: Lacked🌟 Future Feast
Dream about the goals and improvements we crave for next.
Base column: Longed ForAbout this template
A festive retrospective that celebrates wins, extracts lessons, spots missing resources, and plans future goals.
When to use this template
Best for sprint endings when the team wants a gratitude‑focused review and clear next‑step planning.
How to facilitate
Begin by welcoming the team, sharing a brief Thanksgiving story, and reminding everyone of the purpose: celebrate, learn, improve.
Ask participants to write their Sweet Successes on virtual sticky notes, focusing on moments that felt rewarding or delightful.
Group the successes, let each person briefly explain one, and capture any common themes.
Move to Harvested Lessons: have the team note insights or practices learned, then discuss the most valuable takeaways.
In Missing Ingredients, collect items the team felt were lacking—tools, information, support—and prioritize the top three.
For Future Feast, invite the group to envision desired outcomes for the next sprint and write concrete goals.
Finally, turn the top items from Missing Ingredients and Future Feast into actionable items, assign owners, and set deadlines.
Pro Tips
Use a themed background or virtual table image to reinforce the Thanksgiving vibe.
Encourage brevity: limit each sticky note to one sentence to keep the session moving.
After the retro, send a summary email with the highlighted successes and action items to maintain momentum.
FAQ
What if the team struggles to find successes?
Prompt them to think of small wins, like a smooth deployment or a helpful collaboration, and remind that even minor positives count.
How do we keep the retro from becoming just a gratitude session?
Balance celebration with concrete learning and action items by dedicating equal time to lessons, gaps, and future goals.
What if virtual sticky notes become chaotic?
Assign a co‑facilitator to organize notes into clusters in real time and use color‑coding for each column.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
5-12 people
- Columns
4 columns
- Base Format
Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective