🌒🌀 Twilight Zone Retrospective
Step into the mysterious Twilight Zone, where projects take unexpected turns! Let’s unlock the secrets behind our successes, resolve strange encounters, and reshape reality for our next sprint. Beware: ordinary answers not allowed!
Template Columns
✨ Beyond Expectations
Reveal those strange yet wonderful surprises where our work exceeded all known limits.
Base column: What Went Well🌪️ Oddities & Anomalies
Uncover the project’s plot twists—unexpected issues and mysterious mishaps that haunted this sprint.
Base column: What Went Wrong🛠️ Rewriting Reality
Propose improvements and transformative changes to bring our team into a better dimension.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The Twilight Zone Retrospective invites teams to explore project mysteries, reveal unexpected outcomes, and collaboratively reshape their way forward with a creative twist.
When to use this template
Use this format when your team feels stuck in routine, has faced strange challenges, or needs a fresh, imaginative approach to reflection and improvement.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team and introduce the Twilight Zone theme, encouraging everyone to embrace curiosity and creative thinking.
Set the stage with a brief team icebreaker about a personal "Twilight Zone" moment unrelated to work to boost engagement.
Guide participants to share surprising wins and successes in the Beyond Expectations column, highlighting what stood out as strange but positive.
Shift focus to Oddities & Anomalies, asking team members to surface puzzling setbacks, odd patterns, or unexpected blockers from the sprint.
Transition to Rewriting Reality, prompting the team to suggest bold changes or unconventional actions for next time, inspired by what’s been discussed.
Cluster similar ideas, discuss notable themes, and prioritize a few actionable improvements to implement in the next sprint.
Close with a quick round where each participant shares one insight or feeling about the mysterious journey they just embarked on.
Pro Tips
Lean into storytelling—invite team members to describe events like unexplained phenomena for creative engagement.
Make space for unconventional ideas; encourage solutions that seem wild at first glance but could spark breakthrough change.
Keep things light and playful to lower barriers and promote honest sharing about odd or uncomfortable issues.
If discussion stalls, use thematic prompts like "What would the heroes in the Twilight Zone do next?"
FAQ
What if the team feels uncomfortable with the theme?
Emphasize that the Twilight Zone approach is about playfully exploring unknowns while keeping psychological safety at the center. Participation in themed elements can be kept optional.
How do we avoid getting stuck on overly mysterious or non-actionable topics?
Guide the group toward concrete examples and solutions during the 'Rewriting Reality' phase, and clarify that the goal is actionable improvement.
What if our team isn’t used to creative retrospectives?
Frame the session as an experiment and reassure the team that the focus is on insights, not creativity for its own sake. Facilitate inclusivity so everyone can contribute at their comfort level.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-10 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