🚨⚡️ Urgent Ops
Time is ticking! Sprint through our urgent challenges, celebrate rapid wins, and eliminate bottlenecks to keep the momentum blazing.
Template Columns
⚡️🚀 Ignite Action
Identify urgent initiatives to kick off immediately.
Base column: Start🛑⏹️ Halt Hazards
Pinpoint urgent practices that must be stopped to avoid burnout.
Base column: Stop🔄✅ Keep the Momentum
Maintain urgent processes that are delivering fast value.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A fast‑paced retrospective that surfaces urgent issues, celebrates rapid wins, and decides immediate actions to keep momentum high.
When to use this template
Use when the team faces time‑critical problems or high‑velocity work that needs rapid identification of stop‑start actions.
How to facilitate
Set a timer for the session and briefly remind the team of the urgent focus for this sprint
Ask participants to add virtual sticky notes of urgent initiatives that should be started in the Ignite Action column
Group similar start ideas, discuss each quickly to confirm high priority and immediate feasibility
Repeat the process for Halt Hazards, capturing practices that must stop now to avoid burnout
Capture items for Keep the Momentum, highlighting processes delivering fast value
Vote on the top three items in each column, assign owners and define next steps with clear deadlines
Pro Tips
Limit each participant to three sticky notes per column to keep the board focused
Use a timer for each discussion segment (e.g., five minutes) to maintain urgency
Create a shared ‘Urgent Ops’ board after the retro to track actions, owners, and due dates
FAQ
What if the team can’t agree on what is urgent?
Facilitate a quick impact‑effort matrix, let the group vote, and focus on the top three highest‑impact items.
How do we prevent the retro from becoming a blame session?
Frame all items as behaviors or processes, not people, and keep language solution‑focused.
Can this format be used for non‑urgent work?
It works best for time‑critical contexts, but you can adapt the urgency lens to any high‑priority backlog items.
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At a glance
- Duration
30–45 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