🌤️☔️ Weather Forecast Retro
Gather around the forecast desk: discuss the sunny starts, stormy stops, and steady breezes to keep our sprint on a clear horizon.
Template Columns
🌞 Sunny Starts
Identify fresh initiatives that bring bright, clear skies to our workflow.
Base column: Start⛈️ Stormy Stops
Highlight practices that cause turbulence and should be grounded.
Base column: Stop🌈 Breezy Continues
Pinpoint smooth processes that keep the wind at our back.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A weather-themed retro that surfaces bright ideas, blocks, and steady practices to keep the sprint on a clear horizon.
When to use this template
Use when the team needs a fresh, visual way to categorize what’s working, what’s hindering, and what should keep flowing.
How to facilitate
Set the virtual board with the three weather columns and explain the metaphor of sunny starts, stormy stops, and breezy continues
Give each participant 3–5 sticky notes and ask them to write brief observations for each column, focusing on the most recent sprint
Collect the notes, place them in the appropriate columns, and invite the group to read them aloud, clustering similar items together
Facilitate a discussion for each column, asking why sunny starts helped, what caused the stormy stops, and how breezy continues can be reinforced
Agree on concrete actions: turn at least one sunny start into a regular practice, create a mitigation plan for each stormy stop, and assign owners to sustain breezy continues
Pro Tips
Encourage participants to add emojis or weather icons to their notes to keep the theme lively and improve quick scanning
Limit each person to one item per column initially to avoid overload, then allow a second round if time permits
When a stormy stop is identified, ask the team to suggest a specific countermeasure rather than just naming the problem
FAQ
What if the team can’t agree on what belongs in each column?
Encourage a brief voting round using reactions; the majority view wins, and any contested items can be discussed further after the retro
How do we ensure the retro leads to actionable outcomes?
Capture each agreed action on a separate ‘Next Sprint’ board with a clear owner and due date before closing the session
Can we combine this with other retro formats?
Yes, you can start with a quick ‘Mad‑Sad‑Glad’ round to surface emotions, then transition into the weather forecast for concrete process insights
What if the sprint was very short and there aren’t many items?
Focus on the most impactful observations, even if there’s only one per column, and use the extra time for deeper root‑cause analysis
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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