Use this format when
- The team wants a familiar format that everyone can understand after a quick explanation.
- The sprint had clear wins alongside problems worth fixing.
- Several people are new to retrospectives.
Retrospective templates Updated
Classic Sprintretrospective template
Most teams can start with the Classic Sprint format after a quick explanation. Went Well and To Improve keep the conversation tied to real work from the sprint, while Shout Outs gives people room to name the help that made a difference.
- Duration
- 30–40 minutes
- Team size
- 3–12 people
- Best for
- Regular sprint reviews, new teams, and a familiar format with little setup
What each column means
Use the prompts to keep cards specific. The examples show the level of detail that makes discussion and voting useful.
Went Well
3Which outcomes, decisions, or working habits helped the team deliver this sprint?
- Early API testing exposed an integration gap.
- Breaking the work into smaller stories made progress visible across the whole sprint.
- The release owner kept stakeholders in sync.
To Improve
3What cost the team time, quality, clarity, or confidence this sprint?
- Refinement missed an important dependency.
- Reviews sat too long and piled up near the end of the sprint.
- The test environment behaved differently from production.
Shout Outs
3Who helped the team move forward, and what did they do that others can repeat?
- Mina paired on the rollback plan.
- Support read through the customer reports and pulled the main points into a clear summary.
- Lee questioned an assumption before implementation began.
30–40 minutes agenda
A complete path from framing the room to assigning one concrete follow-up.
- 013 minutes
Frame the review
Name the sprint or project being reviewed, restate the purpose of each column, and remind everyone to describe observable events.
- 027 minutes
Write observations silently
Give everyone uninterrupted time to add one specific observation per card across every column.
- 037 minutes
Share and clarify
Read the cards column by column and let authors add context without debating solutions yet.
- 045 minutes
Group and vote
Combine cards that describe the same pattern, then vote for the themes that would most improve the next iteration.
- 0510 minutes
Discuss the leading themes
Explore causes, consequences, and tradeoffs behind the highest-voted themes while making space for dissenting evidence.
- 065 minutes
Commit to one change
Turn the strongest insight into a small action with an owner, deadline, and signal the team can review next time.
Choose another format when
- The answers have started repeating because people fill out the format from habit.
- The team needs time to talk about risk or how the work affected them.
- A complex release needs prompts that look ahead.
Facilitation tips
- Ask for an example when a card uses a broad label.
- For each Went Well card, ask why it worked and how the team can keep it going.
- Connect each Shout Out to a specific action that helped the team.
- Group similar improvement cards before voting.
- Bring the chosen action into the next sprint review.
Useful variations
Async classic retro
Collect cards before the meeting. Use live time to clarify them, vote, and choose actions.
New-team edition
Start with a quick working-agreement check, then open the three standard columns.
Release edition
Widen the review to the full release window and invite collaborators from outside the delivery squad.
Before the retro
Recommended warm-up
Frequently asked questions
What are the columns in a classic sprint retrospective?
Went Well covers strengths, To Improve names friction, and Shout Outs recognizes the people who helped.
Is the classic format good for a first retrospective?
Yes. The column names tell people what to discuss, so new teams can get started quickly and still cover wins, friction, and recognition.
How do you avoid a repetitive classic retro?
Review the last action before adding cards. Ask for evidence, narrow the retro to one part of the sprint, or switch formats when the answers start repeating.
What should happen after voting?
Take the highest-impact theme and turn it into one small action. Give it an owner, then choose a date or signal that tells the team when to review it.
Run this Classic Sprint Retrospective
Open the ready-made columns, invite the team, collect observations, vote, and leave with an owned improvement.