Column 1
Base Camp Wins
What progress or capability have we secured?
Example cards
- The migration now runs on real data.
- The team can deploy without specialist help.
- Customers completed the beta workflow.
Ready-to-use template
Mountain Climber Retrospective
The Mountain Climber metaphor frames progress as a shared expedition. It recognizes completed work, names difficult terrain, identifies missing support, and defines the next meaningful summit.
- Duration
- 35–45 minutes
- Team size
- 3–12 people
- Best for
- Long projects, milestone reviews, and teams facing a demanding next stage
What each column means
Use the prompts to keep cards specific. The examples show the level of detail that makes discussion and voting useful.
Column 2
Steep Sections
Where was progress unusually difficult or draining?
Example cards
- Test setup consumed most of the story.
- Ownership changed during implementation.
- The dependency failed without useful errors.
Column 3
Supplies We Need
What support, knowledge, tool, or decision is needed next?
Example cards
- A named security reviewer.
- Production-like performance data.
- Time with the support team.
Column 4
Summit Next
Which concrete outcome should the team reach next?
Example cards
- Ten customers complete onboarding.
- On-call diagnoses failures in ten minutes.
- The old service is safely retired.
35–45 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.
Use this format when
- Work spans several sprints.
- The team needs motivation and practical preparation.
- A milestone is ending and the next is beginning.
Choose another format when
- The team needs a quick weekly process check.
- There is no shared next objective.
- The metaphor would distract from an urgent direct conversation.
Facilitation tips
- Define the reviewed journey and next summit first.
- Celebrate capability, not just completed tickets.
- Separate hard terrain from missing supplies.
- Write the summit as an outcome.
- Assign owners for supplies before the climb begins.
Useful variations
Release climb
Make the summit the launch outcome and supplies the readiness gaps.
Quarterly expedition
Review progress toward an objective across several sprints.
Learning climb
Frame wins as knowledge gained and supplies as evidence still needed.
Before the retro
Recommended warm-up
Draw & Guess
Start visually before exploring the team’s climb, obstacles, and summit.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Mountain Climber retrospective columns?
They are Base Camp Wins, Steep Sections, Supplies We Need, and Summit Next.
When is the Mountain Climber format useful?
It works well for long projects, milestone transitions, and teams preparing for a demanding next stage.
What should go in Supplies We Need?
Add a concrete resource, decision, skill, relationship, or piece of evidence required for the next outcome.
How is it different from Sailboat?
Mountain Climber emphasizes progress across stages and readiness for the next stage; Sailboat emphasizes forces, drag, risk, and destination.
Related retrospective templates
Run this Mountain Climber Retrospective
Open the ready-made columns, invite the team, collect observations, vote, and leave with an owned improvement.