Project Retrospective Templates

How to choose

Ask what you're closing.

• A release. Run the Release Retro within a week of shipping, while details are fresh. Its "What we missed before release" column is where testing and rollout gaps show up.
• A project phase, with more to come. FLAP pairs accomplishments and lessons with future considerations, so the next phase starts with a list. 4Ls is simpler and more reflective, and works well when engineers, designers and product people sit in the same retro.
• A whole project, win or lose. The Project Post-Mortem starts with goals against what you delivered, then digs into root causes. Use it when people outside the team will read the outcome.
• A long stretch where memories blur. The Timeline sorts notes into early, middle and end, so the last week doesn't crowd out everything before it.
• A quarter or an OKR cycle. The Quarterly Retrospective steps back from sprint detail. The OKR Review is narrower: it asks why each key result was hit or missed.
• A goal still in progress. Hot Air Balloon and Mountain Climber look back and forward at once. Mountain Climber suits a goal with a clear end point, such as a migration with a cutover date.
• The year. End of Year adds thank-yous and hopes for next year. Use it for the last retro before the holidays.

Collecting notes over a long period

Nobody remembers week two of a three-month project on the day of the retro. Open the board when the phase starts, not when it ends, and ask people to add a note whenever something goes notably well or badly. In Retro Rabbit the board stays open until you start the review, and notes can go in from the board itself or the Team Room's Quick Notes box.

Before the meeting, gather what people will need: the original goals, release notes, incident links and the dates of big decisions. Then the meeting can go to causes and lessons instead of piecing together what happened.

Big retros produce long lists. Pick two or three action items with owners and let the rest go. Unfinished items stay visible in later retros in the same Team Room, under Old / Unresolved Items. On Pro AI (and during the free trial), CarrotIQ's Sprint Summary gives you a written summary of each column to share with people who weren't there. For running the meeting itself, see the complete guide to sprint retrospectives.