On this page (10 sections)
FLAP looks back at a whole project phase and forward to the next one. Its four columns are Future considerations, Lessons learned, Accomplishments and Problem areas. Use it at the end of a milestone, a release or a months-long stretch of one project, when the next phase needs what this one taught you.
The four columns
| Column | What goes here | Example note |
|---|---|---|
| 🔭 Future considerations | What the next phase should plan for, change or watch | "Phase 2 adds EU customers. We need data residency answers before design starts." |
| 📘 Lessons learned | What you know now that you didn't at the start | "Load testing in week 1 would have caught the queue limit we hit in week 6." |
| 🏆 Accomplishments | What the phase delivered, including things that weren't in the plan | "Moved 40 customers to the new billing system with no failed invoices." |
| 🚧 Problem areas | What went wrong, or is still unresolved | "Every handoff with the data team took about a week." |
Discuss it out of order. The acronym reads F, L, A, P, but the conversation works best as A, P, L, F. Accomplishments first, so the team sees what it achieved before the problems pile up. Then problem areas, then the lessons drawn from both. Future considerations come last, so the lessons land in the next plan.
Where it comes from. No single person is credited with FLAP. FunRetrospectives describes it as a postmortem activity for the end of a project or phase, with "Future direction" as its first column, but doesn't name an author.
In Retro Rabbit
The FLAP template in Retro Rabbit
Pick FLAP from the format library when you create a Team Room (or later in its Settings) and the board starts with its four columns. Your team adds notes during the sprint, with or without their name shown, then votes on what to talk about.
FLAP · Sprint #14
Example notes
Future considerations
- Phase 2 adds EU customers. We need data residency answers first.2 votes
- Budget a week to turn off the old billing API. It has hidden callers.4 votes
Lessons learned
- Load testing in week 1 would have caught the queue limit we hit in week 6.5 votes
- Weekly demos to support caught three bugs before customers did.3 votes
Accomplishments
- Moved 40 customers to the new billing system with no failed invoices.3 votes
- Invoice generation went from 9 minutes to 40 seconds.2 votes
Problem areas
- Every handoff with the data team took about a week.1 vote
- Twelve customers are still on the old system with no migration date.1 vote
- Future considerations
- Lessons learned
- Accomplishments
- Problem areas
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When to use it (and when not to)
Use it when:
- a project phase or milestone just ended: a migration wave, a beta, the first release of a new product
- a team has been on the same project for a quarter and needs to look back further than two weeks
- the team that finishes this phase isn't the team that starts the next one, and the lessons need writing down
Pick something else when:
- it's a normal two-week sprint. Four columns covering months is too heavy. Use What Went Well.
- the phase ended in an incident or a failure that needs root-cause work. Run an incident review or a project post-mortem first.
- the project is just starting and there's nothing to look back on. Run a pre-mortem instead.
How to run it live (45 minutes)
| Time | Step |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Review open action items and recap the phase goal |
| 5–15 min | Silent writing in all four columns |
| 15–19 min | Group duplicates |
| 19–22 min | Dot vote: three votes each |
| 22–40 min | Discuss in order: Accomplishments, Problem areas, Lessons learned, Future considerations |
| 40–45 min | Agree on actions for the next phase, with owners |
- Check what's still open. Open the Action Items panel. Besides the Previous Retro tab, look hard at Old / Unresolved Items: anything still open from the phase's sprint retros is now a problem area or a future consideration.
- Recap the phase. In two minutes, say what the goal was at the start.
- Write silently. Set the timer for ten minutes and ask for accomplishments first. After a long phase, people jump straight to problems.
- Group and vote. Drag duplicates onto each other, vote, then sort by Most Votes.
- Discuss A, P, L, F. Give accomplishments about four minutes and protect the last five for future considerations.
- Give every lesson a home: a change to the next plan, a checklist item, a line in the kickoff doc. A lesson that lives only on this board is gone by the next phase.
How to run it async over a sprint
A phase lasts months, so don't rely on memory. Each sprint retro of the phase is still in the Team Room's sprint list, with its notes and Sprint Summary.
- When the last sprint of the phase starts: click Start New Retro and pick FLAP with Try a different format. The board is open from that moment. The facilitator posts the phase's original goal as the first Accomplishments note, so people write against it.
- During that sprint: everyone reads back through the phase's earlier retros and adds accomplishments and problem areas they'd forgotten.
- Mid-sprint: the facilitator checks Lessons learned, the hardest column. Nudge: for each problem area, what would you do differently?
- Two days before the end: everyone votes.
- The day before: the facilitator groups duplicates and reads the CarrotIQ Sprint Summary for each column.
- Retro day: a 30-minute call on the top problem areas and future considerations. For a handover, the next phase's lead can read the board instead and reply in writing with what they'll change.
See how to run an async retrospective for the full playbook.
12 example prompts
Accomplishments
- What did we deliver that we said we would?
- What did we deliver that wasn't in the plan?
- What got easier between the start of the phase and the end?
Problem areas 4. Where did we lose the most time? 5. Which dependency or handoff hurt the most? 6. What's still unresolved that the next phase inherits?
Lessons learned 7. What would you tell the team on the first day of this phase? 8. Which estimate was furthest off, and why? 9. What surprised us about our users or our system?
Future considerations 10. What should the next phase plan for that this one didn't? 11. Which risk is bigger now than when we started? 12. What should we stop before the next phase begins?
Facilitator tip and a common pitfall
Tip: read the history first. Long phases blur, and the last two weeks crowd out the first two months. Before the retro, go through the phase's earlier retros and bring three things the team has probably forgotten, good and bad.
Pitfall: lessons that are problems restated. "Handoffs with the data team were slow" is a problem area. The lesson is what you'd do differently: "agree a handoff format with the data team before work starts". If Lessons learned reads like Problem areas, ask each author to rewrite one note starting with "Next time, we'll…".
How AI helps with this format
On Pro AI (and during the free trial), CarrotIQ handles the admin around the board:
- Group names. Drag "waiting on analytics" onto "data team handoffs" and CarrotIQ names the group, for example "Data Team Handoffs".
- Summaries. The Sprint Summary covers each column plus the whole retro. The Lessons learned and Future considerations summaries make a ready handover to paste into the next phase's plan.
- Suggested action items. CarrotIQ Suggest drafts an action from the notes, weighting the most-voted ones and skipping actions you already have.
Example action items
Tie each action to a moment in the next phase: the kickoff, the first sprint, the midpoint.
| Note | Action item |
|---|---|
| Lesson: "Load testing in week 1 would have caught the queue limit" | "Rosa adds a load test to the phase 2 kickoff checklist, run before any feature work starts. Checked at the first phase 2 retro." |
| Problem area: "Data team handoffs took a week" | "Dmitri agrees a handoff template and a two-day reply target with the data team lead by the end of next week." |
| Future: "EU customers need data residency" | "Femi holds a session with legal and infrastructure before phase 2 design starts, and shares the answers with the team." |
| Problem area: "Twelve customers still on the old system" | "Claire lists the twelve with a migration date for each and presents it at the phase 2 kickoff." |
The Previous Retro tab carries these into your next retro. More in retrospective action items that actually get done.
Use this template in Retro Rabbit
- Start a 14-day free trial. No card is needed.
- For one retro, click Try a different format in Start New Retro and pick FLAP: it applies to that retro only, and your Team Room keeps its usual columns. To make it the room's format, choose it under "Browse all formats" when you create your Team Room, or later in the Team Room's Settings.
- Before the retro, open the phase's earlier retros from the Team Room's sprint list and skim their Sprint Summaries. They're a ready list of accomplishments and problems.
See pricing for plans.
Related formats
- Project post-mortem: when the project is over and you need root causes
- Timeline: rebuild what happened, week by week, before you judge it
- Quarterly retrospective: the same long view, organized around a quarter
- Futurespective: start the next phase by imagining how it ends
- More formats in Project retrospectives
- All retrospective templates
Frequently asked questions
What is a FLAP retrospective?
A four-column retrospective for the end of a project phase. The team lists future considerations, lessons learned, accomplishments and problem areas, so the next phase starts with what this one taught.
What does FLAP stand for?
Future considerations, Lessons learned, Accomplishments and Problem areas. Some versions call the first column Future direction.
When should you run a FLAP retrospective?
At the end of a project phase, a milestone, a major release or a quarter of work on one project. For a normal two-week sprint it's usually more than you need.
In what order should you discuss the FLAP columns?
Not in the order of the name. Start with Accomplishments, then Problem areas and Lessons learned, and finish with Future considerations so the lessons go straight into the next plan.
How long does a FLAP retrospective take?
About 45 minutes for a phase of a few months. Allow an hour for a long phase or a group of more than eight.
How is FLAP different from a project post-mortem?
A post-mortem looks back at a finished project and digs into root causes. FLAP is for the end of a phase when the work goes on, so it gives the future as much weight as what went wrong.
Run this retro in Retro Rabbit
Your team adds notes during the sprint, CarrotIQ groups and summarizes them and suggests action items, and unfinished items carry into the next retro.
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