Templates · Team & mood

Happy, Meh, Sad

A quick read of how the sprint felt, with a middle column for what left the team indifferent.

What it is

Three columns sorted by feeling instead of by topic. Happy :) takes the moments that gave the team energy, Sad :( what drained it or went clearly wrong, and Meh :| what was neither good nor bad. The middle column is what sets the format apart: indifference counts as information, not as nothing to report.

Goal

A shared picture of how the sprint felt, and one or two changes that would move a Meh or a Sad card towards Happy next time.

When to use it

It fits an ordinary sprint with no particular event to review, when you want an honest reading in little time. It suits a team new to retrospectives, because three faces need no explanation, and a team whose retrospectives have turned into lists of process complaints that no longer say how people are doing.

When to pick another format

When there is real frustration in the team, Meh and Sad are too mild to carry it: Mad, Sad, Glad gives anger its own column. When the worry is tiredness more than mood, take Energy Levels. When the session must end with a written list of improvements, Went well, To improve, Action ideas has a column for them.

How to run it

1. Happy :) Ask what gave people energy this sprint: a moment, a colleague’s help, something that finally worked.
2. Meh :| Ask what people felt nothing about: a meeting they sat through, a goal nobody cared about. Say that this column matters as much as the other two, because it is the one people skip.
3. Sad :( Ask what drained people or went clearly wrong. A card describes an event and its effect, not a colleague.

Group the cards that describe the same thing, then vote on what to discuss. Do not drop a large Meh group because it drew few votes: ask what would have to change for it to matter, or to disappear. Close each topic with an action item that has an owner.

Columns

To start a retrospective from this template, see Create a retro.