Templates · Essentials

Original 4

Four plain questions that review the work, keep what was learned and leave open questions in view.

What it is

Four questions. Two are about the work: what went well, what did not. Two are asked in the first person: what have I learned, what still puzzles me. There is no column for actions: they come out of the discussion.

Goal

Besides the usual review, two things most formats lose: lessons worth passing on, and questions nobody has answered yet.

When to use it

• At the end of a project, a release or a long piece of work.
• After working with a technology or a domain that was new to the team.
• When you suspect misunderstandings: the last column gives permission to say “I do not understand why we do this”.

When to pick another format

If the meeting has to end quickly on decisions, Went well, To improve, Action ideas or Start, Stop, Continue get there faster. The questions are sober; when the team needs a change of scenery, a picture such as the Sailboat covers similar ground.

How to run it

1. What went well? Ask for successes worth naming out loud, however small.
2. What didn’t go so well? Ask for problems and misses. Facts first: the reasons come in the discussion.
3. What have I learned? Ask for insights each person would pass to a teammate starting the same work.
4. What still puzzles me? Ask for open questions. Say that no question is too basic.

Begin the discussion with What still puzzles me? Some questions are answered on the spot by someone in the room, and that is a result in itself. Those that remain become actions: one person finds out and reports back. Then group and vote on What didn’t go so well?, and agree on actions with an owner and a date for the most voted cards. Before closing, decide where the cards of What have I learned? are kept, so that they outlive the meeting.

Columns

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