Templates · Team & mood
Safety Check
An anonymous reading, from 5 to 1, of how freely people feel they can speak in this retrospective.
- 5 No problem — I will say anything, including uncomfortable things
- 4 Mostly comfortable — I would soften how I phrase one or two topics
- 3 Selective — I will talk about process, not about people or my own mistakes
- 2 Guarded — I will agree with others but raise nothing myself
- 1 Silent — I will say nothing meaningful in this session
What it is
Five columns numbered from 5 to 1, each describing how freely someone is ready to speak in this session. Each person places one card in the column that matches their state. It is a check-in, not a retrospective: it does not look at the sprint.
Goal
The facilitator and the team know how much honesty the session can carry before it starts, and adapt it to that instead of finding out through silence.
When to use it
With a new team, or one you do not know yet. After a conflict, an incident that ended in blame, a reorganisation or a change of manager. When retrospectives have become polite and nothing difficult is raised. Run it as a short session of its own, just before the retrospective it prepares.
When to pick another format
It only works anonymously, and anonymity needs numbers: in a very small group, people can guess who placed a low card, so talk to them one by one instead. To learn why people came, more than how safe they feel, use ESVP. For the retrospective that follows a mixed reading, Happy, Meh, Sad asks about moments, not about people.
How to run it
Turn on Anonymous cards when you create the retro, and say so before anyone writes. Read the five descriptions aloud, then ask each person for one card, with a word or a line on what would move them one column up.
- 5: nothing is held back.
- 4: one or two topics are softened.
- 3: process only, not people or one’s own mistakes.
- 2: agreement with others, and nothing raised.
- 1: nothing meaningful is said.
There is nothing to group or to vote on. Count the cards in each column aloud, and never ask who placed a card. Mostly 5 and 4: go on with the retrospective you planned. Several cards at 3: keep to process topics. Cards at 2 or 1: set the plan aside, read what the cards say would help, and take one action from it.
Columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| 5 | No problem — I will say anything, including uncomfortable things |
| 4 | Mostly comfortable — I would soften how I phrase one or two topics |
| 3 | Selective — I will talk about process, not about people or my own mistakes |
| 2 | Guarded — I will agree with others but raise nothing myself |
| 1 | Silent — I will say nothing meaningful in this session |
To start a retrospective from this template, see Create a retro.