Templates · Themed & fun

Sailboat

A picture of a boat helps the team name what drives it, what holds it back, the risks ahead and where it wants to arrive.

What it is

The team is a boat on its way to an island. Four columns follow the picture: the wind in the sails, the anchors that drag, the rocks ahead and the island itself. Two look at what has happened, two at what is coming.

Goal

A destination the whole team states in the same words, and a short list for the way there: a wind to catch on purpose, an anchor to lift, a rock to steer around.

When to use it

Take it when direction matters as much as the last sprint: the start or the middle of a project, a new quarter, the weeks before a release. It suits a team whose retros only look backwards, since the rocks make room for risks nobody has hit yet.

When to pick another format

With little time, Speed Car keeps the push and the drag and drops the rest. When the risks are the real subject, a Pre-mortem gives them the whole session. When the team has no goal of its own, the island stays empty: take Went well, To improve, Action ideas.

How to run it

The columns are listed as the board shows them, but open the session with the fourth: its description asks the team to agree on the destination before the rest.

1. What is the wind pushing our sails that makes us go fast? Ask what pushed the team forward and could be repeated on purpose.
2. What anchors are holding us back? Ask what adds drag sprint after sprint, not what spoiled one day.
3. What rocks are ahead of us that risk our future? Ask what would hurt if nothing changes. Nothing here has happened yet.
4. What is our ideal island destination? Ask where the team wants to be at the end of the project or the quarter, and reduce the cards to one or two sentences.

Group the cards and vote on the anchors and the rocks. Write an action for those the team chooses, and hold each against the island: does it bring the boat closer?

Columns

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