Leadership Garden

Retrospectives That Work

A short series of retrospective formats you can actually run with a team when you want better discussion, clearer signals, and follow-through.

For managers, scrum masters, and tech leads who want better team reflection without ritual for ritual’s sake. 4 posts. Read them in order; each post links to the next.

Read in order

  1. The Start Stop Continue Retrospective

    A practical guide to the Start Stop Continue retrospective: when to use it, how to run it, and what it helps teams surface.

  2. Set Sail for Success: Why Your Team Needs to Try the Sailboat Retrospective

    How to run the Sailboat retrospective to surface momentum, obstacles, and risks in a more visual team conversation.

  3. From Meh to Yeah: Mastering the Mad Sad Glad Retrospective

    How to use the Mad Sad Glad retrospective to surface team emotions, patterns, and practical follow-up actions.

  4. Revolutionize Your Retrospectives with the Starfish Method

    How to run the Starfish retrospective to examine what to start, stop, keep, do more of, and do less of.

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