Destination
What result are we trying to reach together?
Whiteboard
Sailboat retrospective template and facilitation guide
The sailboat retrospective gives a team a shared picture of its journey: a destination, wind that helps it move, anchors that slow it down and rocks ahead. Use the board after a sprint, project milestone or shared event to discuss what happened and what to change next.
- Time including discussion:
- 30–45 min
- For:
- Project teams, agile teams and workshop groups
English template
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What you can leave with
One improvement experiment with an owner and a review date, grounded in the team’s observations.
Prompts to fill the canvas
Use these questions alongside the areas on the board. Add one idea per note, then discuss the connections.
Wind
What helped us make progress during this period?
Anchors
What slowed us down, with a concrete example?
Rocks
What foreseeable risk should we prepare for?
How to run this activity
- 1
Choose the journey
Name the period or project under discussion and the destination you were aiming for. Agree to discuss situations and working conditions rather than blame individuals.
- 2
Write silently first
Give everyone time to add one observation per note. Ask for concrete examples and distinguish what happened from what someone thinks caused it.
- 3
Explore the strongest themes
Group related notes, clarify their meaning and discuss both helpful forces and obstacles. Look for a change the team can actually influence.
- 4
Choose an experiment
Agree one small change, the person who will coordinate it and when to review the result. Keep a note of what success would look like.
Make this activity yours
Keep what fits, rewrite what does not and set the pace for your group.
Use this template
Templates are included in the free plan. Participation limits depend on your plan. See plans.
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