Retrospective

A retrospective is a structured reflection that helps teams learn from their experiences and continuously improve. By regularly examining what went well, what didn't, and what to change, teams build a culture of learning and adaptation. The value isn't just in the discussion.it's in the documented actions and follow-through.

When to Use

• At the end of every sprint (for agile teams)
• After completing a significant project or milestone
• Following a major incident or outage
• When team dynamics feel off and need addressing
• At regular intervals (monthly, quarterly) even without specific triggers
• When onboarding new team members to establish improvement culture

When NOT to Use

• You want one durable learning banked for the organization -> use iterate-lessons-log; the retro is the ceremony, the log entry outlives it
• You are scoring an OKR cycle at close -> use measure-okr-grader
• The reflection must end in a pivot-or-persevere call -> use iterate-pivot-decision
• You need a recap of a general (non-retro) meeting -> use foundation-meeting-recap