Retrospective games can be short warm-ups or structured reflection activities. Use an emoji check-in or a few quick voting rounds to open the call. Then use a format such as Start-Stop-Continue, Four Ls, or a sprint timeline to gather observations and choose a small improvement.
The Scrum Guide describes a retrospective as an opportunity to improve how the team works, including quality and effectiveness. A sprint review focuses on the sprint's outcomes and future product adaptations. An icebreaker can support the session, but it does not replace that reflection.
Below are 15 activities with example prompts and suggested times. Times are facilitation estimates, not measured guarantees. Choose one activity for your goal rather than trying to use the whole list in one meeting.
Choose the right activity for your retro
| Your goal | Start with | Suggested time | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open a quiet call | Emoji check-in or one-word sprint | 2–4 min | Call chat or voice |
| Add a light warm-up | Would You Rather or This or That | 3–5 min | Live browser room |
| Gather concrete feedback | Start-Stop-Continue or Four Ls | 10–15 min | Shared document or board |
| Understand when a problem happened | Sprint timeline | 10–15 min | Shared document or board |
| Close with an action | Small-experiment vote | 5–8 min | Shared document or board |
Keep the tools clear: live Meeting Games rooms use prepared prompts and can display nicknames and individual choices. The custom sprint-feedback examples below are manual activities, not a custom polling feature or anonymous retrospective board. Use your team's appropriate feedback tool when anonymity matters.
Five quick retrospective icebreakers
1. Would You Rather warm-up
Plan: 3–5 minutes. Open Would You Rather and run a few prepared questions. Invite an optional one-sentence comment after each reveal, then close the game. Use it for a low-stakes opener rather than interpreting game preferences as evidence about the sprint.
Carry forward: a shared starting moment. If you want a custom question such as “Would we rather reduce handoffs or shorten reviews?”, ask it separately in the retro's own document or feedback tool.
2. This or That
Plan: 2–4 minutes. Use This or That for a few everyday preference rounds. Explain that players pick an option and see the split; nobody needs to defend a choice. Keep the number of rounds small enough to leave time for reflection.
Carry forward: a quick opening in which people can participate without preparing a personal story. The live game is not anonymous.
3. Emoji sprint check-in
Plan: 2–3 minutes. Ask, “Which emoji describes the sprint for you?” Let everyone think briefly, then post together in chat. Invite volunteers to explain, and write down any process issue they choose to raise.
Carry forward: a few possible discussion themes. Ask what an emoji means rather than assuming a frown or celebration explains a person's experience.
4. One-word sprint
Plan: 2–4 minutes. Ask everyone to describe the sprint in one word. Group similar words in your shared document, then ask, “Which of these needs a concrete example before we discuss it?”
Carry forward: a short list of themes. Words such as “rushed” are starting points for questions, not proof of a cause.
5. Weather report
Plan: 3–5 minutes. Invite people to describe their experience as weather: clear, changeable, stormy, or another description. Give the example, “Cloudy because I was waiting on two reviews.” Allow people to pass.
Carry forward: an observation attached to a situation. Keep the discussion about work conditions and avoid evaluating colleagues by their answers.
Five activities for reflecting on the sprint
Use these in a shared document, board, or suitable feedback tool. Give people quiet writing time before discussion so the first speaker does not set the entire agenda.
6. Start-Stop-Continue
Plan: 10–15 minutes. Make three columns and ask, “What should we start, stop, or continue to make the next sprint easier to deliver?” Have people add specific observations, cluster duplicates, and choose one topic to explore.
Example: “Start agreeing on review ownership before coding begins.”
Carry forward: one candidate change with a clear owner and a way to check whether it helped.
7. Mad-Sad-Glad
Plan: 10–15 minutes. Create three columns for frustrating, disappointing, and positive moments. Ask for an event and its effect, such as “The test environment was unavailable on Tuesday, so two items waited.” Discuss the process involved rather than guessing someone's intentions.
Carry forward: a problem to address and a practice worth keeping. Do not require people to disclose feelings or private information.
8. Sailboat
Plan: 10–15 minutes. Draw a goal, wind that helped, anchors that slowed progress, and rocks that may create risk. Ask, “Which anchor can we reduce before the next sprint ends?”
Example: a slow handoff is an anchor; an upcoming dependency change is a rock.
Carry forward: one obstacle the team can influence and one risk to track. A simple four-column document works if drawing is inconvenient.
9. Four Ls
Plan: 10–15 minutes. Write four headings: Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed for. Ask people to add a short example in any relevant column. Discuss what the team can act on rather than trying to fill every column equally.
Example: “Learned that smaller changes were easier to review.”
Carry forward: one useful practice to repeat or one missing support to request.
10. Sprint timeline
Plan: 10–15 minutes. Mark the sprint's days on a shared page. Add a few relevant events such as a scope change, blocked task, deployment, or review delay. Check dates against the team's records where possible, then ask where work began to wait.
Carry forward: a sequence of events the team can examine. A timeline helps establish order; it does not by itself prove that one event caused another.
Five ways to close with a useful next step
11. Appreciation round
Plan: 3–5 minutes. Invite short, specific thanks such as “Thanks for pairing with me on the failing test.” Make contributions optional and stop after the agreed time.
Carry forward: examples of helpful behavior to repeat. This is a collaborative close rather than a popularity vote or ranked scoreboard.
12. Small-experiment vote
Plan: 5–8 minutes. List two or three improvements raised during discussion. Give each person one vote, then check whether the team can actually try the leading option.
Example: “For one sprint, assign a reviewer when a task starts.”
Carry forward: an owner, a short trial period, and an observable result to review next time. Run this vote in your retro document or feedback tool, not a prepared game deck.
13. Confidence check
Plan: 3–5 minutes. Ask, “From one to five, how confident are we that this action fits the next sprint?” Invite questions about low scores before deciding whether to simplify the action.
Carry forward: an adjusted plan or a dependency to resolve. A confidence vote is an opinion about feasibility, not a forecast or performance grade.
14. Reverse brainstorm
Plan: 5–8 minutes. Ask, “What would make this handoff harder?” Write a few deliberately unhelpful process ideas, then reverse one into a practical improvement. For example, “Never name a reviewer” becomes “Agree on a reviewer before the work is ready.”
Carry forward: one small action connected to the actual issue discussed. Avoid jokes directed at a person.
15. Sprint headline
Plan: 3–5 minutes. Ask people to propose a short headline they would like to use after the next sprint, such as “Reviews no longer wait until Friday.” Choose one that reflects the agreed improvement.
Carry forward: a memorable description of the change and the evidence you will look for at the next retro.
A sample 30-minute retrospective agenda
This is a compact facilitation example, not a prescribed Scrum timebox. Extend the discussion when the team needs more time.
| Time | Activity | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–3:00 | One-word sprint or a short icebreaker | A starting theme |
| 3:00–8:00 | Quiet writing in Start-Stop-Continue | Specific observations |
| 8:00–20:00 | Group themes and discuss one issue | A shared description of the problem |
| 20:00–27:00 | Choose one small experiment | Action, owner, and a check for next sprint |
| 27:00–30:00 | Confidence check and close | A feasible plan and any unresolved dependency |
Suggested transition: “We have warmed up. Now let us look at one thing that helped this sprint and one thing we can change. Please include an example so we can understand the issue.”
Make a remote retro easy to join
Share the retro document before the session and explain who can read the feedback. If you use a browser icebreaker, share its room link separately and allow time for nickname joining. Keep the video call for conversation, and use the shared document to record the actual improvement decision.
For a quick opener, browse the live games or use the icebreaker question generator. For more prompts, see ice breaker questions for work meetings. A no-prep meeting game can open the call when you want a lighter activity.
At the next retro, return to the previous action before choosing a new one: what changed, what evidence do we have, and should we keep or adjust the experiment?