Manager Toolkit's Retrospectives support real-time collaboration, letting multiple participants add notes, vote, comment, react, and discuss simultaneously. This guide explains how the live experience works on the public retro page.
Sharing the Retro Link
Once you have set up a retro and moved its top-level status to In Progress, the Sharing Link panel surfaces a unique participant link. Send this link to everyone who should participate. Participants do not need a Manager Toolkit account - they can join using just the link and a display name.
How Live Sync Works
The public retro page connects to a per-retro Durable Object over a WebSocket. When someone adds a note, votes, comments, reacts, or marks themselves Done, the change is broadcast to every connected participant within a second. There is no need to refresh the page or poll for updates.
If a participant's network drops, the page reconnects automatically using a heartbeat. Any change made while disconnected is replayed once the connection is re-established, so no data is lost.
Adding Notes in Real Time
During the Draft sub-status, every participant can type and submit notes to any column. Notes appear in real time for all participants. The Show authors retro option (on by default) controls whether the participant's display name appears on the note.
Each participant works independently - you do not need to take turns. This parallel approach means a team of eight can contribute just as quickly as a team of three.
Viewer Presence
The retro header shows a live avatar strip of everyone currently in the room, ordered by arrival. As participants join and leave, the strip updates immediately. On mobile the avatars collapse into a count chip that you can tap to expand. See Viewer Presence and Done Signals for the full breakdown.
Done Signals
In each active sub-status, every participant has a Done button. Clicking it tells the facilitator that this person has nothing more to add right now. When everyone in the room is Done, the participants button pulses for the facilitator so they know it is safe to advance.
Facilitator Controls
As the retro creator, you act as the facilitator. From the public retro page you can:
- Advance the sub-status using the pills in the header (Draft → Vote → Discuss). Each transition opens a popover so you can tweak vote or discuss options at the moment of transition.
- Adjust the theme colour of the retro from the manage edit page (it is broadcast immediately to participants).
- Run the timer - start, pause, reset, or adjust the duration from the timer chip in the header. See Using the Retro Timer.
- Merge similar notes (Pro AI-assisted preview available). See Note Merging.
- Moderate - edit or delete any note or comment.
- Rename a participant when someone has joined under an unclear name. The rename is applied across every note, comment, and reaction owned by that participant.
Participant Experience
Participants see a clean, focused view of the retro board. They can add notes, see others' contributions appear in real time, and join in with voting when the facilitator moves to that sub-status. The interface works on both desktop and mobile, so participants can join from wherever they are. First-time participants on each retro see a short tutorial that also captures their preferred display name.
After the Session
When the facilitator switches the retro to Completed, all notes, votes, comments, reactions, and actions are preserved. The retro is no longer publicly accessible at that point. You can review the board from the Completed tab on the manage page, extract more actions, and share the outcomes with the team.
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