A well-prepared Retrospective sets the stage for a productive discussion. This guide covers how to create a retro, choose a template, and configure the options before sharing the link with your team.
Creating a New Retrospective
Navigate to the Retrospectives section from the sidebar and click "New Retrospective". You will need to provide:
- Name - a descriptive title, such as "Sprint 14 Retro" or "Q1 Team Reflection"
- Team - the team this retro belongs to
- Session date - when the live discussion is scheduled
- Theme colour - a custom accent colour that participants see on the public retro page
- Template - the column structure for your retro
The name should make it easy to identify the retro later when reviewing your history.
Choosing a Template
Templates define the columns that participants use to organise their notes:
Mad, Sad, Glad
Start, Stop, Continue
What went well / What didn't / Actions
4Ls (Loved, Learned, Lacked, Longed for)
KALM (Keep, Add, Less, More)
Custom
If you are unsure which template to use, "Start, Stop, Continue" is a reliable default that covers most situations. See Retrospective Templates for the full breakdown.
Retro Options
On the Build tab you can configure how participants experience the session:
- Votes per participant - how many votes each person gets during the Vote sub-status. Default is
3. - Allow multiple votes per note - off by default. When on, a single person can stack more than one vote on the same note.
- Allow comments on notes - on by default. Participants can comment on any note during draft, vote, or discuss.
- Allow reactions on notes - off by default. When on, participants can leave emoji reactions on notes.
- Show authors - on by default. Participant display names appear on the notes, comments, and reactions they create.
- Auto-timer on each discuss note - when on, the timer restarts every time the facilitator picks a new note to discuss.
All of these can be changed later from the Build tab without resetting the retro.
Password Protection
For sensitive sessions you can add a password so only participants who have the password can open the link.
Sharing With Your Team
Once the retro has columns and options configured, switch the top-level status to In Progress. The In Progress tab shows the sharing link panel. Send the link to your team via email, Slack, or your usual channel. Participants do not need a Manager Toolkit account to join.
If you want notes added before the live session, share the link in advance and ask people to drop their thoughts into the Draft sub-status whenever it suits them.
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