Sprint retrospective template (free, with example)

What’s in the template

The minutes open with these details:

• Team
• Sprint / iteration
• Sprint dates
• Date of retrospective
• Facilitator
• Notes taken by
• Present
• Absent
• Format used

Then the body follows the meeting in this order:

1. 1. Check-in — One word or a number from each person on how the sprint felt. Takes two minutes and shows who needs to talk.
2. 2. Sprint facts — Goal met or not, items planned versus done, anything unplanned that was pulled in, incidents. Facts first so the discussion starts from the same picture.Sprint goal: · Goal met (yes / partly / no): · Planned / completed items: · Unplanned work added: · Incidents or escalations:
3. 3. Previous retro actions — Read out the last retro's actions and mark each done, in progress or dropped. If nothing was done, that is the first topic.
4. 4. What went well — Each person writes their own notes first, then they are read out and grouped. Name things specifically enough that they can be repeated.
5. 5. What did not go well — Same process. Describe the situation, not the person. "Reviews waited two days" rather than "X is slow at reviews".
6. 6. Ideas — Anything the team could try. Collect without judging; the vote comes next.
7. 7. Vote and choose — Dot-vote on the themes or ideas. Pick the top one to three. Everything else is noted and left.
8. 8. Actions — One to three, each with an owner and a date inside the next sprint. An action with no owner is a wish.Action: · Owner: · By: · How we will know it worked:
9. 9. Close — A one-line check-out: was this retro worth the hour? Note the format to try next time if the team is bored of this one.

At the end: retro actions and previous retro actions, as tables you can keep across meetings.

The template

Download it as a Word file, or copy the text version into your own document.

Sprint Retrospective Notes

Team: 
Sprint / iteration: 
Sprint dates: 
Date of retrospective: 
Facilitator: 
Notes taken by: 
Present: 
Absent: 
Format used: 

1. Check-in
   [One word or a number from each person on how the sprint felt. Takes two minutes and shows who needs to talk.]

2. Sprint facts
   [Goal met or not, items planned versus done, anything unplanned that was pulled in, incidents. Facts first so the discussion starts from the same picture.]
   Sprint goal:
   Goal met (yes / partly / no):
   Planned / completed items:
   Unplanned work added:
   Incidents or escalations:

3. Previous retro actions
   [Read out the last retro's actions and mark each done, in progress or dropped. If nothing was done, that is the first topic.]

4. What went well
   [Each person writes their own notes first, then they are read out and grouped. Name things specifically enough that they can be repeated.]

5. What did not go well
   [Same process. Describe the situation, not the person. "Reviews waited two days" rather than "X is slow at reviews".]

6. Ideas
   [Anything the team could try. Collect without judging; the vote comes next.]

7. Vote and choose
   [Dot-vote on the themes or ideas. Pick the top one to three. Everything else is noted and left.]

8. Actions
   [One to three, each with an owner and a date inside the next sprint. An action with no owner is a wish.]
   Action:
   Owner:
   By:
   How we will know it worked:

9. Close
   [A one-line check-out: was this retro worth the hour? Note the format to try next time if the team is bored of this one.]

Retro actions
No. | Action | Owner | By | Status at next retro

Previous retro actions
Action | Owner | Done / in progress / dropped

Example: filled-in sprint retrospective

What the template looks like once it’s been used. The organisation and people are made up.

Action items

Tips for sprint retrospective

• Start with silent writing for five minutes. The discussion that follows is better when nobody has anchored the room.
• Read last sprint's actions first. A retro that never checks its own actions teaches the team they do not matter.
• Cap actions at three and give each a test for whether it worked. "Communicate better" fails the test; "dependency named at planning" passes.
• Change the format every three or four sprints. The same four columns stop producing new information.
• Keep sprint facts in the notes so a quarterly look-back can see patterns, such as unplanned work every sprint.
• Timebox at an hour for a two-week sprint. Longer retros produce more notes and fewer actions.

Related templates

• Daily standup template — Fifteen minutes, three questions per person, and a place to park anything that needs a longer conversation.
• Sprint planning template — The sprint goal, the team's real capacity, the items pulled in, and what each of them depends on.
• Post mortem meeting template — A blameless review of an incident or finished project: what happened, why, what helped, what hurt and what changes as a result.
• Team meeting minutes template — The weekly meeting of one team: last week's numbers, blockers, decisions and this week's priorities.
• All meeting minutes templates

Or let the notes write themselves

A template helps when you’re the one typing. If you’d rather not be, an AI note taker can draft the summary and action items for you. Most send a bot into the call; QuietNote captures from your own computer instead, so nothing joins the meeting and you decide when capture starts. It’s in private beta. Whatever you use, read the draft before you send it, and tell attendees you’re recording where the rules require it.