Create a sprint retrospective facilitator guide with activities and prompts
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Prompt
You are an agile coach with experience running 500+ retrospectives across teams of 4-20 people. Design a complete retrospective facilitator guide for the following context.
Team situation: "[team_situation]"
Sprint duration: [sprint_duration]
Team size: [team_size]
Retrospective time slot: 60 minutes
Include:
1. Pre-retro preparation checklist
2. Agenda with time boxes
3. Opening activity to set the tone
4. Main activity (choose the right format for the team situation)
5. Dot voting or prioritization method
6. Action item generation framework
7. Closing activity
8. Facilitator tips for handling difficult dynamics
9. Follow-up template for sharing results
The guide should be specific enough that a first-time facilitator could run it confidently.Customise this prompt
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Preview
You are an agile coach with experience running 500+ retrospectives across teams of 4-20 people. Design a complete retrospective facilitator guide for the following context.
Team situation: "[team_situation]"
Sprint duration: [sprint_duration]
Team size: [team_size]
Retrospective time slot: 60 minutes
Include:
1. Pre-retro preparation checklist
2. Agenda with time boxes
3. Opening activity to set the tone
4. Main activity (choose the right format for the team situation)
5. Dot voting or prioritization method
6. Action item generation framework
7. Closing activity
8. Facilitator tips for handling difficult dynamics
9. Follow-up template for sharing results
The guide should be specific enough that a first-time facilitator could run it confidently.
Example output
# Sprint Retrospective Facilitator Guide
**Context:** Team is feeling burned out after a tough sprint where scope crept in mid-cycle and the release was delayed by 3 days. Morale is low but the team is professional — they want to fix things, not just vent.
**Sprint Duration:** 2 weeks
**Team Size:** 7 people
**Time:** 60 minutes
---
## Pre-Retro Preparation (Do 30 min before)
- [ ] Book a room with a whiteboard or set up a Miro/FigJam board
- [ ] Review sprint metrics: velocity, planned vs. delivered, bugs introduced, carryover stories
- [ ] Check action items from last retro — which ones were completed?
- [ ] Prepare anonymous input option (Google Form or sticky notes) for people who prefer not to speak first
- [ ] Set up the board with three columns: "What drained us," "What kept us going," "What we'd change"
- [ ] Have dot-vote stickers ready (5 per person)
- [ ] Print or share the agenda in advance so people know what to expect
---
## Agenda
| Time | Activity | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Opening: Check-in + ground rules | 5 min |
| 0:05 | Last retro action items review | 5 min |
| 0:10 | Main activity: Energy Map | 25 min |
| 0:35 | Dot voting + discussion | 10 min |
| 0:45 | Action items | 10 min |
| 0:55 | Closing: One word | 5 min |
---
## Opening: Battery Check-In (5 min)
**Why this activity:** The team is drained. Acknowledging energy levels up front gives people permission to be honest and sets a tone of psychological safety.
**How to run it:**
1. Draw a battery icon on the board with levels: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%
2. Ask each person: "Where's your battery at right now? Just a number, no explanation needed."
3. Note the average. Say something like: "We're at about 35% as a team. That's real, and it matters. Let's use this hour to figure out what drained us and what we can protect going forward."
**Do NOT** ask people to justify their number. The power is in the honesty, not the explanation.
---
## Last Retro Action Items Review (5 min)
Pull up the action items from the previous retrospective. For each one:
- **Done:** Quick acknowledgment. "Nice — this one's closed."
- **Not done:** No blame. Ask: "Is this still relevant? Should we carry it forward or drop it?"
- **Partially done:** Acknowledge progress. Decide if it needs another sprint.
**Facilitator note:** If most items are "not done," this is itself a retro topic. Don't ignore the pattern — name it gently: "I notice we've carried over 3 of 4 items. That might be worth discussing."
---
## Main Activity: Energy Map (25 min)
**Why this format:** A standard "what went well / what didn't" retro will turn into a venting session given the team mood. The Energy Map reframes the conversation around energy — what gave it, what took it — which is more productive for a burned-out team.
### Setup (2 min)
Draw a timeline of the sprint (Day 1 through Day 10) on the board. Add a vertical axis: "Energy high" at top, "Energy low" at bottom.
### Silent Writing (7 min)
Each person writes sticky notes for moments that affected their energy — positive or negative. One moment per sticky. Include:
- What happened
- How it made them feel
- Place it on the timeline at the right day and energy level
### Sharing Round (12 min)
Go person by person (or cluster by cluster if stickies overlap):
- Each person places their stickies and gives a 30-second explanation
- No rebuttals during this phase — just listening and clarifying questions
- Facilitator groups similar themes as they emerge
### Theme Identification (4 min)
As a group, name the clusters. Typical themes for this situation:
- "Scope creep without warning"
- "Context switching killed focus"
- "We rallied together under pressure" (positive)
- "Unclear priorities from leadership"
Write the theme names above each cluster.
---
## Dot Voting + Discussion (10 min)
### Voting (3 min)
- Each person gets 5 dots
- Vote on the themes you most want to address (can stack dots)
- Top 2 themes win
### Discussion (7 min)
For each of the top 2 themes, ask:
1. "What's the root cause here — not the symptom, the actual root?"
2. "What's one specific thing we could change next sprint to address this?"
3. "Who outside this team needs to be involved?"
**Facilitator tip:** If the conversation drifts into blame ("Product keeps changing requirements"), redirect to what the team controls: "What could we do differently when scope changes come in? Could we push back, negotiate, buffer?"
---
## Action Items (10 min)
Use the **SMART action format:**
- **Specific:** What exactly will be done?
- **Measurable:** How will we know it's done?
- **Assigned:** Who owns it? (One person, not "the team")
- **Realistic:** Can this actually happen in one sprint?
- **Time-bound:** By when?
**Maximum 3 action items.** More than 3 won't get done — the last retro proved this.
### Template
| Action | Owner | Done When | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduce a "scope change" ritual: any mid-sprint addition requires removing an equal-sized item | Scrum Master | Process documented and followed for 1 sprint | Next sprint start |
| Block 2-hour "focus time" on team calendar every morning | Tech Lead | Calendar blocks visible for all 7 members | End of week |
| Schedule 15-min mid-sprint check-in with Product to surface incoming changes early | PM | First check-in completed | Day 5 of next sprint |
---
## Closing: One Word (5 min)
Ask each person: "In one word, how are you leaving this retro compared to how you came in?"
Go around the room. Don't comment on individual answers. After everyone has spoken, summarize: "We came in at 35% battery. It sounds like we're leaving with some concrete things to try. Let's protect these action items — they matter."
---
## Facilitator Tips for Difficult Dynamics
**The Dominator:** If one person is talking too much, use a structured round-robin. "Let's hear from everyone on this — Sarah, what's your take?"
**The Silent One:** Don't force participation verbally. The silent writing phase gives them a voice. If they have stickies on the board, reference them: "I see someone wrote about context switching — can whoever wrote this tell us more?"
**The Blamer:** Redirect from people to systems. "It sounds like there's a gap in how scope changes get communicated. What process could help?"
**The Derailer:** Park off-topic items. "That's important but outside our scope today. I'll add it to the parking lot and we can address it separately."
**Tears or high emotion:** It's okay. Don't rush past it. "Thank you for sharing that. It's clear this sprint took a real toll. Let's make sure our action items address what you're describing."
---
## Follow-Up Template (Send within 24 hours)
**Subject:** Sprint [X] Retro Summary — 3 Actions We're Taking
**Body:**
Thanks for a candid and productive retro. Here's what we agreed on:
**Top themes:** [Theme 1], [Theme 2]
**Action items:** [Table from above]
**Parking lot items:** [Any items deferred]
Next retro: [Date]. We'll start by reviewing whether these actions made a difference.