192 retrospective questions

Retrospective questions that lead to real changes.

Prompts for sprint retros, project post-mortems, end-of-term reviews and event debriefs. Blameless by design, from quick scales to the questions that surface patterns.

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Short answer

A good retrospective asks what went well, what didn't, and what to try next, then ends with one owned action. Collect answers silently first so the loudest voice doesn't set the agenda, then group them and vote on what to fix.

1.
What went well that we should keep doing?
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2.
What didn't go as planned, and what got in the way?
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3.
What should we start doing next time?
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4.
What should we stop doing, even if it's always been done that way?
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5.
What should we continue, exactly as it is?
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6.
What surprised you most during this sprint?
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7.
Where did we lose the most time?
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8.
Which decision would we make differently with what we know now?
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9.
What did we learn about our customers or users?
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10.
What's one thing that slowed you down that nobody else saw?
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11.
Which handover between people or teams was the bumpiest?
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12.
What helped you do your best work this cycle?
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13.
What's one thing we said we'd do last retro, and did we do it?
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14.
Where did we guess when we could have checked?
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15.
Which meeting in this cycle was the most useful, and which the least?
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16.
What's a risk we saw coming but didn't act on?
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17.
What do we understand now that we didn't at the start?
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18.
Who outside the team helped us, and have we thanked them?
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19.
Where did our estimates miss, and by how much?
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20.
Which tool or process helped us most this time?
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21.
Which tool or process got in the way?
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22.
What would you tell a team about to start the same project?
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23.
What's one experiment we could try next sprint?
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24.
Where did communication break down, if anywhere?
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25.
What did we ship that we're proud of?
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26.
What did we leave unfinished, and does it still matter?
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27.
What was the biggest distraction from our goal?
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28.
Which piece of feedback changed the work the most?
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29.
Where did we over-engineer or over-polish?
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30.
Where did we cut a corner we'll pay for later?
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31.
What made you feel most like part of the team this sprint?
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32.
Which question did we ask too late?
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33.
What's one thing we could automate or simplify?
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34.
What did we spend time on that nobody used?
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35.
Which goal did we hit, and which did we miss?
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36.
What's one thing that would make the next sprint calmer?
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37.
Where did we wait on each other, and why?
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38.
What did we do this time that we've never done before?
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39.
Which of our assumptions turned out to be wrong?
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40.
What's one small change with a big payoff for next time?
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41.
What would a new team member find confusing about how we worked?
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42.
What part of the work felt like a slog, and why?
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43.
What's a moment this cycle when the team really clicked?
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44.
Was the goal clear from the start? If not, when did it become clear?
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45.
What should we celebrate before we move on?
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46.
Which piece of work took longer than it was worth?
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47.
What did we learn from something that went wrong?
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48.
Where did we need a decision and not get one fast enough?
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49.
Which action from today will we actually follow up on, and who owns it?
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50.
If we ran this project again tomorrow, what's the first thing we'd change?
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51.
What did we do well under pressure?
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52.
Which of our habits helped quality, and which hurt it?
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53.
How did the workload feel across the team: fair, uneven or overloaded?
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54.
What did we learn about working with another team?
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55.
Which conversation should have happened earlier?
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56.
What's one thing you'd like more of from the rest of the team?
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57.
What's one thing you'd like to do differently yourself?
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58.
Which of today's ideas is worth trying first?
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59.
If this project had failed completely, what would the most likely reason have been?
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60.
Which part of our process exists because of a problem we no longer have?
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Retrospective questions: common questions

What are the classic retrospective questions?

What went well, what didn't go as planned, and what should we try next time. Start, stop, continue is the same idea in three columns.

How do I keep a retro from turning into blame?

Ask about the work and the process, not people. Questions like where did we wait on each other keep the focus on what the team can change.

How often should a team run a retro?

At the end of every sprint or project, and at least once a term or quarter for teams that don't work in sprints.

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Retrospective questions that lead to real changes.

Retrospective questions: common questions

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