Postmortem, after-action review, wrap-up, project retrospective – all these terms describe a meeting where team members review the events and outcomes of a recently completed initiative.
Retrospectives are, most commonly, an agile management practice. They allow Scrum teams to reflect on a project’s success or failure and identify areas for improvement. They also contribute to an environment of continuous learning and psychological safety.
Here’s what you need to know to conduct productive project retrospective meetings with your team.
What is a project retrospective?
Retrospectives gather key stakeholders to analyze a completed project’s successes and failures. Meeting facilitators help the group identify actions, processes, or behaviors that contributed to positive outcomes, empowering team members to replicate them for future projects. They also develop an understanding of what didn’t work, creating action plans to address mistakes so they don’t happen again.
A retrospective creates a safe space for the team to be open and honest with each other, sharing feedback to strengthen working relationships and boost productivity. In this way, the retrospective meeting improves project collaboration and streamlines processes.
Importance of project retrospectives
Project retrospectives require more than a discussion of what worked and what didn’t. When properly run, a retrospective meeting provides the following benefits:
Ongoing improvements
Retros allow the entire project team to learn from each other’s successes and missteps. With this data, the group can integrate new steps into individual workflows and procedures, incrementally improving the entire process.
Problem-solving
The retrospective allows leadership to source input on challenges and blockers from each team member. Unique insights produce more viable solutions and help others solve similar problems in the future. Members also share their best practices, increasing the team’s collective knowledge.
Team building and collaboration
Sharing wins, failures, and constructive feedback in a safe space encourages team members to bond. They discover new ways to collaborate and celebrate success, building morale and motivation.
Accountability
Retros boost accountability by encouraging team members to take ownership of their contributions. However, leaders should avoid assigning blame during these reviews and instead focus on what changes will prevent the same errors in the next iteration.
Effective project plans
One objective of retrospectives is to document project risks, assumptions, blockers, and other unknowns. can use this data during future project planning to avoid these scenarios and improve outcomes.
How to run a project retrospective
A project retrospective doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require structure and planning. Here’s a framework to ensure a productive meeting:
1. Plan ahead
Preparation is vital to a successful retro meeting. It organizes thoughts and establishes an outline, resulting in productive discussion. Here’s how to get started:
Select your attendees: Invite team members who were integral to delivering project outcomes.
Write the project report: Cover all significant milestones, including success and failure metrics.
Set the agenda: Help attendees prepare for the retro by outlining the meeting.
Schedule the meeting: Book the retrospective at least three days in advance to give participants time to adjust their schedules and prepare.
Organize the meeting: Send out invitations, book the room, and gather a whiteboard and supplies. Order refreshments so everyone remains hydrated and focused.
2. Establish a culture of trust
Offering feedback can be tricky, especially when retro participants don’t share preestablished trust. The meeting facilitator must create an environment of psychological safety by:
Demonstrate gratitude: If the team feels its input is valued and appreciated, members are more likely to offer open and honest feedback.
Build bonds: Create collaboration opportunities that help team members build relationships. Examples include status check-ins and team-building activities like icebreakers.
Incorporate positive feedback into team culture: Encourage regular peer reviews of low-stakes tasks to familiarize team members with the feedback process and help them learn to respond to positive and negative input.
3. Determine feedback type
Define the scope of feedback while planning the retrospective meeting. Are there recurring issues or themes you wish to discuss? Here are some possible examples:
Team performance: Examine productivity, time management, and work standards.
Communications and engagement: Determine whether team members shared data effectively via the correct channels. Did team members receive too much or too little information?
Deliverables: Evaluate whether the team achieved stakeholders’ goals, objectives, and expectations. If not, why?
Process and tools: Discuss the effectiveness of tools, workflows, and processes. Did anything facilitate or hinder delivery?
4. Set aside adequate time
Retro meetings should take at least one hour, with the facilitator allocating 45 minutes per project work week. This can add up significantly for long-term projects, so consider conducting retrospectives upon reaching significant milestones, with a project wrap meeting upon delivery.
Project retrospective agenda
A retrospective meeting aims to share ideas that will streamline future projects. It doesn’t require a complicated agenda. Your meeting plan can be as simple as this project retrospective example:
Welcome
Project review
What did we learn?
Successes
Challenges
Other Insights
Priorities: What matters most?
Changes to make: Action planning
Closing
Here is a breakdown of the essential action items:
1. Welcome
Welcome participants with introductions and icebreakers. Outline the meeting’s purpose and launch the discussion by recognizing everyone’s contribution and congratulating them on the completed project.
2. Project review
Now, it’s time to align your team. Team members are rarely privy to every task, so take the time to review project facts, such as:
Goals and objectives
Timeline
Budget
Major events and milestones
Success metrics
Solicit feedback on the project report or create a timeline of events to accurately represent the project’s history.
3. Discuss experiences and learning
The next phase of the project retrospective involves asking what worked well and what everyone learned during execution. Help the group identify their wins, effective procedures, and processes they hope to replicate. Start with wins to set a positive tone for the meeting, boost team morale, and ensure success isn’t taken for granted.
Next, focus on significant challenges and unexpected events that negatively impacted team function and project outcomes. Encourage an organic, honest discussion of what went wrong and the choices that led to these errors – but remember to avoid blame.
Record all insights, good and bad, in the meeting notes.
4. Create an action plan based on feedback
After sharing insights:
Encourage the team to brainstorm improvements for future projects.
Precisely document action items and who is accountable for implementation.
Schedule a follow-up session if the team requires more time to establish a detailed improvement plan.
Ensure everyone understands goals and expectations and how they fit into the next project.
5. Create a summary of feedback and changes
Before ending the meeting, summarize the discussions, highlight feedback, and list the team’s next steps or action plans.
6. Closing
Close the meeting by thanking everyone for their participation. Request feedback about the meeting to improve the process next time. Organize meeting notes using a template and give the group access to the document.
Tips for running a productive project retrospective
Here are a few more suggestions to help project retros run smoothly:
Follow meeting best practices
Like any meeting, project retrospectives require preparation. In addition to notifying attendees, setting an agenda, and booking the room, ensure you’ve sourced adequate supplies, including equipment and seating.
Attendees must understand the purpose of the retrospective, so include the meeting agenda and project report with the invitation. Finally, schedule time for question and answer sessions at key points.
Leverage project data
Use project data to support conclusions about performance and outcomes. Ensure this data is thorough, accurate, and easy to understand.
Establish actionable improvement goals
Collaborate with the project team to prioritize actionable improvement goals, ensuring the impact is worth the effort. Involve everyone and provide sufficient resources to attain these targets.
Conduct projeconct retrospectives with Tempo
Tempo software doesn’t just contribute to successful project execution; it also helps you conduct thorough reviews. Apps like and offer data-driven insights into team collaboration and workflow effectiveness. This information ensures postmortems produce realistic action items that foster concrete improvements for future projects.
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