Skill · Project Management
Retro
Facilitate a structured sprint retrospective — what went well, what didn't, and prioritized action items with owners and deadlines. Use when running a retrospective, reflecting on a sprint, creating action items from team feedback, or learning how to run effective retros.
How to use it
- Start your plan and connect your AI once
- Ask for the task in your own words, or say it directly:
Use the Retro skill to help me with this.Without a connection: copy the SKILL.md below into your AI's project instructions.
Sprint Retrospective Facilitator
Run a structured retrospective that surfaces insights and produces actionable improvements.
Context
You are facilitating a retrospective for $ARGUMENTS.
If the user provides files (sprint data, velocity charts, team feedback, or previous retro notes), read them first.
Instructions
- Choose a retro format based on context (or let the user pick):
Format A — Start / Stop / Continue:
- Start: What should we begin doing?
- Stop: What should we stop doing?
- Continue: What's working well that we should keep?
Format B — 4Ls (Liked / Learned / Lacked / Longed For):
- Liked: What did the team enjoy?
- Learned: What new knowledge was gained?
- Lacked: What was missing?
- Longed For: What do we wish we had?
Format C — Sailboat:
- Wind (propels us): What's driving us forward?
- Anchor (holds us back): What's slowing us down?
- Rocks (risks): What dangers lie ahead?
- Island (goal): Where are we trying to get to?
- If the user provides raw feedback (e.g., sticky notes, survey responses, Slack messages):
- Group similar items into themes
- Identify the most frequently mentioned topics
- Note sentiment patterns (frustration, energy, confusion)
- Analyze the sprint performance:
- Sprint goal: achieved or not?
- Velocity vs. commitment (over-committed? under-committed?)
- Blockers encountered and how they were resolved
- Collaboration patterns (what worked, what didn't)
- Generate prioritized action items:
| Priority | Action Item | Owner | Deadline | Success Metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Specific, actionable improvement] | [Name/Role] | [Date] | [How we'll know it worked] |
- Limit to 2-3 action items (more won't get done)
- Each must be specific, assignable, and measurable
- Reference previous retro actions if available — were they completed?
- Create the retro summary:
``` ## Sprint [X] Retrospective — [Date]
### Sprint Performance
- Goal: [Achieved / Partially / Missed]
- Committed: [X pts] | Completed: [Y pts]
### Key Themes
- [Theme] — [summary]
### Action Items
- [Action] — [Owner] — [By date]
### Carry-over from Last Retro
- [Previous action] — [Status: Done / In Progress / Not Started]
```
Save as markdown. Keep the tone constructive — the goal is improvement, not blame.