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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.

Published by phuryn ↗phuryn/pm-skills

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retro

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Use retro to facilitate a retrospective for [sprint name and date] using [sprint data and team feedback], then create a constructive markdown summary with key themes and 2–3 prioritized, measurable action items with owners and deadlines.

Required inputs

  • [sprint name and date]
  • [sprint data and team feedback]

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SKILL.md

name: retrodescription: "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."

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

  1. 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?

  2. 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)

  3. 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)

  4. Generate prioritized action items:

    PriorityAction ItemOwnerDeadlineSuccess 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?

  5. Create the retro summary:

    ## Sprint [X] Retrospective — [Date]

### Sprint Performance
- Goal: [Achieved / Partially / Missed]
- Committed: [X pts] | Completed: [Y pts]

### Key Themes
1. [Theme] — [summary]

### Action Items
1. [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.