Popular retro formats: Start-Stop-Continue, Sailboat, Mad-Sad-Glad

With 70+ templates, Retrospective Lab gives you plenty of choice. These three formats are among the most popular — a good starting point if you're not sure. See using templates for how to pick a template when creating a board.

Start-Stop-Continue

Three simple columns: what should the team start, stop and continue doing? Low-threshold and quick to facilitate — a safe first choice for any team, including new teams not yet used to retros.

Sailboat

A visual metaphor: the wind (what pushes the team forward), anchors (what's holding it back), rocks (risks ahead) and the island (the goal). Sailboat works well when your team wants a bit more creative distance from day-to-day details, or when evaluating a longer period (e.g. a quarter).

Mad-Sad-Glad

Columns for emotion: what made the team mad, sad or glad in the past sprint? This format emphasizes the emotional side of working together and is strong when there's tension, or when you want more attention on how the team feels, not just what happened.

Once chosen, the columns are automatically ready as soon as you open the board — see starting your first retrospective.