12 Best Sprint Retrospective Ideas for Remote Teams (2025 Edition)
"Not another Start/Stop/Continue..."
If you've heard this groan from your team, you're suffering from Retro Fatigue. When every retrospective looks the same, engagement drops, and the team stops digging deep for insights. In a remote environment, this is even more dangerous as it's easier to tune out behind a screen.
To keep your agile process alive and kicking in 2025, you need to mix it up. Here are 12 battle-tested retrospective ideas designed specifically for remote teams, ranging from data-driven analysis to fun, gamified formats.
The Classics (With a Twist)
1. Mad, Sad, Glad
Best for: Emotional check-ins and building empathy.
This format focuses on the team's emotional journey. It's excellent after a particularly stressful sprint or a major release.
- Mad: What frustrated you? (e.g., "The flaky CI pipeline")
- Sad: What disappointed you? (e.g., "We missed the deadline for feature X")
- Glad: What made you happy? (e.g., "The new design system is beautiful")
Facilitator Tip: Don't try to "fix" the feelings immediately. Acknowledge them first. "I hear that the CI pipeline was frustrating."
2. The 4 Ls (Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For)
Best for: Comprehensive process review.
Created by Mary Gorman and Ellen Gottesdiener, this format digs deeper than "Good/Bad".
- Liked: What did you enjoy?
- Learned: What new knowledge did we gain? (Crucial for continuous learning)
- Lacked: What was missing? (e.g., "Clear requirements", "Design assets")
- Longed For: What do you wish we had? (e.g., "Automated testing", "More coffee")
3. Start, Stop, Continue
Best for: Action-oriented teams.
The gold standard for generating action items. It cuts straight to behavior change.
- Start: What should we begin doing?
- Stop: What is not adding value?
- Continue: What is working well that we should keep?
Metaphorical & Visual Formats
4. The Sailboat
Best for: Big picture thinking and vision setting.
Imagine the team is a boat.
- Wind (Sails): What is pushing us forward? (Strengths)
- Anchors: What is holding us back? (Bottlenecks)
- Rocks: What risks are ahead? (Future problems)
- Island: What is our goal? (The vision)
5. The Starfish
Best for: Fine-tuning team behaviors.
An expansion of Start/Stop/Continue that offers more nuance.
- Keep Doing: High value, low effort.
- Less Of: Low value, high effort.
- More Of: High value, needs more focus.
- Stop Doing: Negative value.
- Start Doing: New ideas.
6. The Hot Air Balloon
Best for: Identifying external vs. internal forces.
- Hot Air: What lifts us up?
- Sandbags: What pulls us down?
- Storm Clouds: External forces (management, market) threatening us.
Fun & Gamified Formats
7. The Mario Kart Retro
Best for: Gamers and high-energy teams.
- Mushrooms: Speed boosts (What helped us go fast?)
- Bananas: Slipping hazards (What caused minor delays?)
- Shells: Attacks (Unexpected bugs or interruptions)
- Stars: Victories (What did we win?)
8. The Superhero Retro
Best for: Boosting morale and recognizing strengths.
- Superpower: What is our team's greatest strength?
- Kryptonite: What makes us weak?
- Nemesis: What is our biggest enemy? (e.g., "Legacy Code")
- Sidekick: Who or what helped us out?
9. The Three Little Pigs
Best for: analyzing infrastructure and stability.
- House of Straw: Things that could fall down any minute (Fragile code).
- House of Sticks: Solid but needs work.
- House of Bricks: Rock solid foundations.
Data-Driven & Analytical
10. The Timeline (Significant Events)
Best for: Long sprints or post-mortems.
Draw a horizontal line representing the sprint duration. Ask the team to place events on the line (e.g., "Server crash on Tuesday", "Design approval on Thursday"). Then, discuss the feelings/outcomes associated with each event. This helps reconstruct the narrative of the sprint.
11. KALM (Keep, Add, Less, More)
Best for: Mature teams optimizing their process.
Similar to Starfish but often used for more strategic discussions about team norms and agreements.
12. Dot Voting (Prioritization)
Best for: Making decisions.
Not a full format, but a technique to add to any of the above. After brainstorming, give every member 3 "dots" (votes). They place them on the cards they think are most important. This democratizes the decision-making process.
Conclusion
The best retrospective format is the one that gets your team talking. Don't be afraid to experiment. If "Mario Kart" feels too silly, try "The 4 Ls". If "Start/Stop/Continue" feels stale, try "The Sailboat".
Ready to try these templates? Clear Retro comes with built-in support for many of these formats, allowing you to switch templates with a single click.