Retro questions that get honest answers
The hard part of a retro is not collecting opinions. It is collecting the ones nobody wants to say first.
Why retros go quiet
Whoever speaks first sets the tone, and everyone after them adjusts. The people with the most useful thing to say are often the least likely to open with it — so the team hears the same three voices and calls it consensus. Answering privately, at the same moment, removes the ordering problem entirely.
Questions worth asking
- How did this sprint feel? (a scale, not a discussion)
- What went well?
- What should we stop doing?
- What should we tackle first? (rank them)
- What is one thing you would change about how we work?
Running it well
- Collect before you discuss. Once results are on screen the conversation starts from evidence rather than from whoever is most confident.
- Keep the scale question first — it is the easiest to answer honestly and it warms people up.
- Rank the actions rather than voting yes/no. A retro that produces five equal priorities has produced none.
- Leave Q&A open the whole time so a thought that arrives late still lands.
Start with a retro running order
Four questions, already written. Edit them, reorder them, or replace them entirely.
Use the retro template