Sprint Retrospective Examples
Real-world examples of retrospective feedback across multiple formats to help your team understand what great retro cards look like.
One of the most common questions teams new to retrospectives ask is: "What does good retro feedback actually look like?" The examples below show realistic, specific, and actionable cards — the kind that lead to meaningful discussion and real improvements.
Vague cards like "communication could be better" are hard to act on. Specific cards like "we didn't have agreed acceptance criteria before picking up stories 3, 5, and 7" give the team something concrete to address. The same principle applies to positive feedback; these What Went Well examples show how to describe wins clearly, while constructive What Didn't Go Well examples help teams describe obstacles without assigning blame. Teams that want a balanced three-column format can use the Start, Stop, Continue retrospective, while Mad, Sad, Glad helps explore emotional impact. The Sailboat Retrospective connects goals, momentum, obstacles, and risks. The Starfish Retrospective adds More Of and Less Of for finer adjustments.
Example: BugNBrag Format
BugNBrag's signature format uses four columns: Bugs (what went wrong), Brags (what went well), Action Items (commitments for next sprint), and Kudos (teammate recognition).
Example: Start Stop Continue
Example: Mad Sad Glad
How to Turn Feedback into Action
Collecting feedback is only half the work. The retrospective's real value comes from what happens after the session ends.
Vote on the most important items
After cards are revealed, have each team member vote on the two or three most impactful issues. Focus discussion on high-vote items — don't try to address everything.
Convert discussion into a concrete action
For each key topic, ask: "What is the one thing we'll do differently next sprint?" The action must be specific, achievable within one sprint, and assigned to a named owner.
Limit actions to two or three
Committing to ten improvements guarantees none will happen. Focus on the highest-impact items. Unused actions can be revisited in a future sprint.
Review at the start of the next retrospective
Open every retro by checking last sprint's actions. Were they completed? What was the result? Closing the loop is what builds trust in the retrospective process over time.
Run your retrospective with BugNBrag
All templates shown above are built in — free, no account required.
🚀 Create Free Session