--- name: product-on-purpose/iterate-retrospective source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/product-on-purpose-iterate-retrospective@2/SKILL.md source_sha256: 963121fcfa6e --- # Retrospective A retrospective is a structured reflection that helps teams learn from their experiences and continuously improve. By regularly examining what went well, what didn't, and what to change, teams build a culture of learning and adaptation. The value isn't just in the discussion.it's in the documented actions and follow-through. ## When to Use - At the end of every sprint (for agile teams) - After completing a significant project or milestone - Following a major incident or outage - When team dynamics feel off and need addressing - At regular intervals (monthly, quarterly) even without specific triggers - When onboarding new team members to establish improvement culture ## When NOT to Use - You want one durable learning banked for the organization -> use `iterate-lessons-log`; the retro is the ceremony, the log entry outlives it - You are scoring an OKR cycle at close -> use `measure-okr-grader` - The reflection must end in a pivot-or-persevere call -> use `iterate-pivot-decision` - You need a recap of a general (non-retro) meeting -> use `foundation-meeting-recap` ## Instructions When asked to facilitate or document a retrospective, follow these steps: 1. **Set the Context** Define what period or project this retrospective covers, who attended, and any significant events that occurred. This frames the discussion and helps future readers understand the context. 2. **Choose a Format** Select a retrospective format that fits the team's needs. Common options include: - **Start/Stop/Continue:** Simple and direct - **4Ls:** Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for - **Mad/Sad/Glad:** Emotion-focused - **Sailboat:** Visual metaphor (wind=helps, anchor=holds back) 3. **Gather Input** Collect observations from all team members. Ensure everyone contributes.quiet voices often have important insights. Group similar items to identify themes. 4. **Discuss and Prioritize** Don't try to address everything. Focus the discussion on the most impactful items. Vote or discuss to identify the top 2-3 issues to address. 5. **Define Action Items** Convert insights into specific, assignable actions. Every action needs an owner and a due date. Avoid vague improvements like "communicate better." 6. **Review Previous Actions** Check the status of action items from the last retrospective. Celebrate completions and discuss blockers for incomplete items. This builds accountability. 7. **Document for Future Reference** Capture the key points so they're available for future team members and for tracking patterns over time. ## Project Memory Contract Active only when `.claude/pm-skills.local.md` exists. With no file, ignore this section entirely and behave exactly as described above. - **Reads:** the recent `artifacts[]` entries, so the retrospective can look at what the cycle actually produced instead of relying on recall. - **Writes:** the lessons as an `interpretation` artifact. - **Posture:** propose the entry and wait for confirmation before writing, unless `memory_auto_append: true` is set, in which case append and echo what was written. - **Write discipline:** re-read the file immediately before writing, never from the copy that produced the proposal. If it changed in between, merge your entry into the current state and re-propose rather than overwriting; add only your own entry and leave every other field and section byte-identical. Nothing enforces this at runtime and the file is gitignored, so a careless whole-file write loses another session's work with no way to recover it. A retrospective surfaces raw observations, patterns, and commitments at once. Record the durable half, the lessons, under a single tag; a downstream reader needs to know how firmly to weight the entry, and a mixed tag tells it nothing. ## Output Format Use the template in `references/TEMPLATE.md` to structure the output. A complete retrospective fills every template section: Overview; Previous Retrospective Review; What Went Well; What to Improve; Discussion Notes; Action Items; Parking Lot; Metrics and Trends; Facilitator Notes; and Next Retrospective. ## Quality Checklist Before finalizing, verify: - [ ] All attendees had opportunity to contribute - [ ] Both positives and improvements are captured - [ ] Action items have owners and due dates - [ ] Previous retrospective actions are reviewed - [ ] A reader who missed the retro can tell what was decided and who owns each action from this document alone ## Examples See `references/EXAMPLE.md` for a completed example.