Discuss what has helped or hindered your team, then consider opportunities and obstacles ahead
Use the sailboat retrospective template to assess how well a project has been executed and identify areas for improvement. It allows team members to reflect on their progress and make changes as needed so that they can continue to improve their work process.
Sailboat retrospectives use a sailboat voyage as a memorable metaphor for the journey of completing a project or initiative from start to finish.
The sailboat retrospective template helps you:
Recognize what went well in a project and why
Identify potential risks or problems coming up in a project
Reflect on problems faced and how to fix them
Align with teams on a shared goals and upcoming milestones
How to use the sailboat retrospective template
Step 1: Warm up the team
Start off the activity with an icebreaker or warmup to get the team members engaged and ready to collaborate.
Step 2: Introduce the sailboat framework
If teams are new to this framework, introduce each section of the template and what it means.
The four basic components of a sailboat retrospective are:
The wind in our sails: What is helping to move your project along?
The anchor: What is holding your project back?
The beacons: What outcomes are on the horizon that you're working toward?
The barriers: What blockers are there in the way of realizing your project's goals?
Step 3: Start adding sticky notes individually
Start a timer for 5-10 minutes and give team members enough time to individually add sticky notes in each section of the whiteboard canvas
Step 4: Review the sticky notes
Go by each section and review the ideas. Group common topics together to identify recurring themes.
Step 5: Identify the top priority
Discuss and vote on the most important themes to address. What’s slowing down the team or causing the most frustration?
Step 6: Define next steps and action items
Take the topics the team voted on and start identifying ways to fix them for future sprints in the spirit of continuous improvement.
Tips for running a sailboat retrospective meeting
Use Mural’s private mode to allow participants to add feedback anonymously to ensure even sensitive topics get visibility
Start a voting session with stakeholders to prioritize efforts and align the team
Make sure to cluster related sticky notes together to help you identify trends and common themes
Use Mural's unique features make sailboat retrospectives a breeze
Tags on sticky notes
Customizable labels make it easy to find, organize, and categorize your work in a mural.
Private mode
Avoid groupthink and get authentic feedback by allowing collaborators to add content privately.
Real-time collaboration
Add more productivity and engagement to meetings and calls with features to guide collaboration.
Easy sharing
There are no barriers to collaboration with the ability to safely and securely share murals with others.
Timer
Keep collaboration moving forward with a timer to structure and time-box activities.
Anonymous voting
Gain consensus and reach alignment quickly, either in real time or asynchronously.
What is a sailboat retrospective?
How is the sailboat retrospective different from other agile or sprint retrospective methods?
What are the four main questions to ask in a sailboat retrospective?
Mural is the only platform that offers both a shared workspace and training on the LUMA System™, a practical way to collaborate that anyone can learn and apply.
