checklist · retrospective · one change owned dated testable
Retrospective · one change, owned, dated, testable
Read in 60 seconds before the retro begins. The retro is the corpus's discipline against lists. One change is the rule. Lists do not compound.
TIP
Five sticky notes that name what could change are observations, not changes. The retro's job is to convert them into one structural commitment the next cycle will test.
Open the retro with continuity
[ ] The signal reading is read aloud (the five lines).
because:the retro starts from what reality answered — Practice · Step 1[ ] The previous retro's change is read aloud. Did it land? What did it produce? If not, what did the chain learn about why?
because:opening with last retro produced model updates in 80% of cycles vs 40% — Practice · Evidence
The three questions, in order
[ ] What worked? — 2 or 3 specific things. Specific. Not "communication was good".
[ ] What didn't work? — 2 or 3 specific things. Specific. Each tagged with a chain level (L1 / L2 / L3 / L4 / L5).
because:chain-level tags traced 1 in 3 cycle issues to a level above the cycle; symptom-fix is the default failure mode — Practice · Evidence[ ] What will we change? — exactly ONE. Pick the change that addresses the highest-leverage level you tagged.
because:retros that committed to one change tested it in the next cycle 90% of the time — Practice · Step 5
The one change — four attributes
[ ] Owned by a named person.Alex (PO), not PO. the TL, not engineering.
[ ] Dated to a specific date.By next cycle is a wish. 2026-07-08 is a commitment.
[ ] Testable — a specific observation confirms it landed.We'll be better at amigos is not testable. Each amigos in Q3 produced a negative scenario per story is.
[ ] Structural, not symptomatic. Changes a template, a checklist, a routing rule, a process gate — not a feeling. The change is something the next cycle will read.
On observations you did not pick
- [ ] Each uncommitted didn't work is named and parked. Either it goes to the next retro, or it goes to a normal management action, or it dies. Don't pretend you'll fix it without committing.
Close in 60 minutes
[ ] The retro closes within 60 minutes.
because:recurring overrun is its own retro item; honor the bound — Practice · Step 6[ ] The one change is linked to the next cycle's brief. The retro's change is the next cycle's discipline.
[ ] The change feeds the model update. Model update is scheduled within the same week.
If you leave the retro with five action items, you did not pick. The chain rule: lists do not compound.
See also
- Practice — Retrospective · Model update · Signal reading
- Canon — After We Build · The Retrospective
- Clinic — A retro that listed
- Principle — Compounding small changes