100+ Powerful Questions to Ask in Your Custom Retrospectives

That’s why we’ve gathered a comprehensive collection of powerful questions to help your team reflect, learn, and grow.

Here are 100+ questions designed to enhance the quality of your retrospectives and help you unlock your team’s full potential.

Feel free to adapt these questions as needed to build your own Neatro retrospective activity.

Retrospective Questions for What Went Well

These simple yet powerful questions will help you reflect on the positive aspects of your Sprint, project, or iteration and identify the key factors that contributed to your team’s success.

What went smoothly during this Sprint?
What are some of the most successful outcomes or achievements from the previous Sprint?
According to you, why did this Sprint go well?
Would you say anything in particular went better than expected? If so, give some details.
What can we do to replicate the successful parts of this Sprint?
Which tools or techniques were useful?
What made you feel proud?
What motivated you during this Sprint?
According to you, what were the key strengths of our team during this Sprint?
What risks or concerns did we successfully mitigate?
What positive feedback or recognition did we receive as a team?
Has our collaboration with other teams helped us positively impact our performance? How?
Have you spotted any positive changes in our team's dynamics or culture during the previous Sprint? Give an example.
What did we do well in terms of time management?
Do you feel like your role contributed meaningfully to the overall success of the team? Why or why not?
Did any past action items help you achieve your work? If so, which one?
What other successes or achievements did we experience that we should celebrate?

Retrospective Questions for What Didn’t Go Well

Albert Einstein once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Keep in mind that sharing difficulties is essential to improving as a team. Don’t hold back during your retrospectives.

Do you have examples of challenges or obstacles that we faced? What impact did they have on our performance?
What unexpected events occurred during the last Sprint, if any?
Can you identify any missed opportunities that occurred? If so, which ones?
Did any conflicts or tensions arise within the team? Why?
What was your biggest impediment?
When did things go wrong in this project? Why?
According to you, what caused the problems you had in this initiative?
Did our processes or workflows hinder our progress during the previous Sprint? How?
Which tools or techniques were not useful? Why?
What made you feel stressed or worried?
Did anything prevent you from sleeping well at night? If so, what was it all about?
What were some of the misunderstandings or miscommunications that occurred during the previous Sprint?
Do you think you could have handled things in a different way? How?
Could the team have handled things differently? How?

Retrospective Questions to Explore People’s Feelings

Connecting with your team on a deeper level is one of the key purposes of retrospectives. With these questions, participants can share their emotions and perspectives about the cycle that just ended.

What emotions did you feel during the project? Why?
What fears or doubts did you face? How did you address them?
Were there any moments during the last Sprint where you felt particularly overwhelmed?
Did you face any personal challenges during the initiative? If so, how did they impact your work?
What are you grateful for?
How do you feel about the level of empathy and understanding within the team?
What specific moments made you feel emotionally connected to the team?
On the other hand, were there any moments where you felt emotionally disconnected from the team?
Did you receive emotional support from the team at some point? Would you like to tell us more?
How do you feel about your work/life balance?
Would you say you felt comfortable raising issues during the last Sprint? Why?

Retrospective Questions to Check Roles & Responsibilities

When working as a team, it is essential to eliminate confusion about roles and responsibilities. Use your next retrospective as an opportunity to get everyone aligned.

Are roles on the team clear enough to you? If not, could you tell us why?
What do you expect, and from whom?
Did you feel clear about your own role and responsibilities during the previous Sprint?
Are you clear about what to expect from the stakeholders?
Were there any moments when you needed clarification about someone else's role or responsibilities?
Did you feel that someone else's role overlapped with your own? Why?
How did you perceive the level of accountability and responsibility team members took?
Would you say your skills and strengths were utilized effectively? Why?
Were there any moments where you believed your role wasn't being utilized to its full potential?
Do you think the team could better utilize each other's strengths and expertise going forward? How?
How can the team continue to build on the strengths of each team member's respective roles going forward?

Retrospective Questions to Improve Team Bonding

Who said retrospectives aren’t meant to strengthen the bonds between teammates? Here are some questions to help foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration within your team.

Who helped you out on this project?
Who remarkably helped the team during the initiative? How?
What’s one thing you admired about a colleague’s work in this project?
What was one moment where you felt like the team really came together?
Considering we’re all superheroes, what were the team’s superpowers during the last Sprint?
Were there any moments where you managed to have fun while still being productive?
What could we do to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all team members?
How would you describe the overall team dynamic?
What activities could we start doing to strengthen team bonds and relationships?
How could we celebrate successes and achievements together in a meaningful way?

Retrospective Questions to Discuss Value Delivered

Take a closer look at the value delivered in your last Sprint or iteration with these thought-provoking questions.

What does ‘value delivered’ mean to you?
Would you say you’re satisfied with the level of value we delivered? Why?
How do we feel about the way we measure and communicate the value delivered?
How can we ensure that we are delivering the highest possible value to our customers?
How can we better prioritize and manage our backlog to deliver the most value?
What are the things we did that brought limited value? Why?
Do you have examples of things we do which will maximize value if done even more?
Is there anything that prevents us from delivering more value? (e.g., technical debt)
What would help us improve the level of value we deliver? Sky's the limit!
How did the delivered value contribute to the team's overall sense of purpose and motivation?

Retrospective Questions to Share What We’ve Learned

What’s more frustrating than a retrospective meeting where you learn nothing at all? Share valuable insights and lessons learned from your initiative with these reflective questions.

Overall, what did you learn from the last Sprint’s events?
More specifically, what did you learn about the Product (or the Deliverable)?
What did you learn about the team?
Is there anything you’ve learned about your organization?
What did you learn about yourself?
Did you make any mistakes? If so, what did you learn from them?
Did you step out of your comfort zone? What did you learn along the way?
Is there something you wish you had known at the beginning of the project?
According to you, how can we encourage continuous learning within the team?
Did you learn anything during this Sprint that will help you gain efficiency for the next Sprint?
Do you believe there’s something you could learn from any other team to help you grow?
How can we ensure that we keep learning and improving from Sprint to Sprint?

Retrospective Questions to Create Your Action Plan

The Action Plan is the core artifact of your Sprint Retrospective. With the help of the following questions, your team members can explore different perspectives to shape the best plan.

What’s the easiest thing you could do to help the team improve?
What do you think could help the team move forward?
Do you see any potential action that could help the team save time?
What could hurt the team if we do not pay attention to it?
What tools or resources can we implement to help us work more efficiently and effectively?
If you had unlimited resources, what would you do to help the team grow?
What concrete actions can we take to improve our team's collaboration?
How can we better involve all team members in decision-making and ensure everyone's ideas and perspectives are heard?
What are some small changes we can make to our daily routines that may have a significant impact on our productivity?
What changes can we make to our process to eliminate bottlenecks and increase efficiency?

Retrospective Questions to Prepare for the Next Sprint

No need to be a fortune teller! Get ready for a successful next Sprint with these forward-thinking questions. They also work on your next project.

How do you feel about the next Sprint?
What are the most important goals for the upcoming Sprint, and how can we achieve them?
What’s making you excited about the next Sprint? And what makes you worried?
What do you not want to see in the next Sprint? Why?
Why would you say the next Sprint will be the best one ever?
What opportunities do we see in the upcoming Sprint, and how can we capitalize on them?
What would a perfect future Sprint look like? How could we experience this scenario?
What would a terrible future Sprint look like? How can we avoid this scenario?
Imagine we’ve already successfully reached our goal. How did we make it? What led us to this victory?
How can we better anticipate and respond to challenges that may arise in the next Sprint?

And that’s it! 🙌

With this extensive list of questions, you are now better equipped to facilitate effective retrospective meetings that generate meaningful conversations.

Remember to keep the focus on action and follow through on your plans for continuous improvement.

By asking the right questions and implementing the right changes, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals and delivering exceptional results.

Happy retrospectives!