Icebreakers

Icebreakers for retrospectives

Check-ins for the start of a retrospective: quick ways to see how the team feels before talking about what went wrong.

10 questionsThe start of a sprint or project retrospective, five to ten people.
Other occasions

The questions, and why each one works

  1. Describe the last sprint as a weather report.
    • “Sunny with a storm on Thursday” says more than a score, and it is easier to say about a hard sprint.
  2. One word for how the last two weeks felt.
    • Fast, honest, and a set of matching words shows the team agrees before anyone argues.
  3. If the sprint were a film, what would it be called?
    • Humour gives people a way to name what hurt without blaming anyone.
  4. Rate the sprint from one to five, without explaining yet.
    • Everyone shows fingers at once, so nobody follows the first answer. Explanations come later.
  5. What are you proud of that nobody has mentioned?
    • Retros lean towards problems. This starts on something that went right.
  6. What surprised you this sprint?
    • Surprises are where plans were wrong, which is exactly what a retro is for.
  7. Pick an emoji for the sprint and post it in the chat.
    • Works for remote teams and takes ten seconds. The spread of emojis is the mood of the team.
  8. What did you learn that you will use again?
    • Puts learning first, before the list of complaints.
  9. Who made your sprint easier?
    • Thanks come before criticism, which makes the criticism easier to hear.
  10. How much energy do you have for this retro, from one to five?
    • If the team is drained, keep the retro short and focus on one thing.

How to run it

Use the check-in to read the room. If most answers are low, start with the hard topics rather than burying them under good news.

Have everyone answer at the same moment — fingers, the chat, a sticky note — so the first answer does not set the rest.

Then move to the main retro. If the check-in showed a tired team, pick one topic to fix rather than a long list.

What to leave out

A long game before the retro

The retro itself needs the time. Five minutes of check-in is plenty.

Asking people to explain a low score straight away

It puts them on the spot. Let the retro bring it out.

Skipping the check-in when things went badly

That is when it matters most. It tells you how carefully to run the rest.

Questions

What is a good retro check-in?

One word for the sprint, said or typed by everyone at the same moment.

How long should a retro icebreaker take?

Five minutes in a sixty-minute retro.

How do you run a check-in with a remote team?

Use the chat or emojis, typed at the same moment, then read them out.

Icebreakers for other meetings

Team meetingsQuestions for the start of a regular team meeting — short enough for a weekly habit, and useful enough that the answers matter.Virtual meetingsIcebreakers built for video calls: ones that use the camera and the chat, survive a bad connection, and do not leave long silences.Welcoming a new team memberIcebreakers for the week someone joins: they help the new person learn how the team works, without putting them on the spot.Workshops and trainingIcebreakers for the start of a workshop or training day, chosen because the answers tell the person running it what the room needs.Large groupsIcebreakers for thirty people or more — all-hands, town halls, big classes — where going round the room is impossible.One-on-onesOpeners for one-on-one meetings between a manager and a member of their team — questions that start a real conversation rather than a status report.

Every occasion →

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