---
aliases: ["Quarterly Team Retrospective"]
Is A: Procedure
Belongs to: "[[responsibility-team-management]]"
Cadence: Quarterly
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Quarterly Team Retrospective

The quarterly retrospective is the team's dedicated space to reflect honestly on what is working, what is not, and what should change. In a small team, it is easy to skip formal reflection because "we talk all the time" — but informal conversations rarely surface systemic issues or lead to concrete process improvements. This procedure ensures that [[person-matteo-cellini]], [[person-paco-furiani]], and [[person-sara-ricci]] all have an equal voice in shaping how the team operates, and that insights translate into action.

## Steps

- [ ] Schedule a 90-minute session at least one week in advance — send each team member a pre-work prompt: "List 2-3 things that went well, 2-3 things that did not, and 1 change you would make"
- [ ] Open the session by reviewing action items from last quarter's retro — which were completed, which were dropped, and why?
- [ ] Collect and discuss "what went well" contributions from each team member — celebrate wins and identify patterns worth reinforcing
- [ ] Collect and discuss "what did not go well" contributions — focus on systemic issues, not individual blame
- [ ] Facilitate a discussion on root causes for the most impactful problems raised
- [ ] Brainstorm potential process changes or experiments to address the top 2-3 issues
- [ ] Vote on which changes to implement this quarter — limit to 2-3 actionable commitments to avoid overloading
- [ ] Assign an owner to each action item with a clear deadline and definition of done
- [ ] Review [[measure-team-nps]] results if available and discuss any trends
- [ ] Close by asking each person for one word that describes how they feel about the coming quarter

## Notes

- Psychological safety is the prerequisite for a useful retro. If people do not feel safe raising problems, the session becomes a performance of agreement. Model vulnerability by going first with your own "what did not go well."
- Limit action items to 2-3 per quarter. Teams that commit to 8 improvements execute none. Focus on the changes with the highest leverage.
- The pre-work prompt is essential. Without it, the session gets dominated by whoever thinks fastest on their feet, and quieter team members (often with the best observations) stay silent.
- Rotate the facilitation role if possible. When the team lead always facilitates, the dynamic skews toward top-down rather than collaborative.
- Keep a running retro log across quarters. Patterns that appear in multiple retros deserve deeper investigation — they signal structural issues, not one-off problems.
