Retrospectives gives a team one persistent place to reflect on recent work, recognize what helped, name what should change, and turn the discussion into concrete follow-ups. It is useful after a sprint, project phase, event, incident, or any shared effort that deserves a deliberate pause before the team moves on.
A Simple Shape for Useful Reflection
Every board uses three fixed columns. Their shared structure keeps the session understandable without asking a facilitator to design a process first:
Each column shows a short prompt, its card count, and an Add Card action. The structure works especially well when the team first gathers observations, discusses themes, and then converts the most important points into actions. It can also support a lightweight check-in where participants add cards before meeting and review them together later.
The columns are intentionally consistent across boards. They cannot currently be renamed, added, removed, or rearranged, and cards remain in the column where they were created. Retrospectives does not provide drag ordering between or within columns.
Find or Create a Board
A new area can begin from the same explorer that later holds its persistent retrospective boards.
Open Retros from Apps to browse retrospective boards connected to the current space area. The explorer keeps folders available for navigation while showing retrospective files, making it easier to return to an earlier session beside the work it concerned. You can also open a retrospective from its linked file in Documents.
Choose New retrospective to create a board in the selected space, subspace, or activity. Creation requires Retrospectives app access, currently included with Coordinator. Opening and contributing to a board also follows its area access: a board in a private area remains limited to members who can enter that area.
A new board is ready immediately with the three reflection columns. The creator appears as its first participant, and the board keeps its place in the area so it can be reopened rather than treated as a temporary meeting screen. See Create and Open a Retrospective for the complete journey.
Add Feedback Together
Select Add Card in the column that matches the thought you want to capture, then enter the feedback directly on the card. Cards show their authors, preserving who contributed each point when the board is revisited. A participant can refine the text on a card they created; authorship keeps later edits attached to the original contributor.
Typing stays undisturbed in the active card. Changed text is committed when editing completes, focus leaves the card, or the participant leaves it. After that commit succeeds, other people viewing the same retrospective receive the updated card. New cards likewise appear for current viewers without requiring the whole board to be reopened.
This is committed live collaboration, not character-by-character co-editing. Another person's saved changes can arrive while you work, but the board does not replace the text inside the card you are actively typing in. Reactions offer a lighter way to acknowledge a useful point or show support without creating another card; participants with reaction access can also inspect who reacted.
The header shows the people who have joined the retrospective. This participant record remains useful when the board is reopened, but it should not be read as a precise online-status list. For a practical facilitation flow, follow Run a Team Retrospective and read Cards and Participation for the collaboration details.
Keep Context Beside the Board
Every retrospective is paired with a draft Article. Use Article when the team needs longer background, an agenda, definitions, or a summary that would crowd the cards. Use Comments for a connected discussion beside the board. These tools open in a side panel, so participants can check the shared context and return to the columns without abandoning the session.
Creating a retrospective is not the same as publishing an Article. Board creation prepares the linked draft and its discussion context; it does not publish that Article or create a post. Adding cards, reactions, or comments also does not publish it. The current retrospective workspace has no publish-as-completion step, so treat any Article publication as a separate content decision rather than the end of the board session.
The board remains the place for reflection cards, while the linked Article and Comments provide supporting context. Linked Context and Meetings explains how these parts work together.
Use Retrospectives in a Meeting
Retrospectives opens from the shared meeting launcher while its board remains ordinary persistent workspace content.
In an activity meeting, open Live Apps to create a retrospective for the meeting's activity or reopen an existing board on the stage. Participants use the same columns, cards, reactions, linked Article, Comments, and participant context as they do in the standalone workspace.
The meeting supplies the surrounding stage and navigation, so the embedded board does not repeat the standalone exit controls. Switching between supported meeting layouts keeps the selected retrospective available, while choosing a different board loads that board as the shared live app. Retrospectives are available as live apps in activity meetings, not direct-message calls.
If the team wants to combine discussion with shared board work, see Collaborate with Live Apps in a Meeting.
Work Across Screen Sizes
On a larger screen, Went Well, To Improve, and Action Items sit side by side so the team can compare themes across the board. Each column scrolls with a stable header and count as its stack grows.
On a narrow screen, the same columns stack vertically in a scrollable workspace. Nothing is converted into a different mobile process: the prompts, cards, authors, reactions, and add-card actions remain part of the same board. A larger display is often easier for facilitating a busy discussion, while mobile remains useful for reading and contributing on the move.
Leave, Reopen, and Continue
Retrospectives are persistent and remain editable. Leaving a board does not finish or lock it, and reopening it restores its participants, cards, authors, column placement, and reactions. This makes one board useful both during the facilitated conversation and afterward, when owners return to check or refine the action items.
For a standalone board created from an activity, use the exit action to return to that activity's posts. When no activity return context is available, leave through the surrounding app navigation instead of expecting the board to restore a specific area automatically. In a meeting, use the meeting's live-app and stage controls rather than looking for the standalone exit action.
If a board is still loading, the workspace shows progress before its columns appear. A board that cannot be found or opened shows an unavailable message, while unsuccessful creation or card changes report an error and leave the rest of the workspace available.
Current Scope
Retrospectives supports an open, reusable reflection board rather than a formally staged ceremony. At present it does not include:
The absence of a formal end means the facilitator decides when the conversation is complete and can simply leave the board. If the team needs a durable narrative beyond the cards, use the linked Article for context or a summary; if action items need ongoing ownership and tracking, move those commitments into the team's normal work-planning surface.
Common Questions
Who can create a retrospective?
Creation requires access to the target space area and Retrospectives app access, currently included with Coordinator. A meeting does not bypass those requirements.
Who can open and contribute to a board?
Signed-in members who can enter the board's space area can open it and add cards. Private-area access continues to apply, and card authors retain responsibility for later text edits to their own cards.
Do other participants see every keystroke?
No. Your current typing stays local until the card edit is committed. Other viewers then receive the saved update.
Does leaving end the retrospective?
No. The board remains open and editable, with no formal end state in the current experience.
Can I change the three columns or reorder cards?
No. Went Well, To Improve, and Action Items are fixed, and the board currently has no drag-ordering controls.
Does creating a board publish its linked Article?
No. The Article begins as a draft, and creating or using the board does not publish it or create a post.
Can we use a retrospective during a meeting?
Yes, in an activity meeting. The team can create or reopen a board as a live app and continue using the same shared content.