Skip to content
Planet RoadmapPlanet Roadmap
Sign InGet Started
Glossary
Agile & Scrum

What is Sprint Retrospective?

A Sprint Retrospective is a recurring meeting held at the conclusion of a development sprint where the team reflects on their process to identify specific improvements for the next iteration. It focuses on the people, relationships, and workflows of the team rather than the technical features delivered during the sprint.

When to use it

Teams should conduct a retrospective at the end of every sprint to ensure continuous improvement throughout the project lifecycle. It is used to resolve communication bottlenecks, address drops in team velocity, and refine the team's definition of done based on recent obstacles.

Example

A SaaS engineering team finishes a two-week sprint where they only completed 60% of their committed story points due to unexpected bugs in the legacy API. During the retrospective, they identify that the lack of automated unit tests for that module caused the delay. They agree to dedicate 10% of the next sprint's capacity to writing tests for the API and update their sprint planning checklist to include a technical debt review.

How Planet Roadmap helps with Sprint Retrospective

Planet Roadmap provides a Sprint view that tracks task movement and blockers, giving teams an objective history of where bottlenecks occurred during the cycle to inform retrospective discussions.

Try Planet Roadmap free

FAQ

What is the difference between a Sprint Retrospective and a Sprint Review?
A Sprint Review focuses on the product being built, where stakeholders see a demo and provide feedback on the 'what.' A Sprint Retrospective focuses on the internal process, where the team analyzes 'how' they worked together and how to improve their efficiency in the next cycle.
How long should a Sprint Retrospective last?
The general rule is 45 minutes for each week of the sprint. For a standard two-week sprint, the retrospective should last approximately 1.5 hours, providing enough time for the team to move beyond surface-level issues and identify root causes of process friction.

Related terms

SprintScrumDaily StandupSprint PlanningSprint ReviewDefinition of DoneVelocityProduct BacklogKanban

Read more

Build your roadmap with Planet Roadmap

One workspace for feedback, roadmap, project management, and OKRs — flat-rate pricing, no credit card required.

Try Planet Roadmap Free