How to run a Mad Sad Glad retrospective online

Asking how people felt, rather than what went well or badly, brings out things a list of tasks misses: the release that was on time but exhausting, the meeting that quietly drags everyone down. Glad keeps it balanced, and a separate Action column stops the hour ending with complaints and nothing else.

Set the stage (5 minutes)

Remind everyone of the period you are looking back on and the one rule that matters: talk about what happened, not about who is to blame.

Write in silence (7 minutes)

Start a timer and let everyone add notes to Mad, Sad and Glad on their own. In the retrospective template each column has its own colour in the legend, so notes are sorted as they are written.

Read out and group (15 minutes)

Go column by column. Each author reads their notes; drag similar ones together. Moving a note over a frame puts it in that frame, and the frame's title counts what is inside.

Vote (5 minutes)

Start dwell voting. Everyone gets one vote and places it by resting on a note for 2 seconds, or tapping it; resting on another note moves it. The count sits on each note and the leader is outlined for all to see.

Discuss and agree actions (20 minutes)

Take the top notes in order. For each, agree one thing the team will do and write it on a yellow Action note with an owner's name. Two or three actions the team finishes beat ten it does not.

Close (5 minutes)

Read the actions back, then lock the board so it stays as the record of the retrospective.

• Ask for cameras on during the discussion, and let the silent writing be silent.
• Keep an eye on the attendee list: a name you have not heard from is a question to ask.
• If the team is new to the format, run the first one with the timer visible for every step.