Mad Sad Glad retrospective template
An online retrospective board in four columns: what made the team mad, what made it sad, what it was glad about, and what it will do next. Each column has its own sticky colour, so the notes sort themselves.
Opens a live board in one click. No sign-up: share the link and your team joins.
What is a Mad Sad Glad retrospective?
Mad Sad Glad is a retrospective format for agile teams, run at the end of a sprint or a project. Instead of asking what went well and what did not, it asks how the work felt: what frustrated people, what disappointed them and what they were pleased with. The team writes a note for each, groups them, votes on what to talk about and agrees a few actions for the next sprint.
What is on the board
4 frames side by side — Sad, Mad, Glad, Action — and a legend with a matching note for each. Drag a note off the legend straight into its column; a note dropped over a frame belongs to it, and the frame's title shows how many notes it holds.
- Sad
- Something that disappointed you or felt off.
- Mad
- Something that frustrated you or got in the way.
- Glad
- Something that went well and should keep happening.
- Action
- Something the team will do next, with an owner.
How to run it
- Write in silenceGive everyone five minutes on the shared timer to add their own notes to Sad, Mad and Glad. Writing alone first keeps the loudest voice from setting the agenda.
- Read and groupGo column by column. Each author reads their notes out; move similar ones together and let the frame keep them in place.
- VoteStart dwell voting. Everyone rests on the note they most want to talk about, and the most voted note is outlined for the whole room.
- Agree actionsFor the top notes, write a yellow action with a name on it. Keep the list short enough to finish.
- Close the boardLock the board when you are done so it becomes the record, and export it if the team keeps retrospectives elsewhere.