Marie Kondo Method
Inspired by the famous tidying method, this retrospective asks the team to declutter the way it works. Practices that bring joy are worth keeping, those that went wrong are thrown out, and the rest are recycled — improved and reused. The metaphor turns process cleanup into a surprisingly enjoyable conversation.
What went well, happy to keep
Roman
The new deploy pipeline — nobody dreads Fridays now
Maria
Async standup notes in the channel
What went wrong, don't want to keep
Anna
The weekly status meeting nobody prepares for
Daria
The dashboard with metrics we never act on
What you want to improve and reuse
Maria
Refinement is useful but too long — cut it to 30 minutes
Kirill
Incident notes are good; turn them into runbooks
How to Use the Marie Kondo Method in a Retrospective:
Step 1: Review the sprint and identify what "brings you joy".
- This section is for listing things that went well and that you want to keep doing in the future.
- Think about what made you feel happy, productive, or fulfilled during the sprint.
- Write these items on sticky notes and place them under the "Brings You Joy" heading.
Step 2: Identify what to "throw out".
- This section is for listing things that went wrong during the sprint and that you don't want to repeat.
- Think about what made you feel frustrated, stressed, or unproductive.
- Write these items on sticky notes and place them under the "Throw Out" heading.
Step 3: Identify what to "recycle".
- This section is for listing things that you want to improve and reuse in the future.
- Think about what could have gone better during the sprint and what you can do to make it better next time.
- Write these items on sticky notes and place them under the "Recycle" heading.
Step 4: Review and discuss the items.
- Take a moment to review each section and discuss the items with your team.
- Ask questions, share your thoughts, and brainstorm ideas for improvement.
Step 5: Take action.
- Based on the items in the "Recycle" section, decide on specific actions you want to take to improve your work in the next sprint.
- Assign specific tasks or action items to team members and make sure everyone is on the same page.
By following the Marie Kondo Method in your retrospectives, you can keep what works well, throw out what doesn't, and recycle what needs improvement. This will help you maintain focus and continuously improve your work over time.
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Kudos Retrospective
A retrospective that opens with gratitude before getting down to business. Kudos lets the team recognize each other first, then it reviews what went well, what to improve and the action items to follow up on. Starting with appreciation sets a positive, psychologically safe tone for the harder parts of the conversation.
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