Mad-Sad-Glad retrospective template helps to improve team communication, identify issues, and track progress towards goals by encouraging the team to reflect on what went well, what didn't go well, and what can be improved in a structured way.
The Mad Sad Glad Retrospective templates has many benefits:
- Improves team communication
- Identifies and addresses issues
- Tracks progress towards goals
- Encourages reflection and learning
- Promotes active participation from all team members
- Increases engagement and buy-in for implementing changes
- Facilitates the process of continuous improvement
- Helps to identify and prioritize areas for change
- Encourages team bonding and fostering a positive team culture
- Helps to surface and address underlying problems that might be hindering team performance.
How do you use this Mad Sad Glad Retrospective template?
- During the retrospective meeting, give each team member the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences. Encourage them to share specific examples of things that made them mad, sad, or glad during the past sprint or project.
- Ask each team member to record their comments in the appropriate column on the template using the provided sticky notes.
- Once all team members have shared, review the comments in each column and group similar comments together.
- Identify common themes among the Mad and Sad comments, and discuss ways to address them as a team.
- Celebrate the things that made the team glad, and discuss ways to replicate those successes in the future.
- Prioritize the issues that were identified and create an action plan for addressing them.
- Follow up on the action items from the retrospective to ensure that the team is making progress on addressing the issues and achieving their goals.
- Repeat the process regularly, for example, after each sprint or project, to ensure continuous improvement.
What is an example of how to use the Mad Sad Glad Retrospective template?
| Mad |
Sad |
Glad |
| Lack of clear communication with stakeholders |
Difficulty in meeting deadlines |
Successful delivery of a major project |
| Misaligned expectations with team members |
Too much multitasking |
Positive feedback from clients |
| Limited resources for a particular task |
Confusion regarding roles and responsibilities |
Improved team cohesion |
In this example, the team used the Mad-Sad-Glad template to reflect on their recent sprint or project.
They identified communication issues, problems with meeting deadlines, and difficulties with expectations and roles as things that made them "Mad", "Sad" respectively. They also identified successful delivery of a major project, positive feedback from clients and improved team cohesion as things that made them "Glad".
The team can then take this information and use it to create an action plan for addressing the issues that came up in the "Mad" and "Sad" columns. For example, the team could make efforts to improve communication with stakeholders, set clear expectations with team members and make sure everyone has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
It's also important to celebrate and replicate the things that made the team "Glad", such as finding ways to replicate the success in delivering major projects or finding ways to get more positive feedback from clients.
Finally, the team should follow up on the action items from the retrospective and make sure they are making progress on addressing the issues and achieving their goals.
