Playbook · 60 minutes

A retrospective in 60 minutes

Check-in, a look back at the last action items, collecting, prioritising and new commitments – a complete retro with three apps, no account.

For Scrum Masters and agile teams · 4–20 people · remote or on site

  • IcebreakerAI
  • Pinnarium
  • Actarium

Most retros don’t fail because of the format but because the action items fizzle out afterwards. So this playbook starts with a look at the last commitments and ends with new ones – with names and dates.

5′10′15′10′15′5′
60 minutes in the meeting, colours by app

Before

  1. Actarium · Follow through

    Once: create a team list

    Create a list for the team in Actarium and share the team link. The action items of every retro end up there – end-to-end encrypted, no account.

    Open Actarium

In the meeting

  1. 5 min

    IcebreakerAI · Arrive

    Arrive

    Create a room, share the stage in Teams or Zoom, everyone joins by code or QR code. A short game brings everyone into the meeting.

    💡 “Majority Bet” works as a mood check: “Was this sprint more exhausting than the last one?” – answer anonymously, guess the share.

    Open IcebreakerAI
  2. 10 min

    Actarium · Follow through

    Review the last action items

    Open the team list and start review mode: one commitment after another, large for screen sharing. Keys 1–5 set the status – done, in progress, blocked, postponed or dropped.

  3. 15 min

    Pinnarium · Work & decide

    Collect

    In IcebreakerAI, tap “Take everyone along” and choose the “Retrospective” template: the board is created and all phones switch to it with their names. Areas: What went well? · What didn’t go well? · What will we try? · Thanks to …

    💡 With hidden writing nobody sees other people’s notes until you reveal them – so everyone writes without being influenced.

  4. 10 min

    Pinnarium · Work & decide

    Cluster and prioritise

    Reveal, let duplicates be merged and hand out dot votes – you decide how many. Sort by dots and the most important topics are on top.

  5. 15 min

    Actarium · Follow through

    Agree on action items

    Discuss the two or three topics with the most dots and write each action item straight into the team list – with an owner and a due date.

    💡 Quick entry: “Create deployment checklist @Anna !+2w” sets owner and date in one go.

  6. 5 min

    IcebreakerAI · Arrive

    Check-out

    Back to the room from the start: “Kudos Round” for a thank-you to the team or “Pledge Wall” for the next step plus confidence.

Afterwards

  1. Pinnarium · Work & decide

    Save the result

    Export the board as Markdown, CSV or print view, e.g. for the team wiki.

  2. Actarium · Follow through

    Follow through

    Everyone downloads their commitments as a calendar file (.ics). The next retro starts with the review again – so the team sees what became of the action items.

To be honest

  • Action items don’t go to Jira or another ticket system automatically; Actarium exports Markdown, CSV and calendar files.
  • IcebreakerAI is made for groups of up to 20 people.

Tried it? Tell us how it went – and what was missing.

Give feedback

More playbooks

60 minutes · 3 apps Decision meeting with minutes From the date to the agenda and votes to finished minutes and tasks that get followed up – e.g. for quarterly reviews or department meetings. 90 minutes · 4 apps Ideas workshop: collect, cluster, decide Collect ideas hidden, cluster them by topic, prioritise with dots and decide in the same session what gets done – with action items and minutes.