Weekly retro template.
A weekly retro template that produces decisions, not feelings. The four prompts we banned and the three we kept — opinionated for a reason.
Sample output — Retro cadence · running.
A weekly retro template that produces decisions, not feelings. The four prompts we banned and the three we kept — opinionated for a reason.
How it actually goes in.
Frame the problem in writing.
Start with a one-page problem statement the leadership team signs. Without this, every later step routes back to re-litigation. Five sentences max; print it.
Pull the evidence base.
Twenty-decision audit, metric pull, calendar dump. The kit assumes you arrive with data, not just opinions. The diagnostic is the floor.
Draft v0 in one working session.
Two-hour leadership working session. The kit's template fills in 70%; the work is the 30% that's specific to your company. Don't perfect it.
Ratify in writing.
Every leader signs (literally or via email reply). Without ratification it's an artifact. With ratification it's an agreement. The signature is the install.
Reference every subsequent decision against it.
The first 90 days, every nontrivial decision gets the question "does this match v0?" If no, change the decision or change the artifact. Don't keep both.
What good looks like, ninety days in.
Median operator-level decision moves from days to hours once the kit is installed and referenced.
Decisions that get re-opened later drop sharply once there's a written artifact to point at.
Self-reported in retros: the leadership team feels less like they're improvising. Not measurable in numbers; obvious in conversation.
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