Retrospective
A structured team session to inspect past work and identify changes for next time.
Definition
A retrospective ('retro') is a ritual where a team reflects on a period of work (a sprint, a launch, a quarter) and produces a small number of named changes. Product Ops often facilitates retros across teams, standardizes the format (Start/Stop/Continue, or Went Well/Went Poorly/Learned/Will Try), and tracks whether named changes actually get adopted.
Related concepts
Frequently Asked Questions
A retrospective ('retro') is a ritual where a team reflects on a period of work (a sprint, a launch, a quarter) and produces a small number of named changes. Product Ops often facilitates retros across teams, standardizes the format (Start/Stop/Continue, or Went Well/Went Poorly/Learned/Will Try), and tracks whether named changes actually get adopted.
Retrospective is also commonly called Retro, Postmortem. The terms are used interchangeably in most Product Operations contexts.
Retrospective is part of the Product Operations vocabulary under the rituals category. Product Ops leaders use this concept when running planning rituals, setting operating standards, and aligning cross-functional stakeholders.