The 3 Best Retro Check-in Formats for Every Situation
There are many good check-in methods for starting a retrospective. In this article I would like to present three different retro check-in formats with examples of check-in questions. Each check-in format serves a special purpose and can be easily adapted to the needs of your team and varied.
One thing in advance: we have another article with on this subject: 21 clever retrospective check-ins that will break any ice - feel free to take a look at it 🙂
Now let’s begin:
Retro Check-In Type 1: Create excitement with check-in games
Retro check-in game on the online whiteboard
Duration: 10-20 minutes | Goal: Encourage fun, creativity
The basic idea: The purpose of this type of check-in is to create engagement and interaction between team members. A wide variety of games are suitable for this. A game format that we particularly like and that doesn't require much preparation is the "Guessing Game" quiz.
1. Detailed facilitation instructions (Retrospective Games for new Teams)
Here are the instructions for the “Guessing Game” as a check-in. The best way to share the steps is on your (online) whiteboard with your team:
- Each team member chooses an animal and keeps it to themselves. (1 minute)
- Then each team member has 2-3 minutes to write 3 facts about their animal.
These can be obvious characteristics such as “has wings”, or “facts, figures, data” that can be found with a quick web search, such as “exists approximately 100,000 times in Germany”. - Now each team member presents their facts. After each fact, all other team members can make a guess as to which animal it is.
- If the animal is still not guessed after all three facts, the person has won and receives a point. Otherwise, the person who guesses the animal first gets the point.
You can also play the check-in game across retrospectives and add up the points over several rounds to determine a “winner” on a regular basis - it’s really fun!
Note: You can adapt this check-in format as you wish and have the team guess car brands, countries, cities, fruits, etc. instead - there are no limits to your creativity. Or even better: actively involve the team and have someone else choose the topic of the check-in guessing game in each retrospective.
Check-in type 2: Getting to know each other better
Retro check-in game on the online whiteboard
Duration: 10-20 minutes | Goal: Getting to know each other, fun
The basic idea: Has your team recently come together and the team members don't know each other well yet? Use a “getting to know you check-in” to give team members the opportunity to get to know each other better on a personal level and to “break the ice”. A great check-in question format for this is the “Either-Or Check-In”.
1. Detailed facilitation instructions (Retrospective Games for new Teams)
Write a list with alternative positions to categories like "Food", "Music", "Sport", "Drinks". Avoid political and religious topics.
- Pasta or pizza? (Food)
- Chocolate or gummy bears? (Sweets)
- Football or basketball? (Sport)
- “Game of Thrones” or “Scrubs”? (Series)
- Tea or coffee (Drinks)
- Sweatpants or jeans (Clothing)
- K-Pop or Schlager (Music genre)
For the best getting-to-know-you effect, design the format so that each team member not only takes a position via a post-it note, but also has the chance to speak up. Simply sharing stickies with your own name on them without explaining your position is not very effective.
Depending on the team size and time slot for the check-in, you should keep the list of pairs of terms short. Allow approximately half a minute for each check-in question and participant. With 4 check-in questions and 6 participants, this would be 12 minutes accordingly.
In general, we would recommend not including more than 6 “Either-Or questions” in order not to overuse the game too quickly.
Again, feel free to adapt this check-in format to the interests of your team and vary it each time for the necessary variety. It is also a great idea to have this format prepared by team members in turn - who knows what creative ideas will emerge from the team.
If you have trouble coming up with ideas for either/or questions, there’s more on the Internet: Inspiration for more either/or questions.
Check-in type 3: Stimulate self-reflection with metaphors
Retro check-in game on the online whiteboard
Duration: 10-20 minutes | Goal: Fun, reflection of the last Scrum Sprint
The basic idea: You want to stimulate self-reflection already in the check-in of the retrospective? Then this third type of check-in is very well suited! Metaphors are particularly suitable for stimulating self-reflection, helping the team to look at the collaboration or the results from a new perspective.
1. Detailed facilitation instructions (Retrospective Games for new Teams)
For the image above, ask the question:
- Of the following cars, which best reflects the last sprint and why?
Here are a few more examples of metaphors:
- Imagine you are writing a newspaper article about the last sprint: What would be the headline of the article?
- Which image best reflects your role in the last sprint?
If you like these retro methods or check-in methods, you can open them directly in our team development tool Echometer - see above.
Again, there are many ways to vary the check-in formats - both the selection of images and the categories themselves.
Another varied option: Health Checks as a Retro Check-In
Quick health check’s can also be a fun check-in for retrospective. In health checks, different statements are presented to the team and each team member expresses agreement on a scale.
It should be added that you have often drifted into the data-gathering phase and discussions - but that’s not so bad.
You can open a Health Check Retrospective Check-In directly with our Health Check & Retro tool and carry it out online with your team (Echometer without registration). Here, for example, is our template on the subject of team spirit - feel free to take a look:
Team Morale Health Check 😇
Health Check Questions (Scale)
Last but not least: Develop your own customizable check-in templates in Echometer
If you’d like some more varied questions for your retrospectives, check out our post on that: 54 fresh retrospective methods for beginners and professionals (including the Mario Kart Retro, the Atom Retro, and the Marathon Retro).
Do you regularly prepare retrospectives and would like an overview of different check-in formats from which you can easily choose?
In Echometer we have collected all of these check-ins as whiteboard templates. You can also freely adapt the templates so that you have a large number of variants up your sleeve.
If you don’t know Echometer yet: Echometer is a software tool that is particularly aimed at inexperienced Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters & Servant Leaders. It helps to gain self-confidence through predefined templates and quickly take the team to a new level. In our overview “ 7 free Retro Boards to open a retro now ” you will find more in-depth information.
One of the best methods to sustainably develop the agile mindset of team members is, by the way, the implementation of an agile health check - you can easily integrate this into your retrospectives with Echometer.
If you’re also interested in the best questions to ask in agile retrospectives, check out this article: The best agile retrospective questions . One thing in advance: Do the following two belong to it: 4L Retrospective and Keep stop start retro Perhaps.
If you work with Kanban, check this out: Kanban Team Health Check Retro .
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