Problem

Retros produced insights, but the value faded fast

The typical retro surfaces issues and opportunities, but weights everything equally, so it feels more like venting.

The classic retro format, Start Doing / Stop Doing / Continue Doing, always left me with more questions than answers.

Teams felt obliged to fill every column, mixing serious issues with trivial ones, and "Stop Doing" ended up close to the opposite of "Start Doing." With no clarity on what mattered most, teams felt their biggest concerns went unanswered.

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Teams often adopted the typical retro format without questioning whether it worked.
Discovery

I worked with my research team to find the gaps

At DISH, I asked my researchers to lead retros and collect feedback from the team.

I tried attending retros to offer context and solutions in real time, and skipping them so the team could speak more openly.

Patterns emerged quickly: the team didn't want to vent, they wanted solutions. Without guidance, small concerns became bigger issues. The team wanted to celebrate wins. And without clear progress, retros became repetitive.

Teams wanted a working session, not a documentation exercise that disappeared into a shared doc.

Solution

We tested a new retro format that was familiar, but more natural and actionable

Retro prioritization matrix with axes for work impact, well-being impact, and urgency

The biggest change: the team weighed how each concern affects them against how urgent it is.

Starting with what's working well, and shout-outs, opened the team up.

The "How it Affects Me vs Urgency" axis got people to say how important each concern really was.

After wins and issues, future ideas came easily, and some addressed current problems. The team's own ranking showed managers what to prioritize or respond to.

To keep managers accountable for improving how we work, I built an agent that posts last month's retro summary in our leadership Slack channel and creates a blank template for next month. In our Leads Meeting, we reviewed the summary and discussed how we could help.

Result

More solutions and fewer issues

Retro board template with sections for wins, prioritized concerns, and future ideas

Teams said retros felt more empowering and purposeful, and leaders had a practical way to keep momentum between sessions.

Participation rose once people saw their input lead to follow-through, and the agent cut the overhead of tracking commitments. Retros went from a complaint session to a working rhythm the team could trust.

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What I took from this: Accountability isn't more meetings or oversight. It's designing a loop that makes commitments easy to make and hard to forget.