Retrospective templates

Pick a template to give your retrospective a starting structure, then customise it to suit your team.

Templates are the first step when you click Create retrospective. You can also change the template on an existing retrospective from Edit setup.

Choosing a template

Select from these built-in templates:

• Blank - build your own, with no preset columns

• Copy previous setup - Start with the same columns and format as your last visited retrospective

• What went well - a straightforward retrospective covering what worked, what didn't, and what to try next (this is our default template)

• Start, stop, continue - an action-focused retrospective for quick process adjustments

• Mad, sad, glad - an emotion-first retrospective that surfaces how the team feels before diving into process

• Good, bad, ugly - a direct format for experienced teams who prefer plain language over metaphors

• Sailboat - a metaphor-based retrospective; the team is a sailboat navigating toward a goal

• Rose, bud, thorn - a positive-first retrospective that frames reflection around strengths, opportunities, and problems

• Three little pigs - a story-based format using the fairy tale metaphor to assess structural solidity

• Starfish - a five-arm reflection giving teams nuanced control over behaviour change

• Four Ls - a learning-focused retrospective, good for gentler framing after a rough sprint

• Hot air balloon - Focused on blockers vs enablers - good for teams of dependency or impediment issues.

• Happiness index - a team health check focused on morale and wellbeing rather than process

You can also save and reuse templates created by your team - these are accessible from the Team Templates tab.

Customising the template

Once you select a template, you can save it and get started right away. You can also make changes to the template such as column count, colours and naming. See Configuring a retrospective for details.

Changing the template on an existing retrospective

Open Edit setup on the retrospective toolbar. This takes you to the screen used to configure columns, actions, mood survey, and permissions (see Configuring a retrospective for more details). Select Change template to open the template picker and choose a different template.

When you change your template, your existing columns are renamed to match the new template rather than replaced. Retrospective items already in those columns stay where they are.

A column can't be deleted while it still contains items. If you switch to a template with fewer columns, the extra columns stay on the board - drag the retrospective cards into another column, then delete the extra column from Edit setup.

For example, if you switch from a 5-column template to a 3-column template and every column has cards in it, you'll need to move the items then delete the 2 extra columns yourself.

Saving your own templates

You can save a retrospective's setup as a Team template so your team can reuse it. Team templates store your columns, colours, Actions column preference and whether the mood survey is on or off.

See Creating your own retrospective templates for how to save, use, and delete them.

Data Center

If you're using Jira Data Center, you'll be able to access a limited number of templates from the Bling menu.

Select Bling in the toolbar to apply a template.

Choose from 4 pre-made templates:

1. Foundation: Start, Stop, Continue

2. Rose Blossom: Starfish style

3. Space Mission: Sailboat style

4. Get Rhythm: 4 L's style

The Foundation template is used by default. Templates on this version also apply a themed background image to the retrospective board.

You can still customise columns after applying a template.