The retrospective format you choose shapes the kind of feedback you get. A team running Start/Stop/Continue every sprint will surface process improvements. A team running Mad/Sad/Glad will surface emotional undercurrents. A team running the Sailboat will think about strategy and obstacles. None of these is universally better — but each is better for specific situations.
Here are the five most effective retrospective templates, when to use each one, and the specific conditions where each shines.
1. Start / Stop / Continue (SSC)
The most widely used retrospective format, and for good reason. Three columns: practices the team should start doing, practices they should stop, and practices they should keep doing. Simple, direct, and action-oriented.
When to use it: SSC is ideal for teams that need to make concrete process changes. It produces the most immediately actionable output because every card is implicitly a suggestion. It works particularly well in the early stages of a new team, when there are many easy process wins available.
Watch out for: SSC can feel transactional. It tends to miss emotional and relational dynamics because the format pushes toward tangible behaviours rather than feelings. If you're sensing tension in the team, this template won't surface it.
2. Mad / Sad / Glad
Three columns framed around emotional states: what made the team mad (frustrated, blocked), sad (disappointed, let down), and glad (energised, proud). The emotional framing is intentional — it gives people permission to express how work is actually feeling, not just what happened.
When to use it: Mad/Sad/Glad is most valuable when you suspect morale issues that aren't surfacing in regular retros. It's also effective after a particularly difficult sprint — a production incident, a missed deadline, an unpleasant stakeholder interaction. It creates space to process the emotional fallout before moving into problem-solving mode.
Watch out for: The emotional framing can feel uncomfortable in teams with low psychological safety. Anonymous card submission (supported in ScrumTool) significantly increases honest participation.
3. Four Ls: Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
A four-column format that captures both what happened and what the team wishes were different. Liked is the wins. Learned is the new knowledge or skills gained. Lacked is what was missing — resources, information, process clarity. Longed For is the aspirational column: what would have made this sprint significantly better.
When to use it: The 4Ls is excellent for teams going through change — new tools, new processes, new team members. The Learned column captures knowledge transfer naturally, and the Longed For column surfaces strategic gaps that Start/Stop/Continue would miss.
Watch out for: Four columns produce more cards to process, which can make the discussion feel rushed. Budget an extra fifteen minutes or be disciplined about dot-voting to focus discussion on the most important items.
4. Drop / Add / Keep / Improve (DAKI)
Similar to SSC but with more nuance. Drop is explicit about removal — not just "stop doing X" but "eliminate X entirely." Add introduces new practices. Keep confirms what's working. Improve acknowledges things that have value but need adjustment.
When to use it: DAKI is particularly effective for teams that feel like they're carrying too many processes and need explicit permission to simplify. The Drop column creates space to kill things that have outlived their usefulness — something SSC's "Stop" column doesn't always do as cleanly.
Watch out for: The Improve column can become a catch-all that produces vague items. Push the team to be specific: improve how, by what measure, owned by whom.
5. Sailboat (Wind, Anchor, Rocks, Island)
The team's goal is the island. What's pushing them toward it is the wind. What's slowing them down is the anchor. What risks lie ahead are the rocks. The metaphor makes strategic thinking intuitive and surfaces a broader range of concerns than process-focused templates.
When to use it: The Sailboat is best for teams that have process dialled in and need to think at a higher level — about strategy, risk, and direction. It's also excellent for quarterly or end-of-release retrospectives rather than per-sprint ones, since the timescale of "reaching the island" is longer than a two-week sprint.
Watch out for: First-time teams can find the metaphor slightly abstract. Spend two minutes at the start explaining the columns before opening cards.
How to Choose
A simple heuristic: if you need process changes, use SSC or DAKI. If you need to surface emotions, use Mad/Sad/Glad. If you're in a period of learning or change, use 4Ls. If you need strategic thinking, use Sailboat.
Rotate through them. Running the same template every sprint is one of the fastest ways to make retros feel like a chore. ScrumTool has all five templates built in alongside a custom template option, so you can pick the right format for each sprint in under thirty seconds. Start for free.