The Hopes & Concerns Retrospective Template

This activity is ideal to help the team members project themselves towards a new project, event, or any other initiative that involves the group.

Rather than taking a classic approach based on hard facts, this retrospective idea gives the needed room for each team member to share their hopes and concerns about what's to come.

In addition, this activity provides a framework that promotes transparency and empathy within the group.

If you're looking for a retrospective format to engage the team in the first look at an upcoming initiative, we recommend using Hopes & Concerns ✌️

As mentioned earlier, Hope & Concerns is an effective way to tackle the beginning of a new project. Moreover, since people do not know all the project parameters during its ignition phase, H&C lets participants express themselves about all aspects of the project.

This activity can help facilitate a mid-project review. For example, let's imagine that the project seems to be going well so far. In this case, it would be very useful to look at potential risks that some team members would raise. That way, the team would better anticipate threats to secure the project's success.

H&C is also an excellent Sprint retrospective activity. Rather than choosing common questions in your retro, like those contained in What Went Well - H&C gives space to each team member to speak with their emotions.

Hopes & Concerns is a good exercise for self-introspection. You can take stock of your own productivity and goals while highlighting your fears and the challenges that could stand in your way.

Ultimately, we could sum up the Hopes & Concerns activity in two words:

• openness (since everyone is invited to engage authentically)

• anticipation (through our concerns, we formulate potential risks, and we help the entire team to gain visibility about these points)