Retro format 23 of 27
Circles and Soup retrospective
Sort problems into what the team controls, what it can influence, and the soup it has to live with.
- 45–50 min
- 2 to 20 people
- Works remote
Good for
A team that keeps complaining about things outside its control. It moves energy to what can change.
Also called: Circles of control
Facilitator tip
Don't skip the soup. Agreeing how to respond to what you can't change is a real action.
The Circles and Soup board, drawn out.
3 areas: We control, We influence, The soup. Draw the picture on your whiteboard before the retro. Here's what a software team might put in each.
1We control
Our review turnaround
2We influence
The platform team's release schedule
3The soup
The company-wide code freeze
How to run a Circles and Soup retrospective.
About 50 minutes as written. Change the length in the agenda builder below and every step scales with it.
- 1
Check in
5 min
Say why you're here and that the retro is about the system, not people. Go through last retro's action items: done, in progress, or dropped on purpose.
- 2
List the problems
8 min
Everyone writes what got in the way this sprint.
- 3
Sort into circles
10 min
Place each note: team controls, team can influence, or soup.
- 4
Act on each circle
12 min
Control: change it. Influence: who do we talk to? Soup: how do we respond better?
- 5
Agree action items
10 min
Pick one to three actions from the top topics. Each gets one owner and a due date, and goes into the next sprint's backlog, not only the retro notes.
- 6
Close
5 min
Read the actions and owners back. Ask everyone to rate the retro 1 to 5 (return on time invested) and change one thing next time if the scores are low.
Prompts to put on the board.
Read one out when the writing stalls, or paste them next to the columns.
- What got in the way?
- Is this ours to fix?
- Who could we influence, and how?
- If we can't change it, how do we work around it?
Your Circles and Soup agenda, timed to your slot.
Fill in the team and the time. Copy the agenda into Confluence, Notion or Google Docs as formatted text, or grab the Markdown.
Length
- 0:00–0:05Check in · 5 min
- 0:05–0:13List the problems · 8 min
- 0:13–0:23Sort into circles · 10 min
- 0:23–0:35Act on each circle · 12 min
- 0:35–0:45Agree action items · 10 min
- 0:45–0:50Close · 5 min
Payments team Sprint 14 retro: Circles and Soup
Length: 50 min
Sort problems into what the team controls, what it can influence, and the soup it has to live with. A team that keeps complaining about things outside its control. It moves energy to what can change.
Agenda
| Time | Step | Min |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:05 | Check in | 5 |
| 0:05–0:13 | List the problems | 8 |
| 0:13–0:23 | Sort into circles | 10 |
| 0:23–0:35 | Act on each circle | 12 |
| 0:35–0:45 | Agree action items | 10 |
| 0:45–0:50 | Close | 5 |
How to run each step
- Check in (5 min). Say why you're here and that the retro is about the system, not people. Go through last retro's action items: done, in progress, or dropped on purpose.
- List the problems (8 min). Everyone writes what got in the way this sprint.
- Sort into circles (10 min). Place each note: team controls, team can influence, or soup.
- Act on each circle (12 min). Control: change it. Influence: who do we talk to? Soup: how do we respond better?
- Agree action items (10 min). Pick one to three actions from the top topics. Each gets one owner and a due date, and goes into the next sprint's backlog, not only the retro notes.
- Close (5 min). Read the actions and owners back. Ask everyone to rate the retro 1 to 5 (return on time invested) and change one thing next time if the scores are low.
Board
- We control
- We influence
- The soup
Prompts
- What got in the way?
- Is this ours to fix?
- Who could we influence, and how?
- If we can't change it, how do we work around it?
Last retro's action items
| Action | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|
Action items
| Action | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|
Copy pastes as formatted text into Google Docs, Notion or Confluence. Markdown is for GitHub, Jira or Slack.
Try next, when this one gets stale.
- 04
Sailboat
- 45–60 min
- 2 to 20
- Great remote
- 07
Lean Coffee
- 30–55 min
- 2 to 10
- Great remote
- 10
Speedboat
- 30–50 min
- 2 to 20
- Great remote
Book the retro on a day the whole team is in.
A retro with two people out hears half the sprint, and its actions have no owners. Forgot shows sprints, holidays and time off on one board, so you can see who's out on retro day before you send the invite.
Circles and Soup retrospective questions
What is a Circles and Soup retrospective?
Sort problems into what the team controls, what it can influence, and the soup it has to live with. A team that keeps complaining about things outside its control. It moves energy to what can change.
How long does a Circles and Soup retro take?
45 minutes at the shortest, and about 50 minutes as written here. The agenda builder on this page stretches or squeezes each step to fit your slot.
Can you run Circles and Soup remotely?
Yes, with some prep. Draw the board on a shared whiteboard before the call, and give people a few extra minutes for each step, since it needs more back-and-forth than a column retro.
What goes on a Circles and Soup board?
3 areas: We control, We influence, The soup. For example, from a software team: We control: “Our review turnaround”; We influence: “The platform team's release schedule”; The soup: “The company-wide code freeze”.
What team size is Circles and Soup for?
2 to 20 people. With more people, split into groups for the writing and discussion, then bring the top topics back together.
What can I run instead of Circles and Soup?
Sailboat, Lean Coffee, Speedboat. They suit similar sprints from a different angle. Rotate formats every two to four sprints so the retro doesn't go stale.