Retro format 24 of 27
Sprint Oscars retrospective
Nominate stories, PRs and moments for awards like best fix, best supporting role and most dramatic plot twist.
- 30–40 min
- 2 to 20 people
- Great remote
Good for
The end of a big release or the last retro of the year. Fun, and it shows what the team values.
Also called: Retro awards
Facilitator tip
Keep awards about work and help, never jokes at someone's expense. Then ask what made the winners possible.
The Sprint Oscars board, drawn out.
5 areas: Best fix, Best supporting role, Most dramatic plot twist, Best special effects, Lifetime achievement. Draw the columns on your whiteboard before the retro. Here's what a software team might put in each.
1Best fix
The one-line fix for the memory leak
2Best supporting role
Priya, for unblocking three PRs
3Most dramatic plot twist
The CEO demo moved up a week
4Best special effects
The new onboarding animation
5Lifetime achievement
Sam's deploy script, still running since 2021
How to run a Sprint Oscars retrospective.
About 40 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
Nominate
7 min
Everyone nominates stories, PRs, incidents or people for each category.
- 3
Vote and announce
8 min
Vote on each category and announce winners with a short speech.
- 4
What should we repeat?
10 min
What made the winners possible, and how do we get more of it?
- 5
Agree action items
5 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.
- Which fix saved the sprint?
- Who helped others most?
- What was the biggest surprise?
- Which feature looked the best?
Your Sprint Oscars 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
- 0:05–0:12Nominate · 7 min
- 0:12–0:20Vote and announce · 8 min
- 0:20–0:30What should we repeat? · 10 min
- 0:30–0:35Agree action items · 5 min
- 0:35–0:40Close · 5 min
Payments team Sprint 14 retro: Sprint Oscars
Length: 40 min
Nominate stories, PRs and moments for awards like best fix, best supporting role and most dramatic plot twist. The end of a big release or the last retro of the year. Fun, and it shows what the team values.
Agenda
| Time | Step | Min |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:05 | Check in | 5 |
| 0:05–0:12 | Nominate | 7 |
| 0:12–0:20 | Vote and announce | 8 |
| 0:20–0:30 | What should we repeat? | 10 |
| 0:30–0:35 | Agree action items | 5 |
| 0:35–0:40 | 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.
- Nominate (7 min). Everyone nominates stories, PRs, incidents or people for each category.
- Vote and announce (8 min). Vote on each category and announce winners with a short speech.
- What should we repeat? (10 min). What made the winners possible, and how do we get more of it?
- Agree action items (5 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
- Best fix
- Best supporting role
- Most dramatic plot twist
- Best special effects
- Lifetime achievement
Prompts
- Which fix saved the sprint?
- Who helped others most?
- What was the biggest surprise?
- Which feature looked the best?
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.
- 09
Hot Air Balloon
- 45–57 min
- 2 to 20
- Great remote
- 17
Appreciation
- 15–25 min
- 2 to 10
- Great remote
- 02
Mad Sad Glad
- 30–60 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.
Sprint Oscars retrospective questions
What is a Sprint Oscars retrospective?
Nominate stories, PRs and moments for awards like best fix, best supporting role and most dramatic plot twist. The end of a big release or the last retro of the year. Fun, and it shows what the team values.
How long does a Sprint Oscars retro take?
30 minutes at the shortest, and about 40 minutes as written here. The agenda builder on this page stretches or squeezes each step to fit your slot.
Can you run Sprint Oscars remotely?
Yes, it works well on a video call. Set up the board on a shared whiteboard before the call, give everyone silent writing time with cameras optional, and use anonymous dot-voting.
What goes on a Sprint Oscars board?
5 areas: Best fix, Best supporting role, Most dramatic plot twist, Best special effects, Lifetime achievement. For example, from a software team: Best fix: “The one-line fix for the memory leak”; Best supporting role: “Priya, for unblocking three PRs”; Most dramatic plot twist: “The CEO demo moved up a week”; Best special effects: “The new onboarding animation”; Lifetime achievement: “Sam's deploy script, still running since 2021”.
What team size is Sprint Oscars 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 Sprint Oscars?
Hot Air Balloon, Appreciation, Mad Sad Glad. They suit similar sprints from a different angle. Rotate formats every two to four sprints so the retro doesn't go stale.