Mad, sad, glad retrospective meeting agenda

What is a mad, sad, glad retrospective meeting?

Projects can be a roller coaster of emotions, right? From an exciting start to a stressful push at the end, to a whole range of emotions felt throughout. The mad, sad, glad retrospective meeting gives your team a dedicated space to explore these emotions. It serves as an easy-to-follow, yet powerful, feedback mechanism that fosters better teamwork and project outcomes. By categorizing experiences into three emotional buckets: mad (frustrating), sad (disappointing), and glad (satisfying), teams get a nuanced view of their emotional landscape.

What are the benefits of a mad, sad, glad retrospective?

The mad, sad, glad format gives your retrospective meeting a fresh and creative touch. It offers a space to reflect emotionally on a recent project or sprint. This helps in:

Fostering open communication: by setting the stage for open dialogues about frustrations, disappointments, and wins, no sentiment goes unaddressed.

Boosting team morale: when the team can freely express themselves and feel heard, morale inevitably improves.

Identifying issues early: the sooner you catch the 'mads' and 'sads,' the quicker you can flip them to 'glads.'

Strategizing for improvement: the meeting ends with concrete action plans to keep the ‘glads’ coming and minimize the 'mads' and 'sads.'

Key components of this template

Customizable sections: Customize this template to meet your team's specific needs.

• Creating a safe space / warm-up activities: Initiate the meeting on a light and engaging note — encouraging open communication. This section contains ideas for warm-up activities to help you set the right tone.
• Norms and expectations: Establishes the main rules and expectations for a respectful and constructive retrospective.
• Mad, sad, glad retrospective: The core of the meeting, where team members express their emotions and thoughts related to various aspects of the project.
• Prioritizing issues: Categorize and prioritize the issues that need urgent attention and discussion.
• Discussion: An interactive session aimed at diving deep into the prioritized issues and finding feasible solutions or improvements.
• Action items: Concluding the meeting by setting clear, actionable tasks.- Mad, sad, glad retrospective: The core of the meeting, where team members express their emotions and thoughts related to various aspects of the project.

Time to get started!

There's nothing like a well-executed mad, sad, glad retrospective to boost your team’s communication, morale, and performance. Our agenda template makes it easier than ever. Take the first step towards developing a more aware and proactive team.

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