🎃👻 Trick-or-Treat Sprint
Gather your candy stash of wins and spooky lessons as we haunt the sprint, sharing treats to keep, tricks to drop, and new spells to cast for future sprints.
Template Columns
🍬 Sweet Starts
Identify fresh ideas and initiatives we want to begin, like adding a new candy‑filled ritual to our workflow.
Base column: Start👻 Spooky Stops
Highlight the tricks and haunting habits that slow us down, so we can banish them.
Base column: Stop🕸️ Treats to Keep
Celebrate the practices that delight the team and keep them rolling into the next sprint.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A fun, Halloween‑themed sprint retrospective that captures wins, blockers, and new ideas using Sweet Starts, Spooky Stops, and Treats to Keep.
When to use this template
Use when you want a light‑hearted, engaging review that still yields actionable insights, especially after a sprint with mixed results.
How to facilitate
Set the mood by sharing the Halloween theme and explaining the three columns Sweet Starts, Spooky Stops, and Treats to Keep
Ask participants to write individual sticky notes for each column: Sweet Starts for new ideas, Spooky Stops for things to stop, Treats to Keep for practices to continue
Collect and group similar notes on the board, encouraging brief discussion for each cluster
Vote on the most important items in each column using dot voting or emoji reactions
Translate the top‑voted items into concrete action items, assign owners, and record them for the next sprint
Pro Tips
Use themed emojis or virtual stickers to keep energy high
Limit each participant to three notes per column to keep focus
Turn the top Spooky Stops into a “banishment” list with clear deadlines
FAQ
What if the team isn’t into Halloween themes?
Treat the theme as optional—keep the column structure but drop the costumes, focusing on the purpose of each column.
How do we handle a large number of items?
Group similar notes quickly, set a timebox for discussion, and use voting to surface the most critical items.
What if some participants dominate the conversation?
Use a round‑robin or timed speaking turns, and rely on the silent voting phase to give everyone equal voice.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective