Mad / Sad / Glad

Mad / Sad / Glad is an agile retrospective that allows team members to express their emotions regarding the past sprint. By identifying what made them angry, sad, or glad, the team can create a space for psychological safety and improve its dynamics.

Walkthrough

1. 1

   Introduction

   10 min

   The facilitator welcomes the participants and reminds them of the importance of the retrospective for continuous improvement. They explain the rules of the session, including the presumption of goodwill, speaking for oneself, and active listening. The facilitator emphasises that the goal is to freely express feelings to identify areas for improvement.

   Tip — Use a warm and encouraging tone to put participants at ease from the start.

2. 2

   Confidence Vote

   5 min

   The facilitator asks participants to anonymously assess their comfort level in expressing themselves, rating from 1 to 5 on post-its. The results are collected and analysed to ensure that everyone feels safe to share their thoughts. If scores are low, adjustments may be necessary.

   Tip — Prepare concrete examples to help participants position themselves on the comfort scale.

3. 3

   Emotion Collection

   20 min

   Participants individually write on post-its what made them angry (Mad), sad (Sad), or glad (Glad) during the sprint. Each participant then shares their post-its with the group, sticking them on a board divided into three columns. The facilitator ensures that everyone has the opportunity to express themselves.

   Tip — Encourage participants to be specific in their examples to facilitate discussion.

4. 4

   Discussion and Analysis

   20 min

   The facilitator invites the group to examine the post-its and discuss recurring themes or highlights. Together, the team explores the root causes of the expressed emotions and identifies areas needing particular attention. The facilitator guides the discussion to remain constructive and solution-oriented.

   Tip — Use open-ended questions to stimulate reflection and avoid fruitless debates.

5. 5

   Action Planning

   15 min

   Based on the discussions, the team identifies concrete actions to address the Mad and Sad points, and to reinforce the Glad aspects. Each action is assigned to a responsible person and a deadline is set. The facilitator ensures that the actions are realistic and measurable.

   Tip — Encourage the team to prioritise actions to ensure maximum impact.

6. 6

   Closure

   5 min

   The facilitator thanks the participants for their contributions and summarises the agreed actions. They remind everyone of the importance of these actions for the team's continuous improvement. Quick feedback on the session is gathered to enhance future retrospectives.

   Tip — End on a positive note to encourage future participation.

Variants

• Use emoticons to represent emotions on the post-its.
• Add a 'Surprised' column to capture unexpected events.
• Organise an online retrospective using collaborative tools like Miro or Mural.