A free writing template
Retrospective actions
Connect a lesson from completed work to one observable improvement.
Use it when a team has finished a piece of work and wants its learning to affect what happens next.
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Make the structure useful
Current facts.
A clear next step.
Replace the prompts with your own context. Keep an unanswered question visible when the facts are missing. Agree the people and decisions rather than copying them from the example.
The blank and filled versions are portable Markdown. They do not install native Tellenze templates or create workspace work.
Learn from the work- 01
Choose the work or period you are reviewing. Bring examples rather than general impressions alone.
- 02
Describe what happened, its effect and what is still uncertain. Avoid treating one observation as a proven cause.
- 03
Choose a small change the team can try, with an agreed owner and a way to observe its effect.
- 04
Track the action as work and revisit it. Keep, adjust or stop the change using what you learn.
01 / Your starting point
Begin with the real work.
Copy or download this version. Replace the placeholders, then review the definition with the people who will use it.
Portable Markdown
Blank template
Use the preview below, then copy the text or download a .md file.
Retrospective action plan
Work reviewed
- Work or period: [what this retrospective covers]
- Intended outcome: [what we expected]
- Actual result and evidence: [what happened, with access-checked links]
- Participants: [whose perspectives were included]
Observation
- What happened: [a concrete event or pattern]
- Effect: [how it affected the work or people]
- Possible explanation: [a hypothesis, with uncertainty visible]
- What to preserve: [a practice that helped]
One improvement to try
- Change: [one small action within our control]
- Why this action: [how it addresses the observation]
- Agreed owner: [confirm who will coordinate it]
- Work link: [where the action is tracked]
- Success signal: [what we will observe; avoid unsupported targets]
- Review point: [when or after which event we will inspect the effect]
Follow-up
- What we tried: [complete after the action]
- What changed: [evidence and limits]
- Decision: [keep, adjust or stop]
- Next action: [link any genuinely separate follow-up work]
View blank template Markdown source
02 / A fictional example
See how the sections connect.
The Northstar customer portal is fictional. Its receipt-download scenario shows a writing approach, with assumptions, unfinished checks and required decisions kept visible.
Use the structure with your own facts. Example text is not evidence of a shipped feature or approval for an action.
Portable Markdown
Filled example
Use the preview below, then copy the text or download a .md file.
Retrospective action: confirm receipt fields early
Fictional example: Northstar customer portal. The observations and follow-up below are illustrative.
Work reviewed
- Work or period: the first receipt-download change.
- Intended outcome: customers can retrieve a correct receipt for their own completed order.
- Actual result and evidence: the example team reviewed the PDF and access/failure checks. In real work, link the code and saved verification results.
- Participants: the contributor, reviewer, product owner and Support representative.
Observation
- What happened: the payment-date timezone needed clarification after implementation had started.
- Effect: the contributor paused the PDF work while the product owner and reviewer agreed the field meaning.
- Possible explanation: a missing field decision may have caused the pause. One example does not prove every delay has this cause.
- What to preserve: the reviewer checked the actual PDF against the agreed fields.
One improvement to try
- Change: add a short field-and-format review to the next document-download brief before implementation.
- Why this action: it gives the contributor a chance to resolve ambiguous output fields before building.
- Agreed owner: the product owner coordinates the review with the contributor and reviewer.
- Work link: create or reuse an action item and link the next brief.
- Success signal: note whether output-field questions remain after work starts, and whether the early review was useful. No numeric improvement is claimed.
- Review point: inspect the next relevant download change after its review.
Follow-up
- What we tried: not yet observed in this fictional example.
- What changed: record the actual evidence after trying the review.
- Decision: pending that evidence.
- Next action: adjust the practice only after the team checks its effect.
View filled example Markdown source
Check before you share
A useful file.
A result you can trust.
- Replace placeholders and fictional facts.
- Check that readers can open every source.
- State what is verified and what remains unfinished.
- Agree the next action and any required approval.
Another useful starting point
Keep the next conversation clear.
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