Retrospective survey: 13 questions your team answers before the retro
Thirteen questions each team member answers alone as the sprint ends, so the retro starts from everyone's view.
- 13questions
- About 3 minto answer
- 7 statementsone agree scale
- 1 sprintper response
The 13 agile retrospective questions
A retrospective survey is a short questionnaire each member of an agile team answers alone when a sprint ends, before the retrospective meeting. These thirteen sprint retrospective questions cover the goal, how work moved, the pace and the last retro's action, and you can create your own survey from them in the editor.
This sprint
One tap that names the sprint and shows how much of it each person was in.
- Thinking about the sprint that just ended, how much of it did you spend on the team's sprint work?sorts out people who were away or on support.
Goal and plan
Whether the team knew what it was aiming at, and whether that held.
- The sprint goal was clear to me from the first day.disagreement here usually starts in sprint planning.
- The sprint's scope stayed stable from planning to the last day.
How work moved
Where work stopped: with one person, between people in the team, or at the team's edge.
- Nothing blocked my work for more than a day.
- Finished work did not sit waiting for the next person in the team to pick it up.low scores point at work queuing for review or testing.
- Dependencies on people outside the team did not hold up our work.bring one named dependency into the retro.
Done and pace
Whether the output was real, and whether the effort behind it can be repeated.
- Work we marked as done this sprint was really finished.low scores mean carry-over or rework inside the finished count.
- This sprint's pace is one I could keep up for the next one.
Last retro, and what got in the way
Whether the last retro changed anything, then the ranked list of blockers.
- Was the action agreed at the last retrospective carried out?when "No" leads, agree one action with one owner.
- What got in the way most this sprint?count the ticks; the top two are the retro agenda.
In your words, then the rating
Two optional boxes, then the number you track.
- What should the team keep doing next sprint?your Continue notes.
- What is the one thing you would change for next sprint?your Start and Stop notes, one thing each.
- Overall, how did this sprint go for you?track the share answering well or very well.
How to run the retrospective survey
Send it to the whole Scrum Team, Product Owner and Scrum Master included,[1] on the last afternoon of the sprint, and close it an hour before the retro. A Scrum Team is typically 10 or fewer people,[1] so the survey asks for no name or role.
The retrospective exists to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness,[1] and the answers show where to start. For each statement, count the disagree answers and bring the two with the most to the board. The top ticks on question 10 set the agenda, questions 11 and 12 fill the keep and change columns, and question 13 is the number to track across sprints.
Once a project has closed, send a lessons learned survey instead. To rate the retro as a meeting, use post meeting survey questions.
Retrospective survey FAQ
What are good sprint retrospective questions?
Questions about the sprint that just ended: was the goal clear, did the scope hold, did work keep moving, was done really done, and did the last retro's action happen. Close with what to keep and the one thing to change.
Should a retrospective survey be anonymous?
Yes. Ask for no name, role or seniority, show the ratings as team totals, and have the facilitator read the written answers out in their own words.
Which retro format goes with it: Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls or Sailboat?
Any of them. The two written answers map straight onto Start/Stop/Continue. For 4Ls or Sailboat, sort the same answers into that format's columns before the meeting.
Michael Hodge, survey methodology · Updated 2 October 2026 · How templates are reviewed
Sources (1)
- Schwaber, K. and Sutherland, J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. scrumguides.org
Start your next retro with every voice in
Thirteen questions, about three minutes, no names asked. Set it to close an hour before the meeting.
Use this template