The 4Ls Retrospective retrospective template

When to use The 4Ls Retrospective

Learning-heavy sprints, onboarding periods, experiments, or delivery with new technology.

When not to use it

The immediate need is incident reconstruction, conflict mediation, or a five-minute pulse check.

Suggested timing

35–50 minutes. Reduce the number of themes before shortening private writing or action design.

Preparation

• Create Like, Learn, Lack, and Long For categories.
• Explain the difference between Lack and Long For.
• Gather any experiment goals or hypotheses reviewed during the sprint.

Exact prompts

• What did you like and want to repeat?
• What did you learn that changes how we work?
• What capability or information did you lack?
• What do you long for in the next sprint?

Step-by-step facilitation

1. Frame the learning — 4 min. Restate what the team was trying to learn or deliver during the period.
2. Write across the 4Ls — 9 min. Let participants choose the categories that matter rather than requiring four entries each.
3. Reveal and clarify — 10 min. Group themes while preserving meaningful differences between a missing need and a future aspiration.
4. Prioritise insight — 6 min. Vote on the learning or gap that should change the next sprint plan.
5. Design the next test — 10 min. Choose an action that applies the learning and define the result you expect to observe.

Example answers

• Liked: early design reviews removed ambiguity.
• Learned: the cache fails differently under bulk imports.
• Lacked: realistic test accounts.
• Longed for: one uninterrupted pairing block each week.

Remote and hybrid adaptations

• Publish category definitions in the invitation.
• Use private writing and simultaneous voting.
• Read every Learn item aloud before prioritising.

Common mistakes

• Treating Long For as an unlimited wish list.
• Ignoring positive Like items.
• Recording a learning without changing any future behaviour.

Turn the discussion into action

Make the action demonstrate that the learning was applied. Link it to an owner and a visible result the team can review at the next retrospective.

Review the action at the start of the next retrospective. Mark it complete, partially complete, or blocked, then use the evidence to decide whether to keep, change, or stop the experiment.

Explore related resources

Compare every retrospective template, browse questions by team situation, or learn how to run the complete meeting.