Meetings
Mad, sad, glad retro template
A retrospective sorted by feeling, good for teams after a hard stretch.
What it is
Mad, sad, glad is a retrospective that sorts notes by how people felt instead of by topic. Mad holds what frustrated people, sad holds the letdowns and glad holds what went well. A fourth frame collects the actions. Starting from feelings makes it easier to talk about a hard stretch honestly.
When to use it
- After a launch, a crunch or a rough sprint
- When the usual retro keeps staying on the surface
- For a new team that needs a low-pressure way to raise problems
How to run it
- 01
Explain the columns
Say what each column is for and that nobody has to defend a feeling. Ask people to describe what happened and leave names out.
- 02
Write in silence
Give everyone eight minutes to add notes, one event per note.
- 03
Finish on Glad
Read Mad and Sad first and look for the same event showing up twice. End with Glad so the meeting closes on what worked.
- 04
Turn feelings into actions
For each big cluster, ask what would have prevented it. Write the answers in Actions with an owner.
Opens a new board from this prompt:
"Mad, sad, glad retro for a marketing team after a product launch that slipped by two weeks"
Related templates
All templatesMeetings
Sprint retrospective
Four columns for what went well, what to change, new ideas and owned action items.
Meetings
Start, stop, continue retro
A three-column retrospective for deciding which habits to add, drop and keep.
- Try the AI whiteboard
Or describe your own board
Type one sentence and the AI drafts frames and notes for any format.