Now, brainstorm as a team on the critical and significant issues that you must focus on developing and mitigating.Most teams now use online tools as they are much accessible and easy to fill in. Either you use online tools or do it manually. This allows the team to identify which negative and positive aspects had significant impacts on the project. Assign one member who can collate and group similar insights.Every member can take five minutes to discuss the insights they listed. Team members can now share their reflections in small groups or pairs.

Since every team member must participate in filling out each section of the template, you can give them about ten minutes to reflect on inputs relevant to every section of the sailboat retrospective.

When you connect the visual metaphors to running your project plans, you provide opportunities for every team member to list down constructive feedback and work for future solutions.

Not everyone on your team typically knows what this template is all about, so it is best to explain to them first how this method works, including the representations.

Here are a few key points to consider in making such a template: There are several ways to format sailboat retrospective templates, and it will depend on the one utilizing the technique. Why is the sailboat retrospective template so effective? They can be helpful factors that your team is already aware of or other encouraging elements that your team can have for your future endeavors. The wind on the sailboat retrospective represents the aspects that can help your team achieve your goals. The strong wind will lead the sailboat to reach its destination faster.

You need to think of the problems within your team that everyone needs to resolve to make the sailing more effective and efficient. If the rocks represent the external risks, the anchor will be the challenges or issues within the organization. Coral reefs, large stones, pirates, and icebergs can also represent the rocks in this category. Elements in this section are potential risks and must be avoided by your team's sailboat. Your team's island does not necessarily have to be a thing it could be a metric you want to achieve, a list of the team's goals, or even a situation you want your organization to be in. This will be the destination or your team's final goal. As a visual tool, it is a fun and interactive exercise to conduct as part of a team meeting to get teammates brainstorming ideas and breaking down what needs to be done in order to achieve their goals successfully.This approach might be new for some, so here are the metaphorical sections of this strategy: The Sailboat Retrospective is a simple way for your team to visualize what you want to achieve and identify factors that are going to either help you get there or become potential roadblocks. Why should you use the Sailboat Retrospective? The wind represents the elements that are going to help your team move closer towards your goal, while the anchor represents any challenges or risks along the way that may hinder your progress. The sailboat represents your team and the island represents your goal.

When using this specific design thinking tool, simply imagine a sailboat travelling towards an island. Typically used by design and development teams when creating products, this technique can help any business to identify their customers’ needs, challenge their assumptions, and devise innovative solutions to their problems. Design thinking is an iterative problem-solving process that utilizes creative thinking to put the customer at the heart of everything a business does. The Sailboat Retrospective is a design thinking tool that helps teams to navigate towards their goals while identifying the strengths and bottlenecks that they may encounter on their journey.

Ready to get started with this template? It’s ready and waiting in Ayoa! Create your account, then simply open the app, select ‘create whiteboard’ from the homepage and choose this template from the library.

Sailboat retrospective