Weekly Retrospective Questions and a Worked Example

A weekly retrospective uses your task records to answer three questions: what happened, what still needs attention, and what you want to change next week. Start with completed and unfinished work, then choose one action you can review later.

You need a record of the week’s tasks and any notes that explain delays or changes. A list or board is enough. In toodoori, Past Work and Archive explains where to find completed tasks and their records.

Five weekly retrospective questions

Use these questions once a week or at the end of a short project:

1. What did I finish, and what result can I check? Look at the completed work rather than relying only on memory.
2. What remains unfinished, and what is its next action? Separate work you can continue from work you have decided to defer.
3. What was waiting, and what was it waiting for? Use notes or dates to name the missing reply, material, or decision.
4. When did I start more work than I intended? Compare the active cards with any work in progress (WIP) limit you chose.
5. What one change will I try next week? Choose an action with a time or trigger so you can tell whether you tried it.

A task record may show when a card moved, but it does not establish why you moved it. If you did not record the reason and cannot recall it, mark the reason as unknown. You do not need to turn an incomplete record into an explanation of your habits or character.

Worked example: a project landing page

The following records are fictional. At the end of Friday, your board shows:

Your notes also say you started adjusting the page colors on Thursday while the layout and link checks remained unfinished. You had intended to keep no more than two tasks active.

Answers based on these records

What finished? The introduction and screenshot are ready. I can open both files and use them in the draft page.

What remains? I need to check the draft at phone and desktop widths and test the contact link. The newsletter is still outside this version, so it does not need to move into active work.

What was waiting? I had no external dependency recorded this week. The remaining checks were available to do. I cannot explain other delays from these records alone.

When did I add more active work? I started the color adjustment while two cards were already in progress. I did not finish or defer either card first.

What will I try? On Monday, before opening the color settings, I will test the contact link and record the result on its task.

This last answer is the one next-week action. It names the task, the trigger, and the evidence you will leave. It does not require redesigning your whole workflow.

Copy a short retrospective template

Weekly retrospective: [date range]

- Finished, with a result I can check:
- Unfinished, with the next action:
- Waiting, with the dependency or an unknown reason:
- A moment when I changed what I was working on:
- One action to try next week, with a time or trigger:
- Where I will record whether I tried it:

Keep facts and explanations distinct. “The card stayed in progress for four days” is a record. “I was waiting for a reply” needs a note or your own recollection to support it.

Check the action at the next review

At the next retrospective, check whether you tried the action and what happened. In the example, you would look for the contact-link test result. If you did not do it, choose whether to reschedule it, change it, or remove it from the plan.

If the board is out of date, first move cards to match the current work. There is no need to reconstruct every missing day before making your next choice.

For the rule behind the example, read WIP Limits: Choosing What to Start and What to Defer. For product controls for dates that have passed, see Attuned Response.

To plan the coming week, see Weekly Work Plan Template: Choose What Fits This Week.

To keep daily records for your weekly review, see Daily Work Log Template: Record What Changed Today.