Word
Intermediate
Post-Mortem / Retrospective Template
Blameless retrospective structure for projects, incidents, or quarters — facts first, lessons second, action third.
When to use this
Use after any meaningful event — a launch, an incident, a quarter. Keep it blameless: the unit of analysis is the system, not the person.
The template
# Retrospective — [Subject] — [Date] **Facilitator:** [Name] **Attendees:** [Names] **Scribe:** [Name] ## Ground rule We're looking at what happened and how the system could be different next time. Names are facts (Sam paged at 2am), not blame. ## 1. Timeline (15 min) Read the timeline aloud. Add missing facts. | Time | What happened | Detected by | Action taken | |------|---------------|-------------|--------------| | | | | | ## 2. What went well (10 min) - [Thing] - [Thing] ## 3. What didn't go well (15 min) - [Thing] — why - [Thing] — why ## 4. What we'd change in the system (15 min) - [Change] - [Change] ## 5. Actions — owner + due date (5 min) | # | Action | Owner | Due | How we'll know it's done | |---|--------|-------|-----|---------------------------| | | | | | | ## Write-up Published within 5 working days. Distributed to: [list].