The Hopes and Fears retrospective is a powerful team alignment exercise that creates psychological safety by encouraging participants to openly share their aspirations and concerns about upcoming changes, projects, or initiatives.
By structuring discussion around positive expectations (hopes) and potential challenges (fears), teams can proactively address concerns while building on shared optimism. This format helps surface unspoken worries that might otherwise hinder progress, while also highlighting opportunities that energize the team.
This retrospective is particularly valuable during times of change or at the start of new initiatives, as it allows teams to build trust through vulnerability and create action plans that address both opportunities and risks.
What is The Hopes & Fears Retrospective
Hopes
What do we want to happen?
Encourage participants to think optimistically about potential positive outcomes. Guide the team to be specific about their aspirations rather than using general statements. Look for common themes in hopes that can be used to build team motivation and shared goals.
Fears
What don't we want to happen?
Create a safe space for sharing concerns by acknowledging that fears are natural and valuable to discuss. Focus on converting fears into actionable items that can be addressed proactively. Watch for common themes that might indicate systemic issues requiring attention.
Suggested Icebreaker Questions
- What was your biggest fear that turned out to be not so scary after all?
- What's one hope you had that came true in your career?
Ideas and Tips for Your Retrospective Meeting
- Start with hopes to set a positive tone, then move to fears to ensure balanced discussion
- Group similar items together to identify patterns and prioritize actions
- Create specific action items to address fears and support hopes
- Follow up on previous hopes and fears in future retrospectives to show progress
- Encourage participation from quieter team members by using round-robin sharing
- Keep the focus on constructive discussion rather than dwelling on negative aspects
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