What is the Chinese New Year Retrospective?
The Chinese New Year Retrospective uses traditional themes of renewal, gratitude, and aspiration to guide teams through a comprehensive review of their work and relationships. By incorporating elements of this ancient tradition, teams explore their achievements and challenges through a fresh cultural lens. The format encourages participants to honor past accomplishments, learn from setbacks, and set intentional goals for the future - mirroring the spirit of new beginnings that Chinese New Year represents. This retrospective is particularly powerful for fostering cultural awareness while maintaining focus on continuous improvement. It helps teams break free from conventional retrospective patterns by introducing rich metaphors and traditions that spark new insights and perspectives.
Chinese New Year Retrospective Format
Year of Achievement
What accomplishments made you proud this past cycle?
This topic celebrates successes and achievements, similar to how Chinese New Year honors accomplishments. Encourage participants to share both big wins and small victories that contributed to team success.
Fortune and Wisdom
What valuable lessons did we learn?
Like the wisdom shared during Chinese New Year gatherings, this section focuses on learning and growth. Guide the team to reflect on insights gained from both successes and challenges.
Spring Cleaning
What should we leave behind as we move forward?
Similar to the Chinese New Year tradition of cleaning before the new year, this topic helps teams identify practices, habits, or approaches that no longer serve them well.
New Year Wishes
What positive changes should we implement?
Like making wishes for the New Year, this topic focuses on actionable improvements and positive changes the team wants to implement. Encourage specific, achievable goals.
When to use this retrospective
- When you want to bring a fresh cultural perspective to your team's reflection process
- During the actual Chinese New Year period to align with cultural celebrations
- When teams need to make a clear break between past practices and future improvements
Suggested icebreaker questions
- If you were a Chinese zodiac animal, which would you be and why?
- What's your favorite way to celebrate new beginnings?
Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting
- Share some basic information about Chinese New Year traditions before starting to provide context
- Use Chinese zodiac animals as metaphors for different types of challenges or successes
- Encourage participants to think in cycles, like the Chinese calendar, rather than linear time
- Consider using Chinese proverbs or wisdom as discussion prompts
- Keep the atmosphere celebratory while maintaining focus on improvement
New to retrospectives? Read our guide on how to run a retrospective →
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