Code Review Retrospective

Make your team's code reviews faster and more useful

Try this retrospective live

What is going well?

What's working well in our code reviews?

The code review checklist helped me focus on important areas.
I appreciated the detailed feedback, it really improved my understanding.
Reviewing code from different team members exposed me to new techniques.
What isn't going well?

What challenges or pain points did we face during code reviews?

Reviews often get delayed due to shifting priorities and deadlines.
Comments sometimes lack context, making them hard to understand.
Overly critical feedback can demotivate team members.
What can we improve?

How can we improve our code review process and practices?

Implement a lightweight tool for better code review workflow.
Establish guidelines for review scope and acceptable change size.
Provide training on effective code review techniques and best practices.
What questions have surfaced?

What new questions or areas for further exploration emerged?

How can we make better use of code analysis tools in our reviews?
What are industry best practices for reviewing legacy codebases?
How do we balance code quality with delivery timelines more effectively?

What is a Code Review Retrospective?

A code review retrospective is a meeting where your team looks at how it reviews code, not at the code itself. Pull requests that sit for days, comments without context, reviews that only check style: these problems rarely come up in a regular sprint retro, because they're spread across everyone's week instead of tied to one event. The board has four columns. "What is going well?" collects the review habits worth keeping, like a useful checklist or a respectful tone. "What isn't going well?" covers the pain points, from oversized pull requests to inconsistent standards. "What can we improve?" turns those into specific changes, such as a limit on change size or an agreed turnaround time. "What questions have surfaced?" parks the open questions the team needs to research before it can decide. Run it after a major release, when review delays start slowing delivery, or when new people join and the team's unwritten review standards need writing down. Keep it blameless: the subject is the process, not anyone's comments on a particular pull request.

Code Review Retrospective Format

What is going well?

What's working well in our code reviews?

Start with what's working. Ask for specific review practices that helped, and recognize people whose reviews made a difference.

What isn't going well?

What challenges or pain points did we face during code reviews?

Make it safe to raise problems without blaming anyone. Ask for specific examples, such as a review that took days or a comment that was hard to act on.

What can we improve?

How can we improve our code review process and practices?

Ask for specific, actionable suggestions. "Better reviews" isn't an action; "split pull requests that touch more than one feature" is.

What questions have surfaced?

What new questions or areas for further exploration emerged?

Write down the questions the team can't answer today, and agree who will look into each one before the next retro.

When to use this retrospective

  • When reviews are slowing delivery or causing friction and you want to find out why.
  • When you want developers to share the review practices that work for them.
  • After major releases or projects, to look at how reviews held up under pressure.
  • When new people join and the team's review standards, expectations and turnaround times need agreeing.

Suggested icebreaker questions

  • What's the most interesting code you've reviewed recently?
  • If you could add one feature to your code editor, what would it be?

Want a warm-up your team plays, not just answers out loud? Browse free icebreakers →

Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting

  • Keep the discussion blame-free so people give honest feedback about reviews they found hard.
  • Recognize good reviewing, such as clear comments or a fast turnaround, as well as the problems.
  • Involve everyone who writes or reviews code, including testers.
  • Agree on one or two concrete changes instead of a long list of good intentions.
  • Follow up on action items and track progress in your next retrospectives.
  • Rotate the facilitator so different perspectives lead the discussion.

Frequently asked questions

What is a code review retrospective?
It's a meeting where your team reflects on how it reviews code: what's going well, what isn't, what to improve and which questions are still open. The aim is reviews that are quicker and more useful to the person receiving them.
When should you run a code review retrospective?
Run it after a major release or project, when review delays start slowing delivery, or periodically to agree on review standards before habits set in.
What questions should you ask in a code review retrospective?
Start with the four on the board: what's going well, what isn't, what can we improve, and what questions have surfaced. Useful follow-ups include how long pull requests wait for a first review and whether comments explain why a change is needed.
How long does a code review retrospective take?
Plan for 45–60 minutes. If the team has a lot of review pain to work through, focus on the two or three issues with the most votes.
How is it different from a sprint retrospective?
A sprint retrospective covers everything that happened in the sprint. A code review retrospective looks at one practice in depth, so problems that seem small in any single sprint, like slow reviews, get enough attention to fix.

Related templates

Product Development Process

Step back from sprints and review how you build products.

DevOps Retrospective

Review deployments, incidents and handoffs between dev and ops.

Technical Debt Retrospective

Find, rank and plan the paydown of your tech debt

Bug Fixing Retrospective

Find out why bugs happen and stop them recurring

Ready to run this retrospective?Try this retrospective live