Halloween Retrospective

Review your sprint with tricks, treats and magic spells

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Sweet Treats

What successes or positive moments should we celebrate?

The new onboarding process worked like a charm.
Our customer satisfaction scores hit an all-time high
The team's communication has improved significantly
Tricky Situations

What challenges or obstacles did we encounter?

The deployment process is still too manual and error-prone
We're struggling with unclear requirements from stakeholders
Meeting schedules are conflicting too often
Magic Spells

What solutions or improvements could we implement?

Let's automate our deployment pipeline
We could schedule weekly stakeholder alignment meetings
Create a shared team calendar to avoid scheduling conflicts
Costume Party

What new roles or perspectives should we try?

We could rotate the Scrum Master role monthly
Let's try pair programming more often
Each team member could shadow someone in a different role

What is the Halloween Retrospective?

The Halloween Retrospective uses trick-or-treat to review your team's recent work. Treats are the wins and good moments worth celebrating, and tricks are the challenges that caught you out. Two more topics turn the conversation toward what happens next. The board has four topics. Sweet Treats is for successes. Tricky Situations is for obstacles and problems. Magic Spells is where the team brainstorms fixes, and Costume Party asks what new roles or ways of working you could try on, like rotating who leads standup or shadowing a colleague in a different role. The theme takes some of the tension out of difficult conversations, because a "trick" is easier to name than a failure. Run it around Halloween or at an October sprint end, or any time your team could use a lighter retrospective that still finishes with actions.

Halloween retrospective format

Sweet Treats

What successes or positive moments should we celebrate?

Ask the team to share wins and achievements. A treat can be anything from a successful delivery to a helpful moment between colleagues.

Tricky Situations

What challenges or obstacles did we encounter?

Help the team name and discuss the challenges it faced. Treat each trick as something to improve, not a complaint.

Magic Spells

What solutions or improvements could we implement?

Brainstorm fixes for the challenges in Tricky Situations. Welcome unusual ideas, then push for ones the team could actually try next sprint.

Costume Party

What new roles or perspectives should we try?

Ask people to think about different roles or ways of working the team could experiment with, like rotating who runs a meeting or pairing with someone new.

When to use this retrospective

  • Around Halloween, when you want a seasonal change from your usual retrospective
  • When the team needs a less formal way to talk about challenges and improvements
  • When you want more open and honest feedback, and a playful theme might help people speak up
  • When the team is stuck in old habits and you want to try new roles or ways of working

Suggested icebreaker questions

  • What's the scariest bug or technical challenge you've encountered in your career?
  • If you could dress up as any famous tech personality for Halloween, who would it be and why?

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

Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting

  • Invite people to use Halloween metaphors when they share, but don't insist on it
  • Keep the mood light while still dealing with the serious problems
  • Hand out small Halloween-themed recognition for the most useful ideas
  • Timebox each topic to keep the meeting moving
  • Check the actions from your last retrospective before adding new ones

Frequently asked questions

What is a Halloween retrospective?
It's a Halloween-themed retrospective that uses tricks and treats to review a recent sprint or project. Your team looks at wins, challenges, fixes and new ways of working.
What columns are in the Halloween retrospective template?
There are four: Sweet Treats (successes to celebrate), Tricky Situations (challenges and obstacles), Magic Spells (fixes and improvements to try) and Costume Party (new roles or approaches to experiment with).
When should you run a Halloween retrospective?
Run it around Halloween or at an October sprint end. It covers the same ground as a standard retrospective, so you can use it any time the team wants a change of tone.
How do you run a Halloween retrospective?
Give everyone a few minutes to add ideas privately under each topic, then group similar ideas and vote. Spend most of the discussion on Tricky Situations and Magic Spells, and finish by giving each action an owner.
How long does a Halloween retrospective take?
Plan for 45–60 minutes. Timebox each of the four topics so Costume Party doesn't get squeezed at the end.

Related templates

WWE Smackdown Showdown Retrospective

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Working, Not Working Retrospective

Sort what's working from what isn't, then fix it.

Quarterly Retrospective

Step back from the sprints and review the whole quarter.

Baby Steps Retrospective

Pick one small change your team will actually finish.

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