WRAP Retrospective

A structured approach to reflect on wishes, risks, appreciations, and puzzles within your team.

Use this template in TeamRetro

Wishes

Wishes for a perfect world going forward.

I wish we could have more regular knowledge sharing sessions
It would be great if we could automate our deployment process
I'd love to have more cross-team collaboration opportunities
Risks

Things that could bring chaos.

We might miss deadlines if we don't improve our estimation process
Technical debt could slow down future development
Team burnout is possible with our current workload
Appreciations

People, teams or things you want to recognize.

Thank you Sarah for helping me debug that tricky issue
I really appreciate how the team supported each other during the release
The new documentation system has made onboarding so much easier
Puzzles

Questions that remain unanswered.

How can we better balance feature development with technical debt?
What's the best way to handle competing priorities?
Why do our estimations often miss the mark?

What is the WRAP Retrospective?

The WRAP retrospective is a versatile reflection framework that helps teams explore four key dimensions of their work experience: Wishes, Risks, Appreciations, and Puzzles. This balanced approach combines forward-thinking aspirations with practical risk assessment, while fostering team recognition and addressing uncertainties. By examining wishes, teams can articulate their aspirations and improvements. The risks component helps identify potential obstacles and challenges. Appreciations create a positive atmosphere by acknowledging contributions, while puzzles surface areas that need clarification or resolution. This easy retrospective idea is based on a concept by Nick Oostvogel and aims to explore different aspects of a sprint or event.

WRAP Retrospective Format

Wishes

Wishes for a perfect world going forward.

Guide the team to think aspirationally about improvements without immediate constraints. Encourage both small practical wishes and ambitious long-term desires. Help participants frame wishes constructively rather than as complaints.

Risks

Things that could bring chaos.

Help the team identify potential threats to their success while maintaining a solution-oriented mindset. Focus on risks that can be mitigated through team actions, and encourage practical suggestions for risk management.

Appreciations

People, teams or things you want to recognize.

Create a safe space for genuine appreciation. Encourage specific examples rather than general praise, and ensure everyone has a chance to both give and receive recognition.

Puzzles

Questions that remain unanswered.

Encourage the team to surface uncertainties and open questions. Focus on identifying puzzles that affect team performance or project success, and work together to find ways to get clarity.

When to use this retrospective

  • When you want to balance positive recognition with practical problem-solving
  • After completing a significant project milestone or release
  • When the team needs to address both opportunities and challenges
  • When you want to encourage both forward-thinking and risk awareness

Suggested icebreaker questions

  • If you could have one wish granted for the team right now, what would it be?
  • What's something you've been puzzled about lately that turned out to have a simple solution?

Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting

  • Start with Appreciations to create a positive atmosphere before diving into more challenging topics
  • Keep a parking lot for items that need further discussion or don't fit neatly into any category
  • Use dot voting to prioritize which items to discuss in detail if time is limited
  • Encourage everyone to contribute to each category to ensure diverse perspectives
  • Consider breaking larger teams into smaller groups for initial brainstorming
  • End by creating specific action items for addressing key risks and puzzles

New to retrospectives? Read our guide on how to run a retrospective →

Related templates

Four Ls Retrospective

A structured reflection using Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed for categories to analyze sprint performance

What? So What? Now What? Retrospective

A structured reflection framework for systematic problem analysis and action planning

Agile Retrospective

A structured way to reflect on the past sprint and identify improvements.

Start Stop Retrospective

Retrospective Idea - A focused retrospective for clear, actionable team improvements