What is the News Magazine Retrospective?
The News Magazine retrospective asks your team to cover the last sprint the way journalists would. People write headlines, report on current issues and pick the quotes that sum up how the sprint felt. Writing a headline makes you decide what the story actually was, which is half the work of a good retrospective. The board has five sections. Headlines captures what the team wants everyone to know. Current Issues covers the topics that are pressing right now. Fake News is for assumptions that turned out to be false, Quotes for the lines that capture the sprint and Next Issue for the ideas you want to try in the coming sprint. Patterns are easier to spot when the same problem keeps making the news, and the format gives people a creative way to say things they might hold back in a plain list. It works well for teams with retrospective fatigue, or for anyone who wants a less formal way to talk about both the achievements and the areas that need work.
News Magazine retrospective format
Headlines
What do we want to tell everyone?
Ask people to think like journalists and write headlines that capture the sprint's biggest achievements or events. Keep them short and attention-grabbing, and focus on what was most newsworthy about the team's work.
Current Issues
What topics are important and relevant?
Help the team identify and discuss the matters that need attention now. Like a magazine's current affairs section, focus on immediate challenges and ongoing concerns that affect the team's work and collaboration.
Fake News
What assumptions turned out to be false?
Help the team find the misconceptions and wrong assumptions that affected its work. This section lets you learn from misunderstandings and change how you check things next time.
Quotes
What would be a quote for the last sprint?
Ask team members to share quotes that capture how the sprint felt. They can be real things people said or made-up lines that sum up a feeling or observation.
Next Issue
What ideas do we have for the next sprint?
Help the team find opportunities and improvements for the sprint ahead. Like planning the next issue of a magazine, focus on the stories the team wants to create next.
When to use this retrospective
- When your team has retrospective fatigue and needs a more creative format
- After a significant milestone or project phase, when there's a lot to review
- When some team members hold back in traditional formats and a creative prompt might draw them out
- For teams that want to practice describing and documenting their work in new ways
Suggested icebreaker questions
- If your last sprint was a newspaper headline, what would it be?
- What's the most surprising 'breaking news' you encountered during this sprint?
Want a warm-up your team plays, not just answers out loud? Browse free icebreakers →
Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting
- Encourage creative headlines. A memorable headline usually leads to a better discussion
- Give people time to 'research' their stories by reviewing sprint metrics and feedback before the session
- Rotate the role of editor-in-chief so each issue gets a different perspective
- Use the journalist's five W's (who, what, when, where, why) to structure the discussion
- Keep an archive of past issues to track patterns and progress over time
- Try making a simple magazine cover, physical or digital, to show off the team's biggest achievements
Frequently asked questions
What is a News Magazine retrospective?
How do you run a News Magazine retrospective?
What goes in the Fake News column?
When should you run a News Magazine retrospective?
How long does a News Magazine retrospective take?
Related templates
Tag-team your sprint review with a wrestling theme.
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.