What is a sailboat retrospective?

A sailboat retrospective is a team review that draws the last piece of work as a boat on a voyage. The wind is what pushed the team forward. The anchors are what held it back. The rocks are the risks ahead. The island is the goal. The team writes a card in each of the four columns, groups the cards, votes, and then discusses the ones that won the vote.

What is a sailboat retrospective example?

A card in Wind reads "the preview environment let us review three pull requests a day instead of one". A card in Anchors reads "every release needs a manual database check that costs one engineer 40 minutes". A card in Rocks reads "only one person knows how the billing job works, and she is away in March". A card in Island reads "any engineer can release on their own, on any weekday". Each card names a mechanism, so the team can act on it.

What is the sun in a sailboat retrospective?

The sun is an optional fifth element that some facilitators add for what warms the team: praise, help from outside, or a moment people enjoyed. It sits above the boat and holds appreciation rather than analysis. Looptro ships the sailboat board with four columns, so put a sun card in Wind. Wind already asks what pushed the team forward, and praise for a person is a real answer to that.

Is a sailboat and speedboat retrospective the same?

They are close but not the same. A speedboat retrospective uses one metaphor and asks only what slows the boat, so every card is an obstacle. A sailboat retrospective adds the wind, the rocks, and the island, so the team also names what works, what could go wrong later, and where it is going. Use the speedboat shape when the team agrees the problem is drag. Use the sailboat when you want the whole picture.

What is the sailboat retro format good for?

It suits a team that talks in the same three complaints every two weeks, a team starting a new quarter, and a mixed group where a picture travels better than a list. It suits a routine sprint less well: drawing a boat for a normal two weeks is more ceremony than the sprint needs. Start, Stop, Continue closes that one faster.

Do I need an account to run a sailboat retrospective?

No. Click "Start a retro" on this page, pick Sailboat, type a display name, and share the link. Nobody needs an account, an email address, or a card. Looptro deletes the retro 24 hours after you create it, so run it on the day you need it and copy the summary before the window ends.

The sailboat retrospective

A sailboat retrospective draws the last piece of work as a boat on a voyage. Wind is what pushed the team forward. Anchors are what held it back. Rocks are the risks ahead. The island is the goal. Two of those four columns ask what a normal retro never asks: what could go wrong next, and where are we going.

Start a sailboat retro

See the run-through

No account, no email address, no card. Looptro deletes an anonymous retro 24 hours after you create it.

The four columns

The board opens with Wind, Anchors, Rocks, and Island already in place. Each example is the text of one card: a thing that happened, and the effect it had.

Wind

What pushed us forward? A tool, a decision, a person, or a habit that made the work move faster than it would have.

The preview environment let us review three pull requests a day instead of one.

Why it works: It names the mechanism and the size of the effect, so the team can defend it when the next round of cost cutting arrives.

Anchors

What held us back? Drag that is already happening, not something you fear might happen.

Every release needs a manual database check that costs one engineer 40 minutes.

Why it works: An anchor with a number attached is a candidate for an action item. An anchor that reads 'too much process' is not.

Rocks

What could hit us next? Risk that has not landed yet, which is the question most retro formats never put.

Only one person knows how the billing job works, and she is away in March.

Why it works: It moves a private worry into the open while there is still time to act. This card is why teams pick the sailboat.

Island

Where are we sailing? The state the team wants to reach, described so that you would know when you arrived.

Any engineer can release on their own, on any weekday.

Why it works: It gives the other three columns a direction. An anchor only matters if it sits between the team and the island.

Draw the boat, then stop drawing

The metaphor is a way in, not the exercise. Facilitators lose the first 15 minutes to the picture: someone sketches a hull, someone else asks whether a delayed vendor is an anchor or a rock, and the team debates the drawing instead of the work. Spend 60 seconds on the metaphor and then let the columns do the work. On a Looptro board the columns carry the four names and their colours, so nobody has to draw anything.

How to run a sailboat retrospective

Five steps across the four phases of the board. Budget 60 minutes for a team of 3 to 12 people. A first sailboat retro runs long, because Rocks produces things nobody has said before.

Open the board and share the link. Click "Start a retro", pick Sailboat, and type a display name. Copy the share link and send it to the team. A guest opens the link, types a display name, and joins.
Reflect: fill the four columns. Give the team 8 minutes to write cards in Wind, Anchors, Rocks, and Island. One idea per card. Post bodies stay blurred while people write, so nobody anchors on the first card.
Group: merge the duplicates. Unblur the board and drag cards that say the same thing onto each other. The size of a group is the first signal of what the team cares about.
Vote: pick what to discuss. Open the retro settings, set a limit of 3 votes per person, and let everyone vote at once. The board shows the vote count on a card and never shows who voted.
Discuss: turn the top cards into action items. Take the top three cards in vote order. Agree one action item for each, with an owner and a date, and write it on the board before the team leaves.

The variants you will meet

The Sun, as a fifth element

Some facilitators add a sun above the boat for what warms the team: praise, help from another team, a moment people enjoyed. It holds appreciation rather than analysis. Looptro ships the sailboat board with four columns, and an anonymous retro cannot add a fifth, so put sun cards in Wind. Wind already asks what pushed the team forward, and "Ana rewrote the runbook and it saved us on Thursday" answers that.

The speedboat, which is not the same thing

A speedboat retro keeps one half of the metaphor: the boat and the anchors that slow it. Every card is an obstacle, so the output is a list of things to remove. The sailboat adds wind, rocks, and the island, so the team also names what works, what could go wrong later, and where it is heading. Use the speedboat shape when the team already agrees the problem is drag.

Rocks that are really anchors

The argument every team has. An anchor is slowing you down today, and a rock has not hit you yet. If both are true, write two cards. If the team cannot put a future date on a rock card, it belongs in Anchors, and moving it there usually turns a vague worry into a fixable one.

When to reach for the sailboat

Use it when the team keeps returning the same three complaints and the retro has gone flat, when a quarter or a project is starting and the goal is worth writing down, or when the group is mixed and a picture travels further than a list. Skip it for a routine sprint: drawing a boat for two ordinary weeks is more ceremony than the sprint needs, and the team notices.

The other three formats

Start, Stop, Continue: The fast default. Three columns that already read as decisions, for a routine sprint you want to close in 45 minutes.
Mad, Sad, Glad: Asks how the sprint felt before it asks what to do. Use it after a rough sprint, when the mood is the thing nobody has said out loud.
4Ls (Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for): A slower, four-way look back that keeps what the team learned. Use it at a milestone, a launch, or the end of a project.

All four run with no account. The no-login page states what an anonymous retro gives you and what it costs you.

Questions about the sailboat retrospective

What is a sailboat retrospective?: A sailboat retrospective is a team review that draws the last piece of work as a boat on a voyage. The wind is what pushed the team forward. The anchors are what held it back. The rocks are the risks ahead. The island is the goal. The team writes a card in each of the four columns, groups the cards, votes, and then discusses the ones that won the vote.
How to run a sailboat retrospective: Open a sailboat board and share the link. Give the team 8 minutes to write cards in Wind, Anchors, Rocks, and Island, one idea per card. Group the duplicates. Give each person 3 votes and count them. Then discuss the top cards and write an action item for each one, with an owner and a date. A first sailboat retro takes about 60 minutes for a team of 3 to 12 people.
What is a sailboat retrospective example?: A card in Wind reads "the preview environment let us review three pull requests a day instead of one". A card in Anchors reads "every release needs a manual database check that costs one engineer 40 minutes". A card in Rocks reads "only one person knows how the billing job works, and she is away in March". A card in Island reads "any engineer can release on their own, on any weekday". Each card names a mechanism, so the team can act on it.
What is the sun in a sailboat retrospective?: The sun is an optional fifth element that some facilitators add for what warms the team: praise, help from outside, or a moment people enjoyed. It sits above the boat and holds appreciation rather than analysis. Looptro ships the sailboat board with four columns, so put a sun card in Wind. Wind already asks what pushed the team forward, and praise for a person is a real answer to that.
Is a sailboat and speedboat retrospective the same?: They are close but not the same. A speedboat retrospective uses one metaphor and asks only what slows the boat, so every card is an obstacle. A sailboat retrospective adds the wind, the rocks, and the island, so the team also names what works, what could go wrong later, and where it is going. Use the speedboat shape when the team agrees the problem is drag. Use the sailboat when you want the whole picture.
What is the sailboat retro format good for?: It suits a team that talks in the same three complaints every two weeks, a team starting a new quarter, and a mixed group where a picture travels better than a list. It suits a routine sprint less well: drawing a boat for a normal two weeks is more ceremony than the sprint needs. Start, Stop, Continue closes that one faster.
Do I need an account to run a sailboat retrospective?: No. Click "Start a retro" on this page, pick Sailboat, type a display name, and share the link. Nobody needs an account, an email address, or a card. Looptro deletes the retro 24 hours after you create it, so run it on the day you need it and copy the summary before the window ends.

Start a sailboat retro

The board opens with Wind, Anchors, Rocks, and Island in place. Share one link and the team joins as guests. Looptro deletes the retro 24 hours after you create it.

Start a sailboat retro