Used this a few times with the teams I have coached. It’s a great step up from the traditional retrospective – with the added bonus of making the teams think about potential pitfalls that lay in wait for them.

I find this retro works best if you draw the picture out on a large whiteboard first or project it onto a wall. Try and do a good job with a drawing and it will help with the visualisation. If you do a piss poor job in your retrospective prep then you can’t blame your team for not really taking an interest!

The four areas of the picture are:

Engine – What went well. This is your standard what things have worked well in the space between our last retrospective

Parachute – What slowed the team down. Pretty straightforward, the things that the team think have reduced delivery output or have annoyed them

Abyss – Things that are going to cause the team a problem in the future. Anything that may come up in the future that is going to cause the team an impedance

Bridge – Ideas that will help us overcome adversities that the team might face. The teams has thought about the problems that lie ahead, so this bit makes them think of how they could address or mitigate those problems

Note: I tried this with a relatively new team and didn’t find it to be as effective compared to using it with teams that were a couple of months into the work and had a better understanding of what problems may lie ahead

You can download the drawing here

Give it a try and let me know how it went in the feedback below, or use it to ask any questions you have.