Project Retrospectives

LaurieSD

Hey,

Has anyone used Smartsheet to conduct and store project retrospectives? I would like to keep all our work in one space (Smartsheet), but being limited to a sheet and not actually a template makes it pretty unappealing to review the info from a retro.

Matt Johnson

Hi @LaurieSD

Why are you limited to a sheet? I would suggets displaying the data on a dashboard.

If project retrospectives are like after action reports or lessons learned reports, sometimes its more appealing to view that information on a dashboard. Comparing baseline to actual deltas by Contractor or scope type can be more impactful in a graph or stacked report. Also, depending on the audience, length of the project, time available to prep for this meeting, etc; these dashboards can be made as one-offs. Not everything needs to be scalable/repeatable. Sometimes projects, or objectives for meetings, can be unique enough to warrant thier own dashboard.

Also, great dashboards use great metric sheets. Metric Sheets compile the data from a sheet and put it in a format that works for graphs and other dashboard widgets.

I hope that helps.

Matt

dereksemmler

This page may have some helpful information and has a Smartsheet template for your retrospective:

https://www.smartsheet.com/content/how-to-run-retrospective

You might also be able to create a new sheet and use it in the Card View to capture each item with a card under categories for what went well, what went not so well, open questions, action items, etc.

Lastly, if you currently document your retrospectives in a certain way, you could attach that as a document to your project in Smartsheet.