Classic

Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective template

A free Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective board: an emotional check on the sprint, anonymous by default, with no sign-up for participants.

Use this template — free, no sign-up

Opens a new board with these columns, right in your browser.

What is the Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective?

Mad, Sad, Glad asks how the sprint felt rather than what happened. Mad is for frustration and things that got in the way, Sad for disappointments and missed chances, Glad for what made people happy. Feelings are data: they surface tension that a purely process-focused retro misses, like a team quietly exhausted by context switching.

The columns

  1. Mad
  2. Sad
  3. Glad

When to use it

Use it after an intense or emotional sprint, after a launch, a reorg or a conflict, or when you suspect morale is lower than the burndown chart suggests. It works best when people trust that their cards are anonymous.

How to run it in Peel in 5 steps

  1. Create a Mad · Sad · Glad board and keep anonymity on (it is the default): authors are hidden even from the facilitator.
  2. Open with a short check-in so people warm up before writing about feelings.
  3. Give six to eight minutes to write, then reveal everything at once so no single card stands out.
  4. Group cards into themes and vote. Start the discussion with Mad, where the most actionable friction usually sits.
  5. Close on Glad: read a few aloud before agreeing on actions, so the session ends with energy rather than complaints.
Use this template — free, no sign-up

Frequently asked questions

What if someone writes something personal?

The facilitator can hide a card from the board. Peel never shows who wrote a card, so the conversation stays about the situation, not the person.

Isn't it too soft for engineering teams?

Frustration and disappointment are early signals of process problems. Teams that skip them tend to discover the same issues months later as attrition.

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