Mad Sad Glad Retrospective
Conduct a retrospective on understanding the emotions and feelings of the team.
About the Mad Sad Glad Retrospective
What is Mad Sad Glad?
After a Sprint, it can be helpful for the team to pause and take stock of how they feel. This is crucial for maintaining morale and getting the most out of each Sprint. But sometimes, it can be hard to gauge your team’s feelings with open-ended questions like “How are you feeling?” That’s why many teams choose to employ the Mad Sad Glad retrospective.
Mad Sad Glad is a popular technique for examining your team member's emotions and encouraging them to think about how they feel. You can use a retro tool to run a session and highlight the positive feelings your team might have after a Sprint, but also to underline concerns or questions they might have going forward.
When should you run a Mad Sad Glad retrospective?
This type of retrospective can be especially valuable when there is a negative team dynamic, or if there is tension but team members haven't spoken about it yet. Participants can find it useful to use a structured framework to talk about their emotions – particularly in a fast-paced, results-focused agile environment.
How to use the Mad Sad Glad template
Miro’s virtual collaboration platform is perfect for running a Mad Sad Glad retrospective with your team. Simply select the template and invite your team to join.
The facilitator should give everyone 30-60 minutes to think about how they felt about the previous sprint. Then, allow the respondents some time to take stock of their feelings and write down the highlights on the Mad Sad Glad template. Were there parts of the Sprint that left them angry? Upset? Or satisfied? When the team is finished writing, bring everyone together to discuss. The facilitator can ask follow-up questions and take notes throughout the process.
4 tips for running a Mad Sad Glad retrospective
1. Give people space and time to reflect
Make sure the team has about 30 to 60 minutes of uninterrupted time to take stock of how they feel. Encourage people to take copious notes. Make sure the room is quiet and out of the way.
2. Make sure phones are turned off
Ask all attendees to turn off their phones so they can focus on the retrospective. If people are distracted by their phones, then they will find it harder to reflect.
3. Be inclusive
Assure everyone that there are no right or wrong answers. Remember, the goal of Mad Sad Glad is to take stock of how everyone is feeling, not to brainstorm processes or strategies.
4. Keep the focus on emotions
Encourage your team to focus on emotion, not action. People who might feel uncomfortable sharing their feelings sometimes instead try to pivot to strategy. Gently encourage them to avoid that.
3 reasons to use a Mad Sad Glad retrospective?
The Mad Sad Glad Retrospective is specifically focused on the team's emotional journey, and this is a unique approach with different benefits from a normal agile retrospective.
1. Build trust
By giving team members a space to discuss their feelings and emotions about the work they’ve done, you encourage honesty and forthrightness. Creating more honest, open, and positive teams ultimately help team members trust each other.
2. Improve morale
Almost everyone will struggle with certain things or get frustrated, and oftentimes workplaces don’t provide an avenue to talk about these frustrations. Giving employees an opportunity to talk through their difficulties will help them feel more welcomed, and ultimately boost morale.
3. Increase engagement
If team members are frustrated and don’t feel heard, they tend to check out. With a Mad Sad Glad retrospective, those team members can speak up and work towards solving their problems and building a more inclusive workspace where people can stay engaged.
You can also explore all project retrospective templates available through our collection.
Get started with this template right now.
User Story Map Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Desk Research, Mapping
Popularized by Jeff Patton in 2005, the user story mapping technique is an agile way to manage product backlogs. Whether you’re working alone or with a product team, you can leverage user story mapping to plan product releases. User story maps help teams stay focused on the business value and release features that customers care about. The framework helps to get a shared understanding for the cross-functional team of what needs to be done to satisfy customers' needs.
Kanban Framework Template
Works best for:
Kanban Boards, Agile Methodology, Agile Workflows
Optimized processes, improved flow, and increased value for your customers — that’s what the Kanban method can help you achieve. Based on a set of lean principles and practices (and created in the 1950s by a Toyota Automotive employee), Kanban helps your team reduce waste, address numerous other issues, and collaborate on fixing them together. You can use our simple Kanban template to both closely monitor the progress of all work and to display work to yourself and cross-functional partners, so that the behind-the-scenes nature of software is revealed.
The Team Canvas
Works best for:
Agile
The Team Canvas is a versatile tool for aligning on goals, roles, and processes. It provides a structured framework for defining purpose, clarifying responsibilities, and visualizing the working environment. By fostering open communication and shared understanding, this template facilitates collaboration and increases team cohesion, empowering you to create a shared vision and drive collective success.
Start, Stop, Continue Template
Works best for:
Retrospectives, Meetings, Workshops
Giving and receiving feedback can be challenging and intimidating. It’s hard to look back over a quarter or even a week and parse a set of decisions into “positive” and “negative.” The Start Stop Continue framework was created to make it easier to reflect on your team’s recent experiences. The Start Stop Continue template encourages teams to look at specific actions they should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Together, collaborators agree on the most important steps to be more productive and successful.
Retrospective - Summer
Works best for:
Retrospectives, Agile Methodology, Meetings
The Retrospective - Summer template offers a seasonal and themed approach to retrospectives, perfect for capturing the spirit of summer. It provides elements for reflecting on achievements, experiences, and goals amidst the summer backdrop. This template enables teams to relax, recharge, and recalibrate their efforts for the upcoming season. By promoting reflection and rejuvenation, the Retrospective - Summer empowers teams to celebrate successes, learn from setbacks, and embark on new adventures with renewed energy and enthusiasm effectively.
Event Planning Template
Works best for:
Planning, Workshops
Whether you’re planning a product launch, fully remote conference, or milestone event, the Event Planning Template will act as a visual checklist and map for all the details you need to consider before the big day. The Event Planning Template is an adaptable way to make sure the creative and strategic vision of your event doesn’t get lost in the details. By mapping out different sections - from the marketing plan, to the agenda, to snacks and swag for guests — you and your team can focus on the details most important to your functions, and collaborate as needed when overlaps occur.