review · Retrospective, Feedback · 20–45 min · 3-15 people · low energy

Async Retrospective

The retrospective happens in writing over several days instead of in one call. A moderator opens a shared thread with the usual retro structure, people add what went well, what went wrong and what to improve in their own time, and then vote on what to act on. A live call is added only when the iteration was difficult enough that people need to talk it through face to face.

When to use Async Retrospective

Use for distributed teams across time zones, or when people need time to think before they write what went wrong.

What it solves

The live retro lands in the middle of someone's night, so the same few people always attend and the rest of the team's experience never gets in.

How to run Async Retrospective, step by step

  1. An impartial moderator opens a retro thread from a template, with the scope, the deadline and the questions: what went well, what went wrong, what can we improve (5 min).
  2. Gather data. Each person adds facts and feelings in their own time over two or three days (10-15 min each).
  3. Generate insights. The moderator groups entries and posts the patterns they see; others comment on causes (5-10 min each).
  4. Decide what to do. Everyone votes on the two or three improvements that matter most (2 min each).
  5. The moderator assigns each action an owner and a date, and thanks contributors by name.
  6. If the thread shows strong emotion or conflict, schedule a live call, twice if needed to cover time zones (optional, 30-45 min).

Materials needed

  • Shared issue tracker, document or board
  • Retro template
  • Voting mechanism such as reactions

Facilitator tips

  • The moderator should not have a stake in the outcome. If the manager wants to participate, someone else moderates.
  • Say explicitly that emotional language is welcome. "I was frustrated when..." surfaces what facts alone will not.
  • Make the deadline visible and send one reminder halfway.

Common pitfalls

  • The thread collects complaints but nobody moves it from facts to conclusions, so nothing changes.
  • People who are discussed in the retro are not invited to add their side.

Variations

  • Hold the live follow-up without people managers present so that the team can speak freely.

Running it online or hybrid

Runs in a shared issue, document or board over three to five days. Active time per person is about 20 minutes, plus an optional live call for the hard topics.

What it produces

A written retrospective thread with grouped observations, voted priorities and assigned action items.

Origin

Described in the GitLab Handbook as the default way product groups collect retrospective feedback across time zones, with a live call only when tensions run high. The agenda follows Derby and Larsen's Agile Retrospectives. — source

Build a session around Async Retrospective

METODIC places Async Retrospective inside a complete, timed session plan — agenda, worksheets, facilitator guide and slides — matched to your group and goal.

Generate a session with Async Retrospective · Try METODIC free