← All templates Templates

Post-peak retro template

Run it in the week after peak, while people still remember, and leave with one change rather than twelve.

A post-peak retro should happen within a week of peak ending, take under an hour, and produce exactly one change that is written down with an owner. Reviews that generate long improvement lists produce nothing, because a list of twelve items has no owner and no next step. One change that actually happens beats eleven that are recorded.

When to use it

Run it after any period that stretched the team: peak season, a launch, a flash sale, a fortnight short-staffed. The trigger is strain rather than the calendar.

Timing matters more than preparation. Held within a week, people remember specifics. Held in February, you get generalities that were already obvious in December and nothing changes.

The template

The questions are ordered to get specifics before opinions. Ask them in this order.

POST-PEAK RETRO
Period reviewed:        Date held:        Present:

1. WHAT BROKE, SPECIFICALLY
   Not "fulfilment was hard". Name the moment, the day, the order.
   -
   -

2. WHY, NOT WHO
   For each item above: what made it possible?
   Usually a missing rule, a missing limit, or a missing person.
   -

3. WHAT DID WE DECIDE IN THE MOMENT
   Decisions made under pressure that should now be written down
   as the standing rule, or explicitly reversed.
   -

4. WHAT WOULD HAVE MADE IT EASIER
   Ask everyone who worked it, including anyone temporary.
   -

5. THE ONE CHANGE
   Change:
   Owner:
   Done by:

   (One. Not a list. A list is how nothing happens.)

How to adapt it

  • Keep section 5 singular. The whole template exists to force a choice, and adding a second slot defeats it.
  • Ask temporary staff too. Seasonal hires see the process without the assumptions and describe it more accurately than anyone who has been there two years.
  • Section 3 is the one people skip. Decisions made under pressure are usually the right ones and almost never get promoted into standing rules.
  • Do not invite everybody. The people who worked the period, and nobody else.

Why it is this short

Long retros produce long lists, and long lists produce nothing, because no item on them has an owner or a date. The single-change constraint is the only part of this template that is doing real work.

The other reason to keep it short is that it happens immediately after an exhausting period. A two-hour review scheduled for the week after peak gets postponed to a quieter time, and a quieter time is when nobody remembers anything.

Common questions

When should a post-peak review happen?

Within a week of peak ending, while people still remember specifics. Held later, you get generalities that were already obvious at the time.

Why only one change?

Because a list of twelve improvements has no owner and no next step, so none of them happen. One change with a name and a date is worth more than a complete diagnosis nobody acts on.

Who should attend?

The people who worked the period, including temporary and seasonal staff. Seasonal hires see the process without the assumptions and often describe it most accurately.

What if nothing broke?

Then ask section 4 anyway. What would have made it easier is a useful question even in a period that went well, and it is where most of the cheap improvements are.

Related