Retrospective Activity

The 4L's

Standard Medium   Popularity: 8  

This activity:

  • Requires some members training
  • Focuses on work done
  • Promotes direct actions

Introduction

The 4L's activity stands for: Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for. Members are asked to add notes regarding their work on those four sections, describing what they Liked, Learned, Lacked during their work, or Longed for to do their work better.

Liked
Learned
Lacked
Longed for

For the specific activity, the facilitator could use these points to describe the process:

  • The Liked column is for actions, processes, interactions that the team performed and you enjoyed doing.
  • The Learned column is for new actions, processes, and interactions that happened in the reflection period and brought in some new knowledge.
  • The Lacked column is for actions, processes, interactions that did not happen and could benefit the team if performed.
  • The Longed for column is for actions, processes, interactions that the team would benefit from if they could be implemented.
TIP

Onboarding the team to the selected activity is important for a successful meeting. To learn more on what's needed to onboard your team to a retrospective meeting, read here.

Tips & Tricks

This activity is good for data gathering over something that has concluded a full cycle. The team can focus on their experience performing the activity and are not required to identify next action steps while adding their notes.

Focus on processes, actions, and activities that the team performed or was affected by on the specific period. Avoid talking about personal feelings among individuals.

Since this activity is better suited for a full cycle reflection, avoid having a 4L's activity while in the middle of something, e.g. a retrospection in the middle of a completion cycle, or while work is on-going.

Popularity: 8

The "The 4L's" activity is popular among Team O'clock teams. It seems that many teams trust this activity for their retrospectives.

Recap

The 4L's

Standard Medium

Liked

Things we really liked and enjoyed

Learned

Things that the team learned

Lacked

Things that we lacked and could be better done next time

Longed for

A wish list of things you longed for

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