OKR Retrospective Worksheet

After the quarter ends but before the next planning starts, ideally within the final week. Wait too long and details evaporate; do it too early and you miss the last month's data. Typical flow: retrospective on Monday, planning workshop on Tuesday. Share the worksheet 1-2 days before the meeting so everyone fills it in advance, leaving only discussion time during the meeting.

It depends on context. For aspirational OKRs, 0.6-0.7 is a strong result; consistently hitting 1.0 signals targets were not ambitious enough. Committed OKRs are expected to reach 1.0. Filling the Committed/Aspirational field on the worksheet helps you make this interpretation. The retrospective is not about assigning blame; it is about clarifying what needs to change next quarter.

It's the classic retrospective frame: what should we Start doing next quarter as a team, what should we Stop, what should we Continue. Separating these three on the worksheet serves two purposes: first, the retrospective doesn't only look back, it produces concrete action for the future. Second, in the planning workshop, the Continue actions automatically become foundations for new OKRs.

OKR programs start repeating the same mistakes over time. The team writes too many Objectives again, the last month becomes panic again, the same blockers come back again. Without retrospectives the learning loop never closes; goal-setting becomes a document exercise. A 30-minute retrospective typically saves hours in the next quarter.