Design Retrospective

A retrospective is not a post-mortem. Post-mortems examine failures. Retrospectives examine the whole process — wins, misses, surprises, and taste evolution. This skill runs after a project ships and turns hindsight into foresight for the next one.

When to Use

• After verification-before-shipping passes and the project is declared complete
• When the user says "let's reflect" or "what did we learn?"
• At natural project milestones (end of a major phase, end of a sprint)
• When restarting work on a project after a break — retrospect on what came before

Process

Step 1: Gather Evidence

Before reflecting, assemble the full record: