TeleRetro

Halloween retrospective

What is a Halloween retrospective?

It's that time of year again: the time for ghosts, ghouls and reflection! As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, what better way to look back on the past few months than with a spooky retrospective?

The Halloween retro has four columns:

  • 🧟‍♀️ Zombies: what kept coming back and wouldn't die?
  • 💀 Graveyard: what isn't working and needs to be buried?
  • 🎃 Pumpkins: what bright ideas should we carve out and try?
  • 🍬 Treats: what or who were our sweetest highlights?

It's more than a costume party. The Zombies column is one of the best prompts for spotting recurring problems, the ones a team keeps working around instead of fixing. So get your team together, put on your best Halloween costumes and get ready to reflect!

When should you run a Halloween retro?

The Halloween retro works well when:

  • It's late October and the team is in the mood for something fun.
  • The same problems keep coming up. The Zombies column gives you a playful way to name them.
  • The team needs to stop doing something. The Graveyard makes it normal to bury meetings, processes or habits that aren't working.
  • Retros feel stale. A spooky theme is a quick way to wake people up.

What goes in each column?

🧟‍♀️ Zombies: what keeps coming back?

Zombies are the problems that won't die. Flaky tests, the same blocker every sprint, a bug the team has "fixed" three times. If something turns up in retro after retro, it belongs here.

Prompt questions:

  • What problem keeps coming back?
  • What did we think we'd fixed, but returned?
  • What do we keep working around instead of solving?

💀 Graveyard: what should we bury?

The Graveyard is for things that aren't working and should be stopped for good. It's often easier to add new processes than to remove old ones, so this column gives the team permission to let go.

Prompt questions:

  • What isn't working and needs to be buried?
  • Which meeting, report or process could we stop?
  • What are we only doing out of habit?

🎃 Pumpkins: what bright ideas should we try?

Pumpkins are bright ideas worth carving out. New tools, experiments or ways of working the team wants to try.

Prompt questions:

  • What bright idea should we try next sprint?
  • What could help us finally get rid of a zombie?
  • What have you seen another team do well?

🍬 Treats: what were our sweetest highlights?

End on something sweet. Treats are the wins and the people who made the sprint better.

Prompt questions:

  • What went really well?
  • Who deserves a treat for their work?
  • What are we proud of?

How do you run a Halloween retrospective?

This plan fits a 60-minute session for a team of 5 to 15.

  1. Warm up (5 minutes). Invite your teammates to share their spookiest GIFs. Learn how to share GIFs in TeleRetro. Play a spooky playlist with our icebreaker music feature, or try a question from our icebreaker generator.
  2. Brainstorm (10 minutes). Everyone adds cards to the four columns on their own. Keep cards anonymous during brainstorming so people feel safe naming zombies.
  3. Share and group (10 minutes). Reveal the board, starting with Treats. Then group similar Zombies and Graveyard cards.
  4. Vote (5 minutes). Ask the team to vote on the zombies and graveyard items that matter most.
  5. Discuss (20 minutes). For each top zombie, ask "why does this keep coming back?". For each graveyard item, ask "what happens if we just stop?". Look for pumpkins that could help.
  6. Agree actions (10 minutes). Pick two or three actions and assign an owner to each.

When you're done, export the retro summary so everyone can see what was agreed.

Halloween retrospective examples

  • 🧟‍♀️ Zombies: The flaky checkout test failed again and blocked two releases.
  • 🧟‍♀️ Zombies: Tickets keep arriving mid-sprint without refinement.
  • 💀 Graveyard: The weekly status meeting that repeats what's already on the board.
  • 💀 Graveyard: Manually updating the release notes spreadsheet.
  • 🎃 Pumpkins: Quarantine flaky tests automatically and fix them in a weekly slot.
  • 🎃 Pumpkins: Try a 15-minute refinement check-in mid-sprint.
  • 🍬 Treats: We closed the oldest open bug on the board.
  • 🍬 Treats: Thanks to the support team for spotting the billing issue early.

Tips for a better Halloween retro

  • Hunt down one zombie. Don't try to solve every recurring problem at once. Pick the worst one and dig into its root cause.
  • Actually bury things. If the team agrees to stop something, tell whoever relies on it and remove it from calendars.
  • Keep costumes optional. Fun for some people is awkward for others. Invite, don't insist.
  • Follow up next sprint. Check whether your zombie came back. If it did, it's time for a deeper look.

Want to know if your zombies are affecting team morale? Pulse Surveys let you check team health between retros.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Halloween retrospective?

A Halloween retrospective is a spooky-themed retro format with four columns. Zombies are problems that keep coming back, Graveyard is for things that should be buried, Pumpkins are bright ideas to try, and Treats are the team's sweetest highlights.

What's the difference between Zombies and Graveyard?

Zombies are recurring problems, issues the team thought were fixed but keep returning. Graveyard is for things that simply aren't working and should be stopped, like a meeting nobody needs or a process that adds no value.

How long does a Halloween retrospective take?

For a team of 5 to 15, plan for 45 to 60 minutes. Zombies often take the longest to discuss, because recurring problems usually have deeper causes.

When should you run a Halloween retro?

In the last sprint of October, close to 31 October. It also works any time the team is stuck with problems that keep coming back, since the Zombies column is built for exactly that.

What are good Halloween retro ideas for remote teams?

Ask people to share their spookiest GIF as a warm-up, invite them to wear a costume or Halloween background on camera, and play a spooky playlist while the team brainstorms. Keep costumes optional so nobody feels left out.

What are good alternatives to the Halloween retrospective?

Try the Autumn retrospective for a calmer seasonal theme, the Thanksgiving retrospective in November, or Start, Stop, Continue if you want a simple format with clear actions.

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