What is Master Baker retrospective?
From the perfect cupcake to the show winning gateau, the output is the right combination of time, effort and ingredients. Just like bakers, Scrum Masters and Iteration Managers, constantly tweak their recipes to improve products and impress their customers.
This gastronomically focussed agile retrospective template is a great tool to help your team reflect on their time management to improve velocity on the burn down chart, improve return on time invested and look at ways to better improve estimations going forward.
Given that our priorities should be a reflection of our actions and time spent, this sprint retrospective template idea gives your team a valuable mechanism to confirm priorities are being kept in clear view and they are not going off half baked.
Master Baker retrospective format
Underbaked
The team considers what they did not spend enough time on. What could have delivered greater value if only more time had been directed to it? What wasn’t delivered because there wasn’t enough time dedicated to it? These might be areas of sub-optimal performance or where the stories or tasks were under-estimated.
Perfectly baked
Here, the team lists which outputs delivered good value for the amount of time invested. What was delivered on time as predicted? These are deliverables and output where time estimations were on point and were also delivered at the right quality and timeframe.
Overbaked
Finally, the team reflects on where too much time was allocated or spent. Outputs may have been delivered, however they came at a considerable time and opportunity cost. Tasks were over-estimated or took too long to deliver. This represents learning opportunities to improve time estimations or time management.
Suggested Icebreaker questions for The Master Baker retrospective
- What would you still eat if it was underbaked?
- When have you over-done something?
- What have you tasted recently that was absolutely perfectly cooked and how did you feel?
Retro Rehearsal
Invite your team to rehearse the retro referencing the most recent risk they took.
For example, when did you last take a risk – what was underbaked/perfectly baked or half baked?
Icebreaker Activities
Running your agile retrospectives online? Why not have a group bonding activity where everyone cooks their own cupcake recipe for the meeting and shares a treat with those around them. You could even tie it into a good cause like the RSPCA Cupcake day.
Ideas and tips for your Master Baker retrospective
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Set the stage. This is the perfect theme for showing off your baked goods. A cupcake for the meeting quickly puts everyone in the right frame of mind.
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Running your agile retrospectives online? Why not have a group bonding activity where everyone cooks their own cup cake recipe for the meeting and shares a treat. You could even tie it into a good cause like the RSPCA Cupcake day.
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Ask everyone to think about the last sprint and say the top 3 to 5 things that they worked on. They can then move things into the relevant column based on whether or not they think they spent too little, too much, or just enough time on it.
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Go through the list and ask people to share their reasons for why they listed something under each heading and capture learnings and insights.
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Given that this is a time centric agile retrospective, don’t forget to use the timer for each stage and create your own time box recipe for your online retrospective.
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In face to face meetings, doing things digitally allows you to collect ideas, vote and comment anonymously, and saves manual collation. If running your meeting digitally, use a video conferencing tool to give that personal touch.
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Capture items that will help improve time estimations or time allocations going forward.
How to run a Master Baker retrospective in TeamRetro
Start Your Session in a Click
Log into TeamRetro and choose your template. Customise questions and the workflow to create your perfect retro for your team.
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Engage, React, and Capture Key Insights
Walk your team through ideas one by one with Presentation Mode. Stay in sync, spark real-time discussions, and capture feedback with comments, live reactions, and polls—all in one place.
Turn Ideas Into Action
Propose next steps with team buy-in, get AI-powered action suggestions, and keep everything in one place. Committed actions sync to your personal dashboard and integrate with your workflow tools—keeping you on track.
Save, Share, and Stay on Track
Get quick AI-powered summaries, add facilitator notes, and store retrospectives in your library for easy access. Schedule your next session and track published actions to keep your team accountable at the next retro.
Turn Team Data into Actionable Insights
Uncover trends, common themes, and key engagement metrics at a glance. Track sentiment shifts, analyze conversations, and monitor completed actions to drive continuous improvement.