Joy Fear Excitement Retrospective Template
Also known as: Joy, Fear, Excitement · Joy Fear Excited
Look back at what went well, name what scares you, and find the energy for what comes next.
- ⏱ 40–50 min
- 👥 3–12 people
- 🧩 3 columns
- Free · no sign-up
Joy
What brought you joy?
Moments, results and people that made you happy during the period.
Fear
What are you afraid of?
Worries, risks and uncertainties, about the work or about the team.
Excitement
What are you excited about?
What you look forward to: upcoming work, opportunities, things to learn.
What is the Joy Fear Excitement Retrospective?
Joy, Fear, Excitement is an emotional retrospective with three columns. Joy looks back at what made people happy, Fear names what worries them, and Excitement looks forward to what they are eager to do next. It combines a mood check with a quick look at the future.
Unlike Mad Sad Glad, which spends two of its three columns on negative feelings, this format is balanced towards energy and motivation. Fear gives room to concerns, but Joy and Excitement keep the conversation from getting heavy. That makes it a good fit at transition points: the end of a quarter, a team change, or the start of a new roadmap.
The format works best when people are honest, so it pays to run it with anonymous cards or after a short ice breaker. The Excitement column is often the most useful for managers and product owners, because it shows what motivates each person.
When to use Joy Fear Excitement (and when not to)
✅ Use it when
- ▸ At the end of a quarter or project, before planning what comes next.
- ▸ When the team is about to face a big change: a new product, a reorg, a launch.
- ▸ As a regular team health check that doesn't feel as heavy as Mad Sad Glad.
- ▸ When you want to know what motivates the team, for example to assign upcoming work.
- ▸ With new teams, to learn what each person is looking forward to.
⚠️ Avoid it when
- ▸ When you need a detailed review of how the sprint went. The columns are about feelings, not process.
- ▸ Right after a serious incident, when people need to process frustration first (Mad Sad Glad is better).
- ▸ If the team has no say over what comes next; excitement about things that won't happen is demotivating.
How to run a Joy Fear Excitement Retrospective step by step
Total time: about 44 minutes for a team of 3–12 people. Adjust the timeboxes to the size of your team and sprint.
- 1
Check in · 4 min
Ask everyone for one word or one GIF that describes the period. Explain the three columns and that every feeling is welcome.
- 2
Silent writing · 8 min
Everyone writes at least one card per column. Use anonymous cards if the Fear column might be sensitive.
- 3
Share Joy · 6 min
Read the Joy cards first. Celebrate wins out loud and notice what they have in common.
- 4
Share Fear and group · 8 min
Read the fears without trying to solve them yet. Group them into themes: workload, quality, people, direction, outside dependencies.
- 5
Share Excitement · 6 min
Read what people look forward to. Look for links: an exciting opportunity often answers a fear.
- 6
Vote and act · 12 min
Three votes each on fears to reduce or excitements to make happen. Agree on two or three actions with owners.
Joy Fear Excitement questions and prompts for each column
Read a couple of these aloud if the board stays empty after the first minutes of writing.
Joy
- • When did you smile at work this sprint?
- • What result are you happiest about?
- • Who brightened your week?
Fear
- • What are you nervous about for the coming weeks?
- • What would you hate to see happen again?
- • What feels fragile right now?
Excitement
- • What are you looking forward to working on?
- • Which opportunity should we not miss?
- • What would you love to learn or try next?
Joy Fear Excitement retrospective example
A data team at the end of a quarter, about to start migrating to a new warehouse. Here is what their board looked like at the end of the writing phase.
Joy
- The new dashboard got used by sales on day one
- Pairing with the analytics team
- We closed every bug from the backlog
Fear
- The migration will freeze new feature work for weeks
- Nobody has used the new warehouse in production
- Two people are leaving the team next month
Excitement
- Learning dbt properly
- Finally retiring the nightly cron jobs
- Working directly with the marketing team
Action items they agreed on
- ☑️ Plan a proof of concept on the new warehouse before committing to dates (owner: Iris)
- ☑️ Knowledge transfer sessions with the people leaving, two per week (owner: team lead)
- ☑️ Book a dbt training day for the whole team (owner: Hugo)
Common mistakes and facilitation tips
Fear without follow-up
Naming fears is valuable, but they must lead somewhere. Pick the most voted fear and agree on one step to reduce it.
Joy as a warm-up only
Joy cards show what to repeat. Ask 'how do we get more of this?' for at least the top one.
Ignoring individual excitement
Excitement cards are personal motivation in writing. Share them with whoever plans the work and use them.
Forcing people to share
Emotional formats need psychological safety. Let people pass, keep cards anonymous and never ask someone to explain a fear in front of the group.
Variations and related templates
- Mad Sad Glad retrospective template: A more backward-looking emotional format for difficult sprints.
- Hopes and Concerns retrospective template: Purely forward-looking, ideal for kick-offs.
- Rose, Bud, Thorn retrospective template: Similar balance of positive, negative and potential, with a gardening metaphor.
- Joy, Fear, Excitement, Learning: Adds a fourth column for lessons from the period.
Joy Fear Excitement retrospective FAQ
What is a Joy Fear Excitement retrospective?
It is an emotional retrospective with three columns: what brought the team joy, what it fears, and what it is excited about. It combines a mood check with a look ahead.
How is it different from Mad Sad Glad?
Mad Sad Glad looks back and has two negative columns. Joy Fear Excitement is more balanced and forward-looking, which makes it better for transitions and planning.
When should I run a Joy Fear Excitement retro?
At the end of a quarter or project, before a big change, or as a regular team health check.
How do I handle sensitive fears?
Use anonymous cards, don't ask authors to explain themselves, focus on themes rather than individual cards, and follow up privately when needed.
Can I run Joy Fear Excitement online for free?
Yes. Use the template on this page to open a Giftro board with Joy, Fear and Excitement columns, anonymous cards and voting. No sign-up needed.
Run your Joy Fear Excitement retro now
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Related retrospective templates
Mad Sad Glad retrospective template
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Hopes and Concerns retrospective template
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Rose Bud Thorn retrospective template
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4Ls retrospective template
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Genie in a Bottle retrospective template
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