Mad Sad Glad Retrospective Template

What is the Mad Sad Glad Retrospective?

Mad Sad Glad is a retrospective format that asks the team to sort the sprint into three emotions: what made them mad, what made them sad and what made them glad. Instead of starting from process ('what should we change?'), it starts from experience ('how did it feel?') and lets the improvements emerge from there.

The format comes from the 'gather data' stage described by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen in Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great (2006), where emotions are treated as data just as valid as story points or bug counts. A frustrating sprint usually has a concrete cause, and naming the feeling first is often the fastest way to find it.

You will also see it written as Glad Sad Mad or Sad Mad Glad. The order matters less than the facilitation, although many facilitators prefer to finish on Glad so the meeting ends on solid ground.

When to use Mad Sad Glad (and when not to)

How to run a Mad Sad Glad Retrospective step by step

Total time: about 50 minutes for a team of 3–10 people. Adjust the timeboxes to the size of your team and sprint.

1. 1

   Set the stage and safety · 5 min

   State the Prime Directive or a simple equivalent: everyone did the best job they could with what they knew. Explain that feelings are data and that notes are about situations, not people. Turn on anonymous cards if the team is new to this.

2. 2

   Silent writing · 8 min

   Everyone writes in all three columns at the same time. Encourage short, specific notes ('Mad: the staging DB was down for two days') rather than general moods ('Mad: everything').

3. 3

   Read Glad first · 7 min

   Reading the positive column first sets a constructive tone and reminds the team that the sprint wasn't all bad. Thank people out loud for the help that shows up here.

4. 4

   Read Mad and Sad, then group · 10 min

   Read the remaining cards, then cluster them by theme. You'll often see the same root cause behind a Mad note and a Sad note, for example an unclear priority that frustrated developers and disappointed the product owner.

5. 5

   Vote and discuss · 15 min

   Three votes per person. For each top theme ask: what happened, what was the impact, and what is in our control? Keep the conversation on causes, not culprits.

6. 6

   Close with actions and a check-out · 5 min

   Agree on one or two actions with owners. End with a quick round: one word on how you feel now compared with the start of the meeting.

Mad Sad Glad questions and prompts for each column

Read a couple of these aloud if the board stays empty after the first minutes of writing.

Mad Sad Glad retrospective example

A backend team after a sprint with a production incident and a last-minute scope change. Here is what their board looked like at the end of the writing phase.

Action items they agreed on

• ☑️ Agree with the PO that scope changes after day 5 go through a 15-min team call (owner: Luis)
• ☑️ Fix or silence the noisy alert and assign an owner for staging (owner: Ana, by Wednesday)
• ☑️ Pre-create accounts for new joiners before day one (owner: team lead)

Common mistakes and facilitation tips

Variations and related templates

• Glad Sad Mad: Same columns in reverse order, for facilitators who want to start positive.
• Joy, Fear, Excitement retrospective template: A more balanced, forward-looking emotional retro, useful at transitions and before planning.
• Rose, Bud, Thorn retrospective template: A gentler emotional format with a column for emerging opportunities.
• Mad Sad Glad + Learned: Adds a fourth column so each emotion is paired with a lesson.

Mad Sad Glad retrospective FAQ