Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4de1f80161ddd5c9393d10bd33244211d24a3413d1576ae8a817bde0390c4d3e

# Donut Shop Retrospective

Team members sort recent project reflections into five distinct categories to surface hidden value, refine routine tasks, spot messes, examine failed experiments, and share peer appreciation.

**Time:** 50 minutes. UWT suggested duration. The source provides column prompts only; 50 minutes allows silent generation, subgroup clustering, dot voting, and commitment planning.
**People:** 4 to 24. Individual silent reflection followed by 2 to 5 subgroups of 2 to 8 people reviewing assigned columns, ending in full-room voting and action selection

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Categorize team observations across five evaluative angles to establish concrete process adjustments.
**Use it when:** At the end of an iteration, sprint, or project phase when a team needs a structured way to separate quiet successes from frustrating rework.
**Skip it when:** During a critical incident postmortem that requires timeline reconstruction or technical root-cause analysis rather than thematic reflection.

## Materials and tools

- Sticky notes (approx. 20 notes per person)
- Fine-point markers (1 per person)
- Wall space, whiteboard, or 5 flip chart sheets labeled with the five prompts
- One flip chart sheet labeled Action Items with columns for Action, Owner, and Review Date
- Sticky dot stickers for voting (3 per person)
- Individual laptops (for hybrid in-room participants)
- Digital collaboration board (for remote or hybrid delivery)

## Before participants arrive

1. Draw or post 5 distinct columns across a wall or board: Filled Donut, Plain Glaze, Powdered Sugar, Coconut, and Sprinkles.
2. Write the explicit guiding question under each header so participants can read them from their seats.
3. Post a blank Action Items sheet beside the columns with headers for Action, Owner, and Review Date.

## Say this to open

Welcome to our retrospective. Today we use five donut categories to review our recent work from different angles. You will write notes about what had hidden value, what is mediocre, what caused a mess, what sounded good but failed, and who brought joy. Everyone writes silently first, and sharing specific cards is completely up to you.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce categories and rules (5 minutes)

Explain the 5 columns: Filled Donut (hidden value not obvious to outsiders), Plain Glaze (fine but could be better), Powdered Sugar (left a mess and caused extra rework), Coconut (sounded promising but disappointed), and Sprinkles (shout-outs for teammates who went above and beyond). Neutral example: 'Plain Glaze might be our daily standup format; it works, but it runs long.' Distribute sticky notes, dots, and markers.

### 2. Silent individual writing (10 minutes)

Participants write one observation per sticky note in silence across any or all columns. Adding notes is optional and passing on any category is fine. When ready, participants post their notes directly under the corresponding columns on the wall or board.

### 3. Cluster and review in assigned groups (10 minutes)

Form 2 to 5 small groups of 2 to 8 people each. Distribute the 5 columns among the groups as evenly as possible (for example, with 2 groups, assign 2 columns each; with 5 groups, assign 1 column each). Any fifth column left unassigned will be reviewed directly by the whole room in the next step. Each group clusters related notes, removes duplicates, and agrees on the most critical theme or tension in their assigned columns.

### 4. Whole-group share and dot voting (20 minutes)

Each subgroup takes up to 2 minutes to summarize key themes from their assigned columns. If a column was left unassigned, the facilitator reads its notes aloud now. Give everyone 2 minutes to place 3 dot stickers on the items or themes they most want the team to address. Facilitator highlights the top 1 or 2 vote-getters and leads discussion to define concrete commitments. Record each chosen adjustment, owner, and review date on the Action Items sheet.

### 5. Debrief and wrap-up (5 minutes)

Select 1 or 2 debrief questions based on remaining time. Hear 2 to 3 brief reflections from volunteers, verify task owners understand their next steps, and conclude on time.


## Debrief questions

- Which item under Powdered Sugar can we actively prevent in our next work cycle?
- What did we learn from Coconut about how we assess new ideas before starting them?
- How can we give more visibility to the quiet contributions recorded under Filled Donut?

**Finished output:** A board of categorized reflections and 1 to 2 concrete process commitments with assigned owners recorded on the Action Items sheet.

## Remote

Set up a digital whiteboard with the 5 columns and an Action Items frame. Conduct silent writing on the board. Break participants into small breakout rooms corresponding to the assigned columns for clustering. Return to the main room, apply digital stamps for dot voting, and record agreed commitments directly into the Action Items frame.

## Hybrid

All participants interact through a single shared digital whiteboard. In-room members access the board on individual laptops. Form mixed or separate small groups for step 3, pairing remote members in digital breakout rooms. The dot vote and final action recording happen synchronously on the shared digital screen.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may contribute notes silently, speak aloud during sharing, or choose to observe without posting.
- Plain-text prompts accompany every pastry metaphor so food familiarity is never required.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants get confused by the donut metaphors.**

Direct attention immediately to the plain-text question written under each header rather than debating the metaphor.

**Negative comments pile heavily into Powdered Sugar and Coconut, causing team energy to drop.**

Acknowledge the frustrations, redirect focus toward finding preventable root causes, and protect equal time to celebrate entries under Sprinkles.


## Terms used here

- Retrospective: A structured team meeting held at the end of a work cycle to reflect on past performance and identify future improvements.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed on EasyRetro as a retrospective template attributed to Anna.

The original template from EasyRetro by Anna provides 5 metaphorical retrospective prompts. UWT structured the activity into a 50-minute facilitation plan, adding silent writing, clear subgroup column distribution logic, dot voting, hybrid logistics, access choices, and actionable commitments.

[EasyRetro](https://easyretro.io/templates/donut-shop/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/donut-shop/