V for Vendetta Retrospective

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Identify process improvements, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and communication risks using structured thematic prompts.

Use it when: Use at the close of an iteration, milestone, or sprint when a team needs fresh prompts to examine honesty, bureaucracy, and future direction.

Skip it when: Skip if the team has sharp unresolved interpersonal conflict that requires formal mediation rather than a pop-culture themed review.

Group arrangement: Individual silent reflection, followed by small group clustering (3 to 4 people), then whole-room prioritization.

Timing: UWT recommended duration for a complete 5-prompt retrospective cycle. The source provided no explicit run time.

Materials and tools

• 5 wall charts or poster boards labeled with the 5 prompt quotes
• 1 whiteboard or flip chart for recording action items
• Printed copies of V for Vendetta Prompt Sheet (1 per person)
• Sticky notes (2 pads per person, mixed colors)
• Broad-tipped markers (1 per person)
• Dot voting stickers (3 stickers per person)

Before participants arrive

1. Post five large posters across the room, each headed with one quote prompt and its guiding questions.
2. Distribute prompt sheets, sticky notes, and markers to all seats.
3. Ensure the whiteboard or flip chart is visible to all participants.

Say this to open

Welcome everyone. Today we are using five quotes inspired by the film V for Vendetta to guide our retrospective. You do not need to know or like the movie to participate. Each quote frames a specific question about our recent work: our opportunities, our honesty, our bold ideas, our bureaucracy, and things we should let go. You will write notes silently, post them, and then we will group them and pick action items.

How to run it

1. Introduce prompts and silent reflection 8 minutes

   Explain the five prompts using the posters and distributed prompt sheets. Give everyone 5 minutes of quiet time to write one idea per sticky note. Participants may contribute to as many or as few columns as they wish. Example: under 'People should not be afraid...', a participant might write: 'Code deploy requires approval from three managers not on the project.'

2. Post and review notes 7 minutes

   Participants walk to the posters and place their notes under the corresponding headings. Allow everyone 4 minutes to silently walk around and read what others posted. Anyone who preferred not to post notes reads along.

3. Group themes in subgroups 10 minutes

   Divide the room into subgroups of 3 to 4 people. Assign one or two posters to each subgroup. Each group groups duplicate or related notes into themes and writes a one-word or two-word header above each cluster.

4. Prioritize and build action items 15 minutes

   Hand each participant 3 dot stickers. Everyone votes on the clusters most urgent to address. Take the top two or three clusters and open the floor to draft specific, owned action items. Record the owner and target date for each action item on the whiteboard.

5. Debrief and close 5 minutes

   Close the session by confirming the recorded action items on the whiteboard. Run a quick debrief using the prompt questions, taking two or three responses from the whole room.

Debrief questions

• Which theme surprised you the most during our clustering?
• What is one concrete habit we can change next week based on today's items?

Finished output: A posted board of clustered feedback across five categories, with 2 to 3 prioritized action items assigned to specific owners.

Remote

Set up a digital whiteboard with five labeled columns corresponding to the quotes. Run the silent writing phase with video on and microphones muted. Use digital reaction stamps or voting pins for the prioritization step. Subgroups can use breakout rooms or work together in designated columns on the shared canvas.

Hybrid

In-person participants write physical sticky notes while remote participants add digital sticky notes to a shared board. A designated scribe projects the digital board in the room and transcribes remote notes to physical stickies, or in-person stickies to the digital board, so both cohorts vote from the identical combined set.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may submit thoughts typed, handwritten, or spoken aloud to a facilitator.
• Anyone may choose to observe silently without posting personal reflections or speaking during whole-group shares.

If the session gets stuck

Notes under 'Artists use lies...' veer into personal accusations.

Remind the room to focus on systemic communication barriers, project transparency, and processes, rather than attacking individuals.

Participants spend time arguing about the movie or film trivia.

Acknowledge the reference quickly, state that no movie knowledge is required, and redirect attention to the exact project prompt written on the poster.

Terms used here

• Dot voting: A method where participants place adhesive dots on posted ideas to indicate priority or preference.