Highlights and Lowlights retrospective template
A narrative retro for a long stretch of work.
Also known as: Highlights and Lowlights retrospective, Peaks and valleys, Timeline retrospective.
Highlights and Lowlights asks the team to tell the story of a period rather than assess a process. Over a quarter or a whole project, that framing recovers detail a sprint-shaped format loses — the week everything broke, the day the migration finally landed — and the Lessons column is where that detail becomes reusable.
The columns, and what goes in each
- Highlights
- What were the high points of this period, and what made them possible?
- Lowlights
- What were the low points, and what did they cost?
- Lessons
- What would you tell a team about to do this again?
When to use the Highlights and Lowlights retrospective
- Quarterly, programme-increment, or end-of-project retrospectives
- Teams whose recent memory is dominated by the last two weeks of a four-month project
- Handover sessions, where the point is to leave a record for whoever comes next
How to run a Highlights and Lowlights retrospective
- Establish the timeline out loud first — the major events, in order, before anyone writes.
- Write silently for eight minutes; a long period needs more recall time.
- Read the cards in chronological order rather than by column.
- Spend the last third of the session entirely on Lessons, and export the board when you finish.
Run this retrospective in RetroCanvas
Highlights and Lowlights is built in — pick it when you create a board, or set it to recur automatically every sprint. Free, with no credit card required.