Mad Sad Glad
Description
A board with three color-coded areas, one for each emotion, is placed somewhere visible. Participants write on sticky notes of the matching color the events or situations from the sprint that trigger each of the three emotions, and share them on the board. Other participants can add votes to the notes they agree with.
Guidelines by column
If it is difficult to identify what to write in each column:
- Mad / angry: something that was irritating, uncomfortable, or annoying; a situation that made it difficult to work under optimal conditions.
- Sad / sad: something disappointing that is not quite irritating but should be improved, or that lowered the team's morale.
- Glad / happy: something satisfying that renewed enthusiasm or creates a sense of pride.
How to facilitate the activity
The activity should focus on events, behaviors, and processes, not on people. The goal is to analyze the situation constructively, not to assign blame.
The facilitator reads the notes grouped by column, invites discussion of the most-voted ones or those that generate the most divergent views, and guides the team toward identifying the most important topics to address in the next phase of the retrospective.
When to use it
- When the facilitator wants to explicitly include the emotional dimension of the sprint.
- As an alternative to Starfish when a simpler three-column structure is preferred.
- In emotionally charged sprints, such as launches or periods of organizational change.
Common mistake
Talking about people instead of situations. The "Mad" column in particular tends to drift toward comments about people ("it made me angry that X didn't deliver on time") instead of situations ("the code review process created a bottleneck"). The facilitator should actively redirect the conversation toward events and processes when comments become personal.
Resources
🔧 Diseñar una retrospectiva [Designing a Retrospective] (in Spanish)Template · Scrum Manager
References
- Derby, Esther; Larsen, Diana. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
See also
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