Rose Thorn Bud Retrospective
Celebrate wins, name pain points, and spot emerging opportunities.
Rose Thorn Bud is a retrospective format that balances celebration with honest problem-naming—and uniquely asks the team to look forward at opportunities that could bloom into improvements.
Board columns
Rose
Positives worth celebrating. Wins from the sprint, smooth collaborations, successful deliveries, or moments of team growth.
Thorn
Pain points and friction. Blockers, frustrations, process failures, or repeated problems that need addressing.
Bud
Emerging opportunities. Ideas, experiments, or small signals that—if nurtured—could grow into significant improvements.
When to use this template
Use Rose Thorn Bud when you want to balance celebration with honest problem-naming and forward-looking thinking. Effective after sprints where the team has mixed feelings—some wins, some frustrations, and nascent ideas worth exploring.
How to run it
- 1
Set a positive, curious tone.
- 2
Give 8 minutes to write privately across all three columns.
- 3
Reveal Roses first to set a positive opening.
- 4
Group Thorns by theme and vote on the most impactful.
- 5
Read Buds together and discuss which opportunities are worth experimenting on next sprint.
- 6
Close with one Thorn to address and one Bud to pursue, each with an owner.
Facilitation tips
Buds are the most valuable column—they represent innovation the team generates itself.
Avoid letting Thorns dominate the discussion; timebox each theme.
Track Buds across retros to see which experiments were tried and what the team learned.
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