Purpose

The One Thing Retrospective distills the entire retrospective into a single question: if we could change only one thing for the next sprint, what would it be? By forcing the team to prioritize ruthlessly, it cuts through noise and creates a singular, high-impact commitment. It is ideal when time is extremely limited or when the team suffers from action-item overload.

At a glance

• Group size: 3–15 people
• Duration: 5 minutes
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Facilitation style: Structured
• Setting: Both / Remote-friendly

How to run

1. Ask the question: if we could change only one thing, what would it be? (1 minute to think).
2. Each person writes their one thing on a sticky note (1 minute).
3. Share round-robin (2 minutes).
4. If there is overlap, commit to that one thing. If not, dot-vote to pick one (1 minute).

Materials needed

• Sticky notes
• Markers
• Timer

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• People writing multiple things — enforce the one-thing constraint.
• The chosen thing being too vague — make it specific and actionable.
• Not following up on the one committed change.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Extremely accessible due to minimal time and language requirements.
• The constraint equalizes participation — everyone gets exactly one vote.
• Allow anonymous submission if needed.

Variations

• One Thing + Owner: pair the one thing with a responsible person and a deadline.
• One Thing Per Person: everyone commits to their own one thing individually.
• One Thing Check-in: start the next retro by reviewing whether the one thing was achieved.

When NOT to use this

• When there are multiple serious issues that need discussion.
• When the team has not done a full retrospective in a while and needs a comprehensive review.

Source & further reading

• Gary Keller, The ONE Thing (applied to agile retrospectives).
• Retromat (retromat.org).