Purpose

The Three Little Pigs Retrospective uses the classic fairy tale to help teams evaluate the robustness of their work. Participants sort practices into three categories: straw (fragile, easily broken), sticks (okay but could be stronger), and bricks (solid, reliable). This playful metaphor makes it easy to discuss quality and resilience without defensiveness.

At a glance

• Group size: 3–12 people
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Facilitation style: Semi-structured
• Setting: Both / Remote-friendly

How to run

1. Draw three houses on a board: straw, sticks, bricks.
2. Silent brainstorming: participants write sticky notes about processes, tools, or practices and assign them to a house (5 minutes).
3. Share and place notes house by house (8 minutes).
4. Discuss: how can we move straw items to sticks, and sticks to bricks? (7 minutes).
5. Pick 1–2 straw items to reinforce and agree on actions (5 minutes).

Materials needed

• Whiteboard or digital board with three house drawings
• Sticky notes (three colours)
• Markers
• Timer

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Everything ending up in bricks because the team avoids self-criticism — challenge with specific examples.
• Focusing only on straw and ignoring what makes bricks strong.
• Not defining what would move a straw item to bricks (missing actionable criteria).

Inclusion & accessibility

• The fairy tale is widely known across cultures, but briefly explain the metaphor for anyone unfamiliar.
• Allow anonymous placement to encourage honest assessment.
• Use visual icons (house images) alongside text for neurodiverse participants.

Variations

• Big Bad Wolf: add a wolf representing external threats and discuss how each house withstands them.
• Building Inspector: one person plays inspector and challenges each brick-house claim.
• Renovation Plan: focus entirely on straw items and create detailed improvement plans.

When NOT to use this

• When the team needs an emotional check-in rather than a quality assessment — use Mad Sad Glad.
• When the focus is on interpersonal dynamics rather than processes or artifacts.

Source & further reading

• Agile coaching community (various sources).
• Retromat (retromat.org).