The Mad, Sad, Glad Retrospective (When Feelings Are the Data)
Mad, Sad, Glad is an emotions-first retrospective. Instead of asking what to start or stop, it asks how the sprint felt: what made you mad, what made you sad, and what made you glad? For teams where morale, friction, or burnout is the real story, this format gets to the truth faster than any process-focused one.
The three emotions
Mad
What frustrated or angered you? Blockers, repeated interruptions, broken tooling, unclear priorities — "Mad" captures the things that made work harder than it needed to be.
Sad
What disappointed you? Missed goals, dropped quality, a feature that didn't land, or a teammate leaving. "Sad" is quieter than "Mad" but often points to what the team cares about most.
Glad
What made you happy or proud? Wins, good collaboration, a smooth release, help from a teammate. Naming these protects the habits worth keeping and lifts the room before harder conversations.
Why emotions belong in a retrospective
Feelings are data. When someone is repeatedly "mad" about the same thing, that's a signal about a systemic problem the burndown chart will never show. Mad, Sad, Glad gives teams permission to name that signal out loud — which is only possible when people feel safe. If honesty is a struggle on your team, start with psychological safety in software teams.
Let people be honest about how it felt
Sörk supports anonymous, async feedback — so the quiet 'Sad' that no one says out loud finally makes it onto the board. Free to start.
Start freeHow to run a Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective
- Frame it as safe (2 min). Emotions only surface if people trust the room. Say plainly that this is blameless.
- Reflect individually (8 min). Everyone adds items under Mad, Sad, and Glad privately.
- Share (15 min). Go column by column. Start with Glad to build warmth before Mad and Sad.
- Find patterns (10 min). Cluster related feelings — recurring frustrations are your priority.
- Act (10 min). Pick one or two things to change, with a clear expected outcome.
When to use it
- After a stressful or emotionally charged sprint
- When you suspect morale or burnout is the real issue
- When process-focused retros keep missing the point
If you'd rather focus on concrete next steps, pair or alternate this with Start, Stop, Continue. For a more learning-oriented lens, try the 4Ls.
Anger and disappointment are just information about what your team values.
Turning feelings into change
The trap with emotional retros is stopping at catharsis. Venting feels productive but changes nothing unless you convert the strongest feelings into owned commitments and follow up next sprint. Grab a ready-to-run layout from our templates page.