The Review phase

Review is where the conversation happens. It’s the last of the three guided phases — Feedback → Vote → Review — and the only one that changes what the board looks like.

The columns go away. In their place: a discussion list on the left and a single enlarged card on a lit stage in the middle. Everyone in the room is looking at the same card.

The discussion list

Every card on the board appears in the list, sorted by dot votes, highest first. Ties break by the card’s position on the board, so every participant’s list is in exactly the same order.

Each row shows its column tag, its vote count, and a two-line preview. Rows already discussed carry a green check and dim to the background.

Only the facilitator can move the spotlight. Selecting a row puts that card on the stage for everyone; the dock’s Next card advances to the highest-voted card nobody has discussed yet and marks the one you’re leaving behind as discussed. Participants’ lists follow along and scroll to keep the current row in view.

Why a spotlight instead of the board

A retro that discusses “the board” discusses whatever is loudest. Half the room is reading ahead, someone is still voting, and the thread wanders to the third card down because someone remembered something.

Putting one card in front of everyone at a time is a small piece of enforcement that does most of the facilitation for you. The discussion has a subject, the room can see how far down the list it is, and moving on is an explicit act rather than a drift.

Capturing the outcome

Each staged card has a Comments panel underneath it. That’s the record.

Comments are attributed the same way cards are — visible on an attributed board, masked on an anonymous one — and stamped with the time. Anyone can post; the author or the facilitator can remove.

Note

Whatever the team decides has to be typed into the comment thread. Nothing else in the session persists: the discussion isn’t recorded, and the summary carries cards, votes, and comment counts — not what was said out loud.

How far down to go

Not to the bottom. The votes are telling you where the value stops, and the discussion list’s dimming rows show you the tail.

Three or four cards is a normal retro. When the vote counts flatten into a run of ones, the room has stopped prioritising and started listing — that’s the moment to close, not the moment to work harder.

Ending from here

Once no un-discussed card remains, the dock’s primary action changes from Next card to Finish & summarize. You can end earlier too — End retro is always available in the dock.

Ending freezes the board and takes everyone to the Summary, which keeps the spotlight’s ranking as its Top voted list.