A structured four-column retro format — Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For — that balances positive reinforcement with honest improvement areas.
Drag example cards between columns or try voting to explore the format.
What did the team enjoy? What went well? Successes and positive moments.
The new deployment pipeline — deployments are boring now
Pair programming session on the payment module
Team retro offsite — great conversations
What did the team discover? New insights, skills, or knowledge gained.
PostgreSQL connection pooling dramatically improved latency
Our users strongly prefer keyboard shortcuts over mouse navigation
The legacy billing system has undocumented edge cases
What was missing? Resources, tools, support, or information the team needed.
Clear acceptance criteria before sprint planning
A proper staging environment that mirrors production
Time allocated for addressing tech debt
What does the team wish for? Aspirations, ideas, and dreams for future sprints.
Dedicated product designer embedded in the squad
Automated end-to-end testing for critical user flows
Monthly hack days for innovation and side projects
Use these prompts and example cards to start a focused conversation.
What did the team enjoy? What went well? Successes and positive moments.
Example cards
Keep in mind: Don't rush through this column — savor the wins
What did the team discover? New insights, skills, or knowledge gained.
Example cards
Keep in mind: Don't confuse Learned with Liked — this is about knowledge, not enjoyment
What was missing? Resources, tools, support, or information the team needed.
Example cards
Keep in mind: Don't treat this as a complaint section — focus on missing enablers
What does the team wish for? Aspirations, ideas, and dreams for future sprints.
Example cards
Keep in mind: Don't constrain Longed For by budget or feasibility — that's for later
4Ls takes about 25–35 min. Here's the flow.
Explain the four columns. Emphasize that Longed For is aspirational — no budget or feasibility constraints.
Team adds cards to each column silently. Aim for at least 2 cards per column.
Group related cards and vote. Liked and Learned often cluster together thematically.
Discuss the top 2-3 themes from each column. Longed For deserves extra discussion time.
Convert themes into concrete action items. Assign owners and due dates.
The 4Ls retrospective — Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For — is one of the most comprehensive Agile retrospective formats available. It provides four distinct lenses for examining a sprint, capturing both the rational (Learned) and emotional (Liked, Lacked, Longed For) dimensions of team experience.
Originating from the Lean and Agile continuous improvement tradition, 4Ls was designed to address a common problem with simpler formats: they don't capture enough dimensions of team experience. Start/Stop/Continue is behavioral but lacks emotional depth. Mad/Sad/Glad is emotional but lacks learning capture. 4Ls bridges both worlds, making it a favorite of product teams and Scrum Masters who need a complete picture of sprint health.
The psychological framework behind 4Ls is rooted in experiential learning theory. The Learned column captures explicit knowledge transfer. Liked reinforces positive experiences through gratitude and recognition. Lacked creates space for identifying resource or support gaps. Longed For taps into aspirational thinking — what could the team achieve if constraints were removed? Together, these four columns create a complete learning cycle: experience, reflect, identify gaps, aspire.
If you like 4Ls, you might also enjoy these formats.
An emotion-based retro format that gives team members a safe space to express frustrations, concerns, and wins — building psychological safety and honest communication.
A four-column continuous improvement format — Drop, Add, Keep, Improve — that combines Start/Stop/Continue simplicity with actionable improvement granularity.
A forward-looking retrospective format that helps goal-oriented teams reflect on progress, identify blockers, and plan the next sprint like climbing a mountain.
A focused two-column retro format — What Went Well and Needs Better — that balances celebration with honest improvement in the shortest possible time.
4Ls is a retrospective format with four columns: Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed For. It captures both emotional responses and analytical insights from a sprint.
4Ls adds Learned and Longed For, which capture knowledge and aspirations. It's deeper and takes longer, making it better for quarterly or monthly retros.
25–35 minutes is recommended. The extra column adds depth but also time — don't rush the Longed For discussion.
Yes — LetRetro's async boards let remote team members contribute to all four columns asynchronously, with real-time discussion scheduled for top-voted items.
That's useful data — repeated themes across Liked or Lacked columns are strong signals for action. Cluster them and prioritize.
LetRetro's AI identifies patterns across all four columns, tracks Longed For items that keep recurring, and generates summary reports for stakeholders.
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