What is the 4Ls retrospective?
The 4Ls is a retrospective format with four columns, each a prompt about the last sprint. Where Start, Stop, Continue pushes straight to actions, the 4Ls first makes room for reflection, which is why it works so well after a sprint with a lot going on.
Liked
What went well and felt good. Wins, smooth handovers, a tool that paid off. The things worth doing again on purpose.
Learned
What the team knows now that it did not at the start of the sprint. Technical discoveries, process lessons, facts about the users or the system.
Lacked
What was missing that the team needed during this sprint. Information, access, time, a decision, a person.
Longed For
What the team wishes it had, even if it is bigger than one sprint. This is where ambitions and structural asks surface.
The split between Lacked and Longed For is the format's best trick: it lets a team say "we needed a staging environment this sprint" and "we wish we had a dedicated tester" without the two getting muddled into one complaint.
How to run one (about 45 minutes)
- Set the frame (2 min). Name the sprint or the piece of work being reviewed. The 4Ls drifts if the scope is vague.
- Collect (10 min). Everyone adds notes to all four columns silently. Ask for at least one note in Learned; it is the column people skip and the one with the most durable value.
- Group (5 min). Cluster near-duplicates so themes stand out.
- Vote (5 min). A few votes each, across all columns. Let the team decide what deserves discussion.
- Discuss and act (20 min). Work through the top-voted items. Lacked items usually become action items for next sprint; Longed For items become conversations with whoever can grant them; Learned items get written down somewhere the next person can find them.
4Ls examples for software teams
Liked
- Pairing on the payment integration meant nobody was blocked waiting for a review.
- The feature flag let us ship the new editor dark and switch it on gradually.
- Standup stayed under ten minutes all sprint.
Learned
- The reporting job times out above roughly 50,000 rows; we found the limit the hard way.
- Customers use the export far more than the dashboard, which changes what we should polish.
- The migration script needs a dry-run mode; we improvised one and should keep it.
Lacked
- A staging database with realistic data; we tested against an empty one.
- A decision on the pricing change before we started building the checkout.
- Anyone with production access on Friday afternoon.
Longed for
- A dedicated tester, or at least half of one.
- An on-call rotation with a written escalation path.
- A sprint with no interrupts so we can finish the refactor properly.
Facilitation tips
- Protect the Learned column. If it stays empty, prompt: "What would you tell someone joining next sprint?" That question always fills it.
- Do not let Longed For become a wish list with no follow-up. Pick one item and decide who will raise it, with whom, by when.
- Collect anonymously. Lacked and Longed For are where people name management or resourcing problems, and they will only do that if the note is not attributed.
- Write down the Learned items outside the retro tool. A wiki page or a README note. The retro board is where knowledge is found; the wiki is where it survives.
Questions teams ask
What does 4Ls stand for?
Liked, Learned, Lacked and Longed For. What went well, what the team now knows, what was missing, and what the team wishes it had.
When should we use it instead of Start, Stop, Continue?
When there is a lot to digest: a big release, a migration, an incident, or the first sprint on something new. Use Start, Stop, Continue when you mostly want decisions.
How long does it take?
About 45 minutes for six to eight people. It runs longer than a three-column format because of the discussion the Learned column generates; that is the point.
What is the difference between Lacked and Longed For?
Lacked is specific to this sprint and usually fixable next sprint. Longed For is aspirational and often needs someone outside the team to grant it.
More retrospective formats
See all five templates with guidance on choosing between them: Sprint retrospective templates. Related formats: Start, Stop, Continue, Mad, Sad, Glad, Sailboat, Rose, Bud, Thorn.
Run a 4Ls retrospective now
Create a board with the four columns, share the link, collect anonymously, vote, assign actions. No account required for the team.
Start the retro