Retrospective
A retrospective is an Agile meeting in which the team reflects on completed work to identify successes, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
“A regular event in which team members discuss results, review their practices, and identify ways to improve.”
(Definition reproduced from the ISTQB Glossary. Copyright belongs to ISTQB.)
View the complete ISTQB GlossaryWhat is Retrospective?
Retrospectives encourage continuous improvement by discussing what went well, what could be improved, and which actions should be taken next.
Team reflection: Participants review the previous iteration.
Continuous improvement: Action items guide future work.
Collaborative discussion: Everyone contributes ideas and feedback.
Real World Example
A regulated product team is preparing a release where Retrospective appears in reviews, test design conversations, or defect triage rather than as an isolated glossary word.
The risk is that the team treats Retrospective as interchangeable with nearby ISTQB terms. That makes test scope blurry and can lead to weak evidence for the release decision.
The tester anchors the discussion in the official definition, asks where the concept appears in the product, and designs examples that show the difference between Retrospective and similar ideas.
The page becomes useful in practice because Retrospective is connected to a specific testing decision, not memorized as a detached definition.
Practice Questions
Question 1
Which statement BEST describes Retrospective in the context of ISTQB terminology?
Question 2
A tester needs to explain Retrospective to a non‑technical stakeholder. Which approach is MOST appropriate?
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