Deploying FastAPI on AWS App Runner: A Production-Ready Guide with CI/CD
Marcelo Bittencourt | Jan 28, 2026
Summary
- Sprint Retrospectives can be made engaging by introducing creative formats like the Team Radar, which keeps teams excited rather than disengaged.
- Team Radar is a visual tool similar to a Competency Wheel that allows teams to rate and map various soft and technical topics, making it easy to identify areas needing discussion.
- The process involves individually rating topics on a scale, connecting the dots to form a personal radar, then combining all inputs into a shared team radar to spark meaningful conversations and action items.
- The approach proved successful in generating valuable discussions and team-proposed topics, confirming it as a repeatable and enjoyable retrospective format.
One of my favorite parts of the PM job is to search and try new and fun ways of conducting Sprint Retrospectives. =]
Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.
I like to think that when we start the retrospective the team is feeling like: “Yay! How are we going to tackle retrospective today? I’m so excited!” instead of “Oh okay, we’re doing that again.”
Interested to have a big picture of what’s happening inside the team? Let’s get to it!
About Team Radar
Team Radar is very similar to the Competency Wheel. Radars are great because it presents data in a visual way, helping the teams understanding the present moment through a variety of topics. Since it is a visual tool, you can easily map “hot” topics and open the channel to start the discussions around it.
Prep work
I’ve created a template with the topics I selected for this first Radar and printed copies for all the team. I selected some soft topics (collaboration, partner contact, fun) and mixed it up with technical topics (technical debt, definition of done, refactoring, scrum and design).
I also created a spreadsheet to record each one of the team’s inputs and quickly have the ability to assess the most important topics to discuss.
Conducting Team Radar
Start of retrospective
I’ve started the retrospective by sharing with the team what we would be doing and created a shared understanding regarding each one of the listed topics. We defined what would represent the smallest and highest values for each one of them.
Filling out the team radar
Using Radar’s printed version I asked the team to individually rate the topics based on what we defined for each one of them. We’ve used the scale from 1 to 10 and everyone marked down their answers. Refactoring and Technical Debt were the only ones that the smaller the value the better (less refactoring/rework, less technical debt for whatever reason).
Connecting the dots
Once everyone was done with rating the topics, I’ve asked them to connect the dots from the eight axis. Now everyone had their individual radar. It was so fun because some of them used their creativity to fill the radar out as you can check below:
Taking it to the next level
We then transposed all this rich data into the spreadsheet and the result was the team’s radar as follows:
I displayed the team Radar on a big screen and the conversation about the most relevant topics started. We documented the key takeaways and generated some important action items from there.
Conclusions
The team had fun and I did too! It generated a lot of great discussions about the defined topics. The team also had the chance to propose some other topics to be discussed next time – this means we will do another radar retrospective for sure.
References
FAQ
What is a Team Radar retrospective?
Team Radar is a visual retrospective technique similar to the Competency Wheel. It presents data across multiple topics in a radar chart format, helping teams understand their current situation and identify 'hot' topics that need discussion.
How do you prepare for a Team Radar retrospective?
Preparation involves selecting a mix of soft topics (e.g., collaboration, fun) and technical topics (e.g., technical debt, refactoring, scrum), creating printed radar templates for each team member, and setting up a spreadsheet to record and assess the team's inputs.
How is the Team Radar activity conducted during the retrospective?
The facilitator explains each topic and defines what the lowest and highest values represent. Team members individually rate each topic on a scale of 1 to 10, connect the dots across the eight axes to form their personal radar, and then all inputs are compiled into a shared team radar for group discussion.
What were the outcomes of running the Team Radar retrospective?
The session generated meaningful discussions around the selected topics, produced key takeaways and actionable items, and allowed team members to suggest new topics for future retrospectives, making it a repeatable and engaging format.
Why is the Team Radar considered an effective retrospective format?
It is effective because it is visual and engaging, encourages individual reflection before group discussion, covers both technical and interpersonal topics, and makes it easy to spot areas that need the most attention, keeping the team excited about retrospectives.
About the author.
