FacilitationBeginner

Retrospective Prime Directive

A short ritual created by Norm Kerth that is read aloud at the start of any retrospective. The Prime Directive states: 'Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.' It establishes psychological safety by explicitly ruling out blame before discussion begins.

Duration

5m–10m

Group size

2–50 people

Origin

Community

How to run it

1
At the start of the retrospective, read the Prime Directive aloud.
2
Ask the group if everyone can commit to it for the duration of the session.
3
If anyone raises an objection, discuss it briefly — this is important data about trust or past experiences.
4
Proceed with the retrospective under the shared understanding established by the directive.

Tips

Don't rush past it — taking 2 minutes to have people genuinely affirm it (not just hear it) changes the quality of what follows.
If a team has experienced blame-heavy retrospectives before, this ritual is especially important.

Variations

Create a custom Prime Directive for your team or organisation. Post it visibly during the retrospective as a reference point if discussion becomes heated.

Where it fits

Sprint retrospectivesProject post-mortemsIncident reviewsAny high-stakes team reflection

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Method descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices.