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Project Retrospective & Post-Mortem Form

A team retrospective and post-mortem template for reviewing a finished project — what went well, what didn’t, and what to improve next time.

Description

Every project teaches you something — a retrospective is how you capture it before the details fade. This project retrospective and post-mortem template gives teams a simple, structured way to review a piece of work once it’s wrapped, so the wins get repeated and the mistakes don’t.

Team members rate how the project went overall, then reflect on the three things that matter most: what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you’d do differently next time. It also captures whether the work landed on time and on budget, each person’s role, and whether they’d take on something similar again — turning gut feel into patterns you can act on.

Use it after any client project, campaign, sprint or launch. Collect responses from everyone involved, spot the recurring themes, and feed the lessons straight into your next brief. Customize the questions, add your branding, and embed it on your site or share a link in minutes.

Form fields

Everything the Project Retrospective & Post-Mortem Form above collects — 11 fields, so you can see exactly what it captures before you make it your own.

Run the Retro

  • Client / project name

    Short Answer Icon
    Short Answer
  • Your role on this one

    Dropdown Icon
    Dropdown
  • Overall, how did this project go?

    Scale Icon
    Scale
  • What went well?

    Long Answer Icon
    Long Answer
  • What didn't go so well?

    Long Answer Icon
    Long Answer
  • What should we do differently next time?

    Long Answer Icon
    Long Answer
  • Did we deliver on time?

    Dropdown Icon
    Dropdown
  • Did we deliver on budget?

    Dropdown Icon
    Dropdown
  • Would you want to work on something like this again?

    Yes/No Icon
    Yes/No
  • Your name

    Name Icon
    Name
  • Email address

    Email Icon
    Email
Use Template Arrow Right Icon

Template FAQs

Common questions about the Project Retrospective & Post-Mortem Form — what it captures, when to use it, and how to make it your own.

What is a project retrospective, or post-mortem?

A project retrospective — often called a post-mortem — is a structured review a team runs after a project finishes, reflecting on what went well, what didn’t, and what to improve. It turns a completed project into lessons you can reuse on the next one.

What should a project retrospective form include?

A strong retrospective form captures an overall rating of how the project went, open questions on what went well, what fell short, and what to do differently, plus quick checks on whether it landed on time and on budget. Capturing each person’s role lets you weigh feedback by perspective.

When should you run a project post-mortem?

Run it as soon as the project wraps, while it’s still fresh — usually within a week of delivery. On longer projects, a mid-point retrospective helps you course-correct before the finish line. Either way, the sooner you run it, the more accurate and useful the lessons will be.

Who should fill out the retrospective?

Everyone who worked on the project, not just the leads. Designers, developers, account handlers and strategists each notice different things, so gathering the whole team’s view surfaces issues a single perspective would miss. The form captures each person’s role, so you can weigh the feedback by where they sat on the project.

What is the difference between a retrospective and a post-mortem?

They describe the same thing — a structured look back after a project. Post-mortem is often used when something went wrong and you’re diagnosing the cause, while a retrospective is the broader, blameless version focused on continuous improvement. This template suits both.

Is this project retrospective template free, and can I customize it?

Yes — it’s completely free. Add or remove questions, change the rating scale, restyle it to match your brand, then embed it on your site or share it as a link in minutes. No coding required. Just a free Fun Forms account to collect responses.