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Retrospective process steps define the work responders complete after an incident. Each process is made up of ordered steps that can be customized to match your organization’s retrospective workflow. You can configure each step with:
  • A title and description
  • Required or optional completion
  • A default owner based on an Incident Role
  • A due date based on when the incident was resolved
  • Slack and email reminders for the step owner
Each retrospective process must include at least one step. You cannot delete the last remaining step in a process.
Retrospective process step configuration

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Step Configuration Options

Each step can be configured in several ways to support your team’s process.

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Title and Description

Use the title and description fields to clearly define what the step is for and what responders are expected to complete.

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Required or Optional Steps

Steps can be either required or optional:
  • Required — The step must be completed before the retrospective can be fully resolved
  • Optional — The step can be skipped if it is not needed for that incident
Required steps still allow the due date to be adjusted if needed.

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Default Owner by Incident Role

You can assign a step to an Incident Role so the user holding that role on the incident becomes the default owner for the step. This helps automatically route work to the right responder without needing to manually assign each step.

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Due Dates

Step due dates are calculated relative to when the incident is resolved. Due dates are:
  • Based on business days after the incident is resolved
  • Calculated using the team’s timezone
  • Adjusted to business hours between 8am and 6pm
  • Moved forward when they would otherwise fall on a weekend
You can use standard due date options or enter a custom number of business days.

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Reminder Notifications

Steps can send reminders to the assigned owner using:
  • Slack
  • Email
Reminders can be scheduled:
  • Before the due date
  • On the due date
  • After the due date
For example, you might send a reminder 24 hours before a step is due, again on the due date, and another after it becomes overdue.

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Process Phases with Custom Statuses

If your workspace uses Custom Statuses, you can assign each step to a Retrospective Status. This allows steps to appear in different resolved phases, such as:
  • Retrospective
  • Follow-ups
This is useful when your retrospective workflow spans multiple phases after the incident has already been resolved.

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Legacy Process

If you want to recreate a simpler legacy-style retrospective flow, you can do so by combining mandatory retrospective preferences with a reduced set of process steps. To configure this setup:
  1. Navigate to Retrospectives → Preferences
  2. Edit When should the Retrospective be mandatory?
  3. Select all severities, incident types, or teams that should always require a retrospective
  4. Navigate to Retrospectives → Processes
  5. Open Default Retrospective
Retrospective preferences and mandatory configuration
  1. Remove all steps except:
    • Gather & Confirm Data
    • Write the Retrospective Document
  2. Save your changes
Default Retrospective process with only two steps remaining
This creates a lightweight two-step process that closely matches the earlier retrospective workflow.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Each step can include a title, description, required or optional behavior, a default owner based on an Incident Role, a due date, and reminder notifications. These settings let you tailor each step to match your team’s retrospective workflow.
Due dates are based on business days after the incident is resolved. Rootly calculates them using the team’s timezone, keeps them within business hours, and skips weekends when determining the due date.
If a step is assigned to an Incident Role, the user holding that role on the incident becomes the default owner for the step. This helps automatically assign retrospective work to the right responder.
Yes. Optional steps can be skipped when they are not needed for a particular incident. Required steps must be completed before the retrospective can be resolved.
No. Every retrospective process must include at least one step. You can edit, reorder, or remove steps, but you cannot delete the last remaining step in the process.
The legacy setup creates a simplified two-step workflow by keeping only the data-gathering and retrospective-document steps in the default process. This is useful if you want a lighter process that resembles earlier retrospective behavior.