Whether you’re celebrating a recent win, or recouping from an unexpected loss, FigJam’s What, So What, Now What reflection exercise can reveal rocky seas and welcome fresh perspectives.
Collect reflections from every member of your team, even if they’re located halfway across the globe.
Don’t let stumbling blocks take your team down—use them to build towards something better.
Find the holes, fill them up: Discuss successes and failures with your team and stakeholders in a collaborative, constructive way.
See a different side of things: Compare and contrast the experiences of team members to gain a well-rounded understanding.
Build a reflection routine: Teach reflection as a tool, and encourage its regular use.
One person’s perspective is useful. An entire team’s worth of perspectives can shift the paradigm. With collaborative plug-ins like votes, alignment charts, and org charts, FigJam’s ultra-accesible platform makes it simple—and fun—to survey your entire organization.
Keep each other accountable and back each other up on your action plan with a What, So What, Now What protocol. Then, move forward together with templates from our Community.
The What, So What, Now What format includes three main parts:
Here are a few example questions for each of the three sections.
What – What is one positive occurrence you witnessed? What is one negative occurrence you witnessed? Can you summarize the event in one sentence?
So what – How did you feel before and after the event? Can you describe the emotional reactions of your teammates? What mood word would you use to describe the event?
Now what – What parts of the event are worth repeating? What parts of the event should we avoid in the future? Should we try something different next time?
While the questions you raise in your What, So What, Now What strategy meetings will likely depend on projects and scenarios unique to your team, sometimes it can be helpful to glance at a list of sample questions to get the ball rolling on everyone’s reaction.
Here are a handful of questions that commonly pop up in these retrospective meetings:
For more inspiration, check out FigJam’s free What, So What, Now What examples.
Explore even more templates, widgets, and plugins—all built by the Figma community.