Facilitator Overview

What it means to facilitate a retro in Unpack

The facilitator is the person responsible for guiding the team through a retrospective session. In Unpack, any team member with the appropriate permissions can take on this role, but only one person facilitates a given retrospective at a time.

As the facilitator, your job is to keep the session moving, ensure every voice is heard, and help the team arrive at meaningful action items. You are not the decision-maker or the manager of the retro — you are the guide who creates the conditions for productive conversation.

Unpack provides a set of tools designed specifically to support you in this role, so you can focus on the conversation rather than the mechanics of running the session.

Facilitator-specific controls and permissions

When you are assigned as the facilitator of a retrospective, you gain access to a set of controls that other participants do not see. These controls allow you to manage the flow and pace of the session without interrupting the participant experience.

Phase management

• Phase advancement — Only the facilitator can move the retro forward or backward through its phases (check-in, reflect, group, vote, discuss, commit). This ensures that the team progresses together at a deliberate pace.
• Phase retreat — If you advance too early, you can step back to the previous phase. Unpack warns you about any data implications before confirming.

Session controls

• Timer controls — Start, pause, reset, and adjust the countdown timer for each phase. Timers are visible to all participants and help set expectations.
• Card management — Merge, unmerge, and reorder cards and card groups across columns during the grouping and discussion phases.
• Discussion ordering — Set the order in which card groups are discussed, or let Unpack sort them automatically by vote count.
• Action item creation — Draft, assign, and finalize action items during the commit phase. You can also use AI to generate initial drafts.

AI and session tools

• AI tools — Trigger AI-powered suggestions for card grouping, discussion prompts, theme identification, and SMART action item drafts.
• Session close — End the retrospective and lock it for future reference. Once closed, the retro becomes a read-only record that the team can revisit.

The facilitator's view vs the participant's view

The facilitator and participants see the same board layout — the same columns, cards, and real-time updates. However, the facilitator's interface includes additional controls layered on top of the standard view.

Facilitator view

As a facilitator, your screen includes the following additional elements:

• A persistent control bar at the top of the board with phase navigation buttons, the timer, and quick-access AI actions.
• A readiness indicator showing how many participants have marked themselves ready for the next phase, displayed as both a count and a progress bar.
• Inline controls on cards and card groups for merging, splitting, and reordering. These controls appear on hover and do not clutter the default view.
• A facilitator sidebar with discussion notes, AI-suggested talking points, and a checklist of topics to cover during the current phase.

Participant view

Participants see a cleaner interface focused on contribution rather than management:

• The same board columns and cards, but without phase advancement or timer controls.
• A "Ready" button to signal that they have finished the current phase's activity (writing cards, casting votes, etc.).
• The ability to add, edit, and delete their own cards during the reflect phase. Once the reflect phase ends, cards are locked for editing.
• Voting controls during the vote phase, with a visible vote budget showing how many votes they have remaining.

This separation ensures that participants can focus on contributing their thoughts and feedback, while the facilitator manages the session flow without causing confusion or distraction.

Tools available to facilitators

Unpack equips facilitators with a comprehensive suite of tools to run smooth, effective retrospectives. Here is an overview of each tool and when to use it.

1. Phase controls — Advance or retreat through the retro phases. Each phase unlocks different participant capabilities and presents different facilitator options.
2. Timer — Set time limits for each phase to keep the session on track. The timer is visible to all participants and sends a notification when it expires.
3. Readiness tracking — See at a glance how many participants are ready to move on. This helps you make informed decisions about when to advance.
4. AI Co-pilot — Access AI-generated suggestions for card grouping, discussion prompts, theme analysis, and SMART action items.
5. Card grouping — Drag and drop cards into groups, or use AI-assisted smart grouping to cluster related feedback automatically.
6. Discussion queue — Organize card groups into a discussion order. Groups with the most votes are surfaced first by default, but you can reorder them manually.
7. Action item builder — Create action items with assignees, due dates, and descriptions. AI can draft these for you based on the discussion.
8. Carry-over review — Review unfinished action items from previous retros and decide whether to carry them forward, mark them complete, or drop them.
9. Session export — Export the retrospective summary, including all cards, votes, and action items, to share with stakeholders or archive externally.

Getting started as a facilitator

To facilitate a retrospective, you need to either create a new retro (which assigns you as the facilitator by default) or be assigned the facilitator role by the current facilitator or a team admin.

1. Navigate to your team's dashboard and select New Retrospective.
2. Choose a template and configure the session settings, including timer defaults, anonymous mode, and icebreaker questions.
3. Share the retro link with your team, or let them join from the team dashboard where the new retro will appear automatically.
4. When participants have joined, advance from the draft phase to check-in to begin the session.

Assigning a different facilitator

If you want someone else to facilitate a retro you created, open the retro settings and use the Assign Facilitator dropdown to select another team member. The new facilitator will immediately gain access to all facilitator controls, and you will revert to the participant view.

The remaining articles in this guide walk through each aspect of facilitation in detail, from running effective retros to managing participation, handling phase transitions, and working with carry-over action items.