kanban

Retro-Kanban — Retrospective Actions Board

Board-specific rules for .beads/retro.db. Read sprint:kanban first for universal standards.

Board: .beads/retro.db (Beads database) Purpose: Process improvement cards generated by retrospectives — proposed by the retro, reviewed by team-lead, approved by user, implemented by agents.

---

Board View

# All open cards by lane
bd list -l board-retro --json | jq 'group_by(.labels)'

# Cards awaiting review (backlog)
bd list -l board-retro -l lane-backlog --json

# Approved, ready for implementation
bd list -l board-retro -l lane-approved --json

# In progress
bd list -l board-retro -s in_progress --json

---

Lane Mapping

Lane	Status	Label
Backlog	open (default)	lane-backlog
Approved	open	lane-approved
In Progress	in_progress (set by --claim)	lane-in-progress
Done	closed (via bd close)	(none)

---

Creating Cards

bd create "Improve X" \
  --prefix retro \
  -p 1 -t task \
  --labels "board-retro,lane-backlog,target-skill,cat-improve,effort-m,session-YYYY-MM-DD" \
  --description "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Finding
[1-2 sentences describing the observed problem or pattern]

## Sources
- [agent name]: [observation]

## Recommendation
[What to do]

## Effort
[S/M/L and explanation]

## Priority
[Critical/High/Medium/Low and rationale]
EOF
)"

Card IDs are assigned automatically by Beads (e.g., retro-a1b2). The session-YYYY-MM-DD label ties cards to their retrospective session.

Priority Mapping

Priority	-p value
Critical	0
High	1
Medium	2
Low	3

Label Conventions

Metadata	Label format
target: skill	target-skill
target: memory	target-memory
target: agent	target-agent
target: claude-md	target-claude-md
target: protocol	target-protocol
category: improve	cat-improve
category: keep-doing	cat-keep-doing
category: learn	cat-learn
effort: S	effort-s
effort: M	effort-m
effort: L	effort-l
session date	session-YYYY-MM-DD
source weight: High	weight-high
verification required	verification-required

---

Scrum (Dedup Pass)

Before presenting cards to the user, run a dedup pass across all backlog cards:

# List all backlog cards
bd list -l board-retro -l lane-backlog --json | jq '[.[] | {id, title, labels}]'

# Search for near-duplicates on specific terms
bd search "agent shutdown"

1. Review all backlog cards together
2. Identify near-duplicates (same finding, same target, similar recommendation)
3. Merge duplicates: close the weaker one with bd close --reason "Merged into <id>", update the surviving card with bd update <id> --append-notes "Merged evidence from <closed-id>."
4. Present the cleaned set to the user

Goal: present the user with a clean set of distinct, actionable cards. The scrum is an activity (a review pass), not a board status.

---

User Review Flow

Fast-Path Criteria

A card qualifies for "Apply Now" if ALL of the following are true:

• Pure wording or description change — no new steps, gates, or behavioral requirements
• <= 5 lines of diff
• Single file, no cross-file dependencies
• Change is immediately verifiable by reading the diff alone

Present each reviewed card to the user via AskUserQuestion with markdown previews (max 4 cards per call):

Question: "Action Card: [card title]"
Options:
  - "Approve" (description: "Move to approved lane, ready for implementation")
    markdown: |
      **ID**: <card-id>
      **Category**: keep-doing | improve | learn
      **Target**: memory | skill | protocol | ...
      **Priority**: Critical | High | Medium

      **Finding**: [1-2 sentence summary]
      **Recommendation**: [what to do]
      **Effort**: S | M | L
  - "Apply Now" (description: "Trivial fix -- apply immediately and close this session")
    [Only offer this option when the card meets all fast-path criteria above]
  - "Reject" (description: "Close card -- not aligned with current direction")
  - "Modify" (description: "Discuss changes before deciding")

After user decisions:

# Approve: move from backlog to approved lane
bd update <id> --remove-label lane-backlog --add-label lane-approved

# Apply Now (trivial, immediate): apply change, then close
bd close <id> --reason "Applied immediately: [summary of change made]"

# Reject: close with reason
bd close <id> --reason "Rejected: [reason]"

# Modify: update description, then approve
bd update <id> --description "Updated description..."
bd update <id> --remove-label lane-backlog --add-label lane-approved

User may identify missing cards during review — create them directly with the lane-approved label.

---

Implementation Lifecycle

After a card is in the approved lane:

1. Agent claims it: bd update <id> --claim --add-label lane-in-progress (atomically sets assignee + status=in_progress)
2. Agent implements the change
3. Verified complete: bd close <id> --reason "Implemented: [summary]"

Closed cards are kept as institutional memory — they are not deleted.

Verification Gate (discipline-enforcement cards)

Cards with the verification-required label cannot be closed until verification evidence is added:

# Add verification evidence
bd update <id> --append-notes "verification_evidence: [sprint, agent, observation]"

# Only then close it
bd close <id> --reason "Implemented and verified."

verification_evidence must contain: sprint name or date, agent name, and a transcript snippet or observation confirming the gate was followed at least once.

Without this evidence, the change may have been written but not adopted. Closing the card without evidence claims success you cannot support.

---

Rejection Note

Per the universal rule (sprint:kanban), rejected cards are closed. Exception for retro cards:

Rejected cards may be kept open with a note documenting the rejection reason if the reason has strategic memory value (e.g., "We're removing jQuery, don't invest in understanding it — retro 2026-02-21"). Future retros can search rejection history to avoid re-proposing superseded ideas.

# Strategic rejection (keep for memory)
bd update <id> --append-notes "Rejection reason (strategic): [reason]"
bd update <id> --remove-label lane-backlog --add-label lane-rejected

# Default rejection (close)
bd close <id> --reason "Rejected: [reason]"

Default: close rejected cards unless the rejection reason reveals strategic direction worth preserving.

---

Cross-References

• Universal kanban rules: sprint:kanban
• Card template: retro:session (references/action-card-template.md)
• Feedback targets: retro:session (references/feedback-targets.md)
• Cards generated by: /retro:session Phases 6-7