BoardSnap is an iOS app that reads sailboat retrospective whiteboards and turns the metaphor's four zones into a structured team review with prioritized action items.
The sailboat (or speedboat) retrospective replaces abstract columns with a metaphor: the team is a boat sailing toward an island (the goal). Winds push you forward. Anchors drag you back. Rocks ahead are risks. The island is the vision.
The metaphor makes the session more engaging, especially for teams that have done Start/Stop/Continue too many times. But the metaphor also makes it harder to extract the output. A photo of a sailboat drawing covered in sticky notes is cute; it's not a work document.
BoardSnap reads the metaphor and turns it back into structured output.
A simple boat with a sail, anchors below, an island in the distance, and rocks between the boat and the island. Sketch in two minutes — it doesn't have to be pretty.
Winds (what's helping us move forward), Anchors (what's slowing us down), Rocks (upcoming risks), Island (our goal). Labels are how BoardSnap maps zones to their outputs.
Each participant adds notes to the relevant zones. Silent first, then discuss. Five to ten minutes per phase.
Anchors are the most actionable zone. Dot-vote to identify the heaviest ones — these become the primary action items.
Rocks should be specific and upcoming. 'Competitor launch Q3' or 'dependency on vendor API.' Named risks are more useful than vague worries.
BoardSnap reads all four zones, the sticky note text in each, vote counts if any, and any annotations on the drawing itself.
A four-section retrospective document: Winds (positive factors to sustain), Anchors (blockers and drags with action items), Rocks (upcoming risks with mitigation notes), Island (goal statement or vision). Anchors become tri-state action items. Rocks become risk items. The metaphor is preserved in the section names but the output is fully professional.
Seven winds, nine anchors, four rocks, and a clearly stated island. BoardSnap identified three anchors with four or more votes as immediate action items and produced a risk summary from the rocks for the product review.
A founder team used the sailboat format at their offsite. The island was their six-month company goal. BoardSnap's output became the offsite action plan document, distributed to advisors for accountability.
Similar, but not identical. The speedboat format typically uses engines (what's driving us) and anchors (what's slowing us), without the risks/rocks element. The sailboat adds rocks for risks. BoardSnap reads both — see the speedboat-retro use case for the speedboat-specific workflow.
No. BoardSnap reads text, not art. The drawing just organizes the zones. A five-line boat sketch works as well as a detailed illustration — as long as the zone labels are clear.
BoardSnap reads where notes are placed, not where they should be. If you move misplaced notes before snapping, the output is more accurate. Alternatively, the project chat can help you re-sort items across sessions.
Yes. Run the in-person portion with the physical board, snap it with BoardSnap, and share the output with remote participants. It's more effective than hybrid digital tools because one surface owns the session.
Snap the board, ship the action items in ten seconds.