How to Run a Post-Delivery Retrospective: A Team Template

Deliveries don’t end at the drop-off. For growing businesses, the real learning happens after the fact.

Running a post-delivery retrospective (PDR) is a powerful way to evaluate what went well, what didn’t, and how your team can improve moving forward—whether you're just coming off a busy holiday season, a new feature launch, or a major market expansion.

Download your free Google Sheet template here.

Why Post-Delivery Retrospectives Matter

After the rush of deliveries, it’s tempting to move straight into the next project—but pausing to reflect is where real progress happens. Skipping a retrospective can mean overlooking:

• Operational bottlenecks that may be slowing you down
• Repeated communication gaps that frustrate customers
• Missed opportunities for improved routing, staffing, or support

A short but focused retrospective keeps your team aligned and proactive—and helps build a culture of continuous improvement.

When to Run a PDR

• After a peak period (e.g., holidays, promos)
• Following a failed delivery batch or spike in support tickets
• When expanding into a new market or testing new delivery zones
• After implementing a new process, platform, or partner

Who Should Attend

• Ops/Logistics team
• Customer support
• Sales (if relevant to the initiative)
• Product/Tech (if involved in automation or tooling)
• Marketing (if the initiative impacted customer comms)

Tip: Keep it lean. The ideal group is 4–7 people who were directly involved.

Template: The 45-Minute PDR Meeting

1. Quick Recap (5 mins)

• What was the delivery initiative or timeframe?
• What was the intended outcome or goal?

2. What Worked Well? (10 mins)

• Which tools, processes, or communication strategies helped?
• Any cross-team wins or customer feedback worth repeating?

3. What Didn’t Go as Planned? (15 mins)

• Where were the friction points?
• Were there issues with volume, routing, staffing, timing, or customer comms?
• What signals (metrics, feedback, outages) revealed these issues?

4. What Should We Change Moving Forward? (10 mins)

• What can be improved or removed?
• What needs to be documented or systematized?

5. Wrap-Up and Ownership (5 mins)

• Assign 2–3 action items with owners and due dates
• Save notes in a shared doc or tool
• Schedule the next retrospective (if recurring)

Metrics to Consider (and How to Improve Them)

Tracking the right delivery metrics can reveal trends and surface key issues during your retrospective. Here are some important ones to review:

On-Time Delivery Rate (OTD):

• Measures percentage of deliveries made within the promised window.
• Aim for 90–95%+.
• If low, examine route planning, driver availability, and traffic-related delays.

First-Attempt Delivery Rate:

• Shows how many deliveries succeeded on the first try.
• Missed attempts cost time and money—aim for 90%+.
• Improve by verifying addresses and offering delivery window selection.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT):

• Indicates how customers rate the delivery experience.
• Use surveys, star ratings, or feedback forms.
• Low scores may indicate communication issues, delays, or packaging concerns.

Average Delivery Time:

• Track from dispatch to delivery.
• Analyze by zone or delivery type to find outliers.
• Improve with better batching and traffic-aware routing.

Reroute Rate:

• Measures how often deliveries are reassigned or delayed.
• High rates can signal gaps in planning or customer information.

Use these metrics to identify weak spots and spark actionable discussion during your PDR.

Sample Questions to Guide the Conversation

• Did we meet our delivery SLAs?
• What was our average cost per delivery during this period?
• How did our first-attempt delivery rate compare to normal?
• Did customers experience any communication gaps?
• Were there any avoidable delays or reroutes?
• Did we have enough driver coverage?
• What did support tickets or CSAT tell us?

Optional Add-On: Retrospective Slack Template

If your team is remote or short on time, use this async format:

#pdr-thread

• What was the delivery initiative?
• What worked well?
• What didn’t go as planned?
• What should we change or try next time?

Final Thought

Last-mile delivery is a complex operation with many moving parts. A well-run retrospective helps your team catch small problems before they become expensive ones—and gives everyone a chance to reflect, own outcomes, and drive smarter decisions going forward.

Make it a habit. Keep it honest. And always write it down.