monitor_heart The flagship

See exactly where it hurts —
and why

The Squad Health Check (we call it Pulse) is a premium, 2-minute check based on the Spotify squad-health model. It measures how your team is really doing across 11 dimensions, tracks the trend over time, and turns every weak signal into an action item. Anonymity is on by default, and the voter — not the host — decides whether to lift it.

lock Scores are always read as aggregates — never as one person's answers

what it is

A ritual, not a form to fill in

Most team surveys go into a spreadsheet and die. A Health Check is different: it's a quick, recurring ritual the whole squad does together. Everyone rates the same 11 dimensions on a simple bad · okay · good scale, drops an optional comment, and submits. Two minutes later you've got a shared, honest read on the team — and a launchpad for the conversation that matters.

  • check 11 dimensions, one screen each — no scrolling wall of questions
  • check A score and a trend arrow per dimension, tracked every round
  • check One optional comment per person, shuffled on reveal
why teams love it

The benefits, plainly

record_voice_over

People say the quiet part

Anonymity is the default, so the awkward-but-important stuff finally gets on the table.

trending_up

You can see progress

Trends over time prove whether last round's changes actually worked.

bolt

Fast enough to keep doing

Two minutes fits any retro. A ritual only works if it's easy to repeat.

the 11 dimensions

The whole team, measured from every angle

The default template is the classic Spotify set. Thematic templates (product, design, marketing…) are available too, or a squad can clone one and tailor its dimensions.

workspace_premium Value
rocket_launch Easy to Release
mood Fun
code Tech Quality
school Learning
flag Mission
strategy Pawns or Players
speed Speed
account_tree Suitable Process
support_agent Support
diversity_3 Teamwork

Each dimension is scored good, okay, or bad — and score is never shown by colour alone. Every band carries an icon and a label too.


the read

Bars, radar, table — your call

When the host closes the check, results unlock for everyone at once. See the squad at a glance, then dig in: flip between a bar view, a radar, or a full table. Each weak dimension gets a one-tap “raise an action item” so the read instantly becomes a to-do.

  • bar_chart Score + trend arrow for all 11 dimensions
  • forum Comments shuffled; scores read as aggregates only
  • download CSV export — anonymous voters export as “Anonymous”
how to run one

From “start” to “sorted” in five moves

The host drives; members just tap along on their phones. Here's the full lifecycle.

  1. Host starts the Pulse

    A host opens a check from the squad dashboard and picks a metrics template (the default 11, a thematic template, or the squad's own). The ballot is frozen the moment it opens, so mid-session edits can't skew the numbers.

  2. Members land in the lobby

    Everyone joins by link or 5-character code — no account needed to vote. They see a friendly “you're in, waiting for the host” state until voting opens.

  3. Vote, one dimension at a time

    Each dimension gets its own screen: tap bad / okay / good, add an optional anonymous comment, tap Next. Eleven quick taps later, submit. That's the two minutes.

  4. Host watches the room fill up

    A live participation count shows how many have submitted — identity-free, just a number. When enough votes are in, the host closes the Pulse.

  5. Results unlock — then you act

    Closing the session reveals aggregate results for everyone: scores, trends, shuffled comments, and recommended actions. Raise an action item straight from any hurting dimension and carry it into the next round.

The three surfaces, side by side

A Health Check plays out across up to three devices at once. Here's who sees what.

StepHost device (control)Member phone (play)
InitiationTaps “Start Pulse” on the squad dashboard.
LobbyJoins by link/code, waits in the “you're in” state.
VotingOpens voting for the room.Rates each of the 11 dimensions, one screen at a time, then submits.
MonitoringWatches the live count; taps “Close Pulse” when ready.
ResultsViews scores, trends, comments & recommended actions.Sees the same aggregate results — never anyone's identity.
grid_view

Zoom out: the Heatmap

Run checks across several squads and the Heatmap lays them out as a grid: squads down one side, dimensions across the other, one cell per squad's latest closed Pulse. A host sees only the squads they host; an admin sees them all. It's aggregate-only and identity-free, like everything else here.

insights
And deliberately no rankings. There is no “top 5 squads”, no league table, no best-to-worst sort. The Heatmap exists to surface patterns — a column that's amber everywhere is an org problem, not a squad's failing. Turning it into a leaderboard would poison the honesty the whole ritual depends on.
shield_lock
Anonymity is default-on, and it's the voter's call — not the host's. A vote row never carries your account. Your identity is used for exactly two things: making sure you vote once, and checking you're allowed to see the results. That means scores can never be traced back to a person: every chart, dashboard and heatmap is a pure tally, by construction.

What you may choose to give up is your comment. If you tick “identified” on the ballot, your name is attached to the comment you wrote (and appears next to your rows in the host's CSV export). Leave it alone — the default — and you stay anonymous: no name, anywhere. Comments are shuffled with a cryptographic shuffle before anyone reads them, so order tells you nothing either.
info
Two honest caveats, so nobody is surprised. There is no minimum-response threshold: a host can open results with a single vote in. And on an invited Feedback the host can see who has responded — that's what a roster is for — but never what an anonymous person said.
and then what?

Don't just measure — move on it, together

Every weak signal becomes an action item with an owner and a due date — plus a thread the whole squad can talk in. The read turns into follow-through you can actually watch close before the next round.

  • check Raised straight from a hurting dimension
  • check An owner and a due date, so it belongs to someone
  • check Moves through Open → In Progress → Done
  • check A comment thread on each one — anyone can nudge it along
  • check Alerts when one drifts past its date
Next: warm up the room with Sparks arrow_forward
two minutes, that's it →

Run your squad's first health check

Anonymous by default. No setup marathon. See where it hurts — and start fixing it.

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