Iteration retrospective
The iteration retrospective is the team-level event at iteration end where the team inspects how it worked together, process, collaboration, technical practices, and commits to specific changes for the next iteration. It is distinct from the iteration review (which inspects what was built).
SAFe's retro is identical in intent to Scrum's: a regular reflection that produces durable improvement. The common pathology is retro decay: the first few are energetic, then they devolve into 'what went well / what didn't / no concrete actions' theatre. Counters include rotating formats (4Ls, Sailboat, Start-Stop-Continue, force-field), strict commitment to 1-2 actions per retro tracked to completion in the next, and an annual reset where the team picks 2-3 systemic issues to work on for a quarter rather than one-off items per iteration.