{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Spreo News & Updates From Spreo", "home_page_url": "https://updates.spreo.io", "icon": "https://img.announcekit.app/08bc84f78a42b0cc12c75573357eb126?w=150&h=50&fit=max&s=a1087a8c41ec0eb2a97c79131aecc5bd", "items": [ { "id": "442778", "content_html": "


Hi there, we have some news to share:

Ludi has a new name. As of July 1st 2026, it is now called Spreo.

This is a change in name only. The product, company, and team remains the same.

Headlines

Without further ado, welcome to our new identity!

Bye bye ‘Ludi’ - but why the change?

We didn't choose for this to happen. In short - for trademark reasons we can no longer use the name, Ludi.

If you want to know more about the change and new name, see our blog post for the explanation. The TL;DR is: trademark reasons, and a cool bird.

We have tried to minimise any chance of confusion, so hopefully you will only need to adjust to a new name again (us too).

Have Questions?

Use the support chat to talk directly to us (you'll probably get Jamie, one of the founders).

Thanks for your understanding,

Jamie, Steve, and Steve.

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Four new updates to Ludi: Jira integration improvements, WebGL renderer, Find in board, Anonymous guest toggle, and a bunch of small improvements.

Jira Integration Updates

Flagged Issues

Flagged issues in Jira will now be highlighted yellow on a Ludi board and display the flag icon. Open the details tab on a Jira card to flag/un-flag an issue.


Jira Issue Importer


Set Issue Border Colour

Mark Jira cards with different coloured borders. Useful for designating Jira cards in any way you like. This is in Ludi's visual layer only, it does not affect your Jira data.


Other Jira Improvements


Renderer Update - For Better Performance

Our new render engine is out of Beta and now turned on for all teams. The change to WebGL gives better performance and allows you to work in bigger boards without lag. To help you find your content in these bigger boards, use the new Find in Board feature explained below.

Settings for the renderer can be found in 'Preferences - Controls & UI'



Find in Board

Quickly Search for content in your board. Use Ctrl/Cmd + F, all occurrences are highlighted, moving through each.


Anonymous Guest Toggle

Account Admins can now toggle whether external guests are required to sign in to join boards across the Org Account. (Note - your plan has to include external guests).



General Improvements

Small updates that improve the Ludi experience:


Board Sharing

You can now see the team a board belongs to when changing sharing settings:


Board Details

In the board menu you can see the team, creator and created/updated date.


Save as Template

From the board details menu, publish the current board to your Organization's Template Library.


Tokens

You can now change the colour and pre-set content of tokens. Tokens now also 'stick' to objects (stickies etc) when placed on top.


Shapes

We've updated the style toolbar for shapes.

Email - Account Joins & Role Changes

Account Owners now get an email of any new joiners or role changes to happen in the last 24 hours.


Thanks for reading this far, if you have any questions or want to chat to one of our team, please feel free to get in touch.

Cheers,

Kit, Jamie, Steve & Steve. 


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Here's three new things in Ludi!

Calendar

A monthly wall planner to map your sprint timeline or release schedule directly on a board. Drop wherever you need it, pick the month and get planning. Find the Calendar in Zones & Frames.

Drag the Calendar in from the Zones & Frames tool:

Object Tray

Use the Object Tray to pre-load the objects you need for your session. Participants grab objects from the tray instead of hunting through the toolbar.

Drag the Tray gadget onto your board, pick a preset from stickies, scales, or participant tokens, or create your own custom tray.

Connectors

If you build diagrams in Ludi, you now have more control over connector arrows:

More Shapes

There are more shapes to use in the Shapes tool, including call-outs with adjustable tails.

Beta: Smoother boards with a new render engine

We've rebuilt how boards are rendered to improve performance - for less lag and a snappier editor.

It is disabled by default while in Beta. Turn it on in Preferences -> Controls & UI if you want to try it early.

If you have any questions or want to chat to one of our team, please feel free to get in touch.

Cheers,

The Ludi Team


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In this update we're sharing seven new boards that we made for our own team, including a Roman-themed retro and six of the planning boards we use to make decisions (all now available in the Template Library).

We also want to remind you that AI can now sort stickies in your boards

Roman Retro Template 🔱 

\"Lend me your ears...\"

Or just your sticky notes. In the Roman Retro you pick a Roman identity, tell the story of your sprint and debate it in the senate. Don't forget to wear a Roman helmet (in the hats).

One of our Founders, Jamie, built this for our retro recently after a 'gladiatorial' sprint, and we liked it enough to share.

Try this template


6 New Planning Boards 😎 

These are the boards we use to plan at Ludi.

We're a small team, so we need to make decisions fast. 

If your team also prioritises quick decision-making, try these six boards we've been using internally for project launches, work stream prioritisation, design reviews, onboarding emails, landing page content mapping and product pricing decisions.

Each board comes with a \"How to Run\" guide and a short video walkthrough from our Designer, Steve, showing how we used it. 

Find them in the Planning templates, and watch Steve's overview video above or read our blog post for the full breakdown.


Did you know? AI can sort your stickies 💪 

Picture the scene - you've just finished group brainstorming and there are more than 50 sticky notes on the board. Grouping them by hand takes ages and kills the momentum. Session grinds to a halt.

Next time, try using \"Sort into Topics\" instead. Ludi reads your stickies and groups them into labelled topics in seconds. It's the fastest way to get from a wall of stickies to the next stage of focused discussion.

---

Have an awesome day

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - The Ludi Team


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Today we're releasing some major updates to Ludi, focused on improving the board experience and sharing, plus lots of other cool updates.

For anyone running meetings, we recommend watching the video tour of the changes that affect you, and you can find the rest of the updates listed below.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cmfvmjue1001g0cjmhzlhc0ip/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; fullscreen *;\"></iframe></div>


Updated Board UI

Less is definitely more when it comes to our new board interface - the redesigned layout keeps the focus on your meetings. As part of the changes, we've removed ‘Design Mode’ and introduced ‘Super Lock’ to help facilitators manage board editing.

No More Design Mode

Facilitators can now expand their toolbar during a meeting to access all Ludi tools. No more switching between modes.

Super Lock

Prevent accidental editing with Super Lock by setting locking preferences for everyone on the board. This replaces the use of Design Mode to edit the board layout.

Tip: Locking and Unlocking

When building boards, use the right-click menu to lock and unlock the entire board. Right-click anywhere on the board background to open the menu:

Mini-map

A “boards-eye” view of the full picture, use the mini-map to quickly zoom or pan to any area of your board.
There is also a “Jump To…” option when clicking on the zoom controls, which instantly moves you to a frame on your board.

Board Sharing Updates

We’ve simplified board sharing to three levels of \"trust\": Team, Organization and Open. Choose who can join your board without approval:

New: Invite Via Email

You can now invite via email directly from the board. This grants instant permission for the invitee to join the board quickly. You can invite them as either a Member or Guest.

Please note: People joining the board are still subject to member and guest seat allocations, driven by your plan.

Icons ❤ 

Make more creative boards with less effort. Use the new Icon Library (Heart) in the toolbar to browse and add over 20,000 fun icons in five styles.

More Hats! 👑 

We’ve added a bunch of new hats in this release - what better way to show off your flair?

You can push Shift+H to cycle through the hat collection, but for the more discerning hat enthusiast, click on your own profile image in the top right and select ‘Wear Hat’ to browse the full range. Welcome to the Hat Club.

Platform and Feature Improvements

Here are a few of the smaller improvements coming out in this release:

Improved board joining

Tokens

Shapes: New styles

Polls

Available seats

Account Access Control

Add your trusted email domains in the Admin settings to allow new members to auto-join your organization account.

Updated Invite and Join Request Management

Have an awesome day 💪

Catch you in the next update.

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - the Ludi team


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We've updated the Jira integration so it works better with more complex projects, and it’s still fast and simple to use.

It makes Ludi a great place for those refinement, story slicing, right-sizing, estimation, poker planning, scoping, or three amigos sessions... whatever your team calls it.

  1. Improved ticket creation - now you can pick your issue type, with a new upload process to input your mandatory fields.
  2. See all of a ticket's details - edit the issue title, description, and fields inline, add Jira comments.
  3. Support for more custom fields - pick additional fields to display on your Jira cards.

This update means you can now do things like:

Video Demo of Jira Updates

Watch Jamie, Co-Founder, run through the latest updates in this Loom video:

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Metro Retro has a new name!

We've been on an incredible journey since 2019, and it's time for a name that matches our expanded vision. While we started as your go-to retrospective tool, we've grown into something bigger, a space that makes remote and hybrid collaboration genuinely human.

Our customers have always told us how much fun they have in Metro Retro, how could you not with all our gadgets, hats, confetti and the ability to slap your teammates (with love of course), so we wanted a name which better represented and embodied the interactive, engaging, and collaborative spirit that defines our platform.

So after months of workshops and thousands of potential names later, we’re excited to introduce Ludi, a name which lets us take what we’ve done for your retros, and apply that sparkle to every time your team meet online.

We’ve written a short blog post on the name change which you can read here.

Have an awesome day 💪 

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - The Ludi team


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Get creative with our latest updates to the Marker Pen and Reaction emojis. Plus, for Enterprise plans, we've added a new approval workflow for member invites.

Marker Pen

For the artists in your team or those who really miss drawing big red arrows on a real whiteboard.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cmcysq5ug000m0bjpc0idb74x/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; fullscreen *;\"></iframe></div>

Edit your marker pen drawings, with the pointer tool (V) selected:

Emoji Reactions

When you need more than words to express yourself, or if you just like to add a bit more fun to your boards.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cmcyqctxs000h0bjmbzqqen3z/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; fullscreen *;\"></iframe></div>

You can now add emoji’s directly to your board using the Reaction tool:

Invite Approvals

(Enterprise plans only)

Organization Owners and Admins can now choose to enable an invite approval process, from the People Management screen:

Notes


Have an awesome day 💪

Catch you in the next update.

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - the Metro Retro team


", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words-2HmsV2", "title": "A picture is worth a thousand words 🎨", "summary": "Get creative with our latest updates to the Marker Pen and Reaction emojis. Plus, for Enterprise plans, we've added a new approval workflow ...", "date_modified": "2025-07-10T13:16:14.854Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "412481", "content_html": "

With Easter just around the corner we thought it would be an egg-cellent idea to create some new themed templates. Gather your team and get cracking with our new Easter Retrospective and the Easter Egg Dash Icebreaker. Also in this release; new options for sorting and arranging sticky notes and email notifications for assigned Actions and Mentions.


New Templates:

Easter Retrospective 🐇

This Easter-themed retrospective helps a team reflect on recent work, burrow into topics that need deeper exploration, as well as decide actionable steps for improvement.

(Bonus - This template also includes the Egg Dash Icebreaker!)

Try the Easter Retro Template


Easter Egg Dash Icebreaker 🎉

Race against your team to claim as many stickies as you can. Then once all stickies are claimed, check under each sticky for an easter egg. Who will find the most eggs?

This will get everyone energized and ready for your meeting, so all you have to do is decide the winner's prize! (Steve suggested an afternoon off, but that seems a bit eggs-tra).

Here's our team competing to find the most eggs (some took it more seriously than others):

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm99ucdyn00080cjza5oddon7/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


(Tip - there are two versions of this one, select the 'Large' version from Template Library if you are more than 10 people).

Try the Egg Dash Icebreaker Template


New Features:

Arrange and sort sticky notes (Beta)

For the teams who love a tidy board or as a way to quickly organise sticky notes for quick prioritization.

Note - this feature is in Beta - we are releasing this early as we find it useful, so we hope you will. Remember that you can undo (Ctrl + Z) any action.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm98lxvq100030cjo3wwg2p1a/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Email notifications

Never miss another Action or Mention from your team. You now get an email notification when assigned an action or if you're mentioned in a board. Notification emails are sent in three ways:

All notifications can be turned off or on from your account preferences, under the Notifications menu.


Have an awesome day 💪

Catch you in the next update.

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - the Metro Retro team


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In this release we've updated the dashboard to improve navigation, made it easier to jump back in to your recent boards, and for those who like a branded experience in their software, added the ability to upload your company logo. 

You will also find a new voting gadget to help with decision making and we've made some small but fun updates to what you can do with sticky-notes. 

Please Note: If you don't see these updates in your dashboard yet, this is because your team needs to be transitioned to the new version, which is in progress. Get in touch if you want to jump up the queue.


Recent Boards

A quick way to jump back in to your most recent board session. This view shows boards across all your teams, ordered by 'Last visited'.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm8lom99d003r0bkz0j16085o/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Voting Gadget

Drag and drop a voting gadget on to any board. Use our pre-sets or customize to suit your needs. Your mouse is hidden to others - so only you can see your selection and votes are anonymous until the reveal button is clicked.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm8mu6sqn00070al59i0z60yc/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Sticky-note fill

Add images, emotes, team tokens or gifs to your sticky-notes, because why not. This feature only works on empty sticky-notes.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm8mutqz5001u0bjjhjgiev7v/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Activity log

For Enterprise customers only. Admins can now see a fully detailed activity log for all teams and boards in the Admin panel.


Updates and Improvements

Jira issue import

Bug fixes

Have an awesome day 💪

Catch you in the next update.

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - the Metro Retro team


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In this release we’re introducing Actions and Mentions, two great ways to keep the discussion and momentum going once the meeting ends.

Please Note: If you don't see these updates in your dashboard yet, this is because your team needs to be transitioned to the new version, which is in progress. Get in touch if you want to jump up the queue.

Want the TLDR? 

Watch our demo video to learn more about our latest features, Actions & Mentions. For everything else, keep reading. We packed quite a bit in to this release.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm794mh40000q09jvfe4g4xx7/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>

Actions

Make sure you don’t lose the valuable insights and outcomes captured during your meetings. Actions allow you to easily create trackable objectives directly from your board by simply typing @ in a sticky, assign a team member and set a due date, or you can use the ‘assign action’ option in the sticky's toolbar.

Actions can also be created from the Action Items view in your team dashboard.

Read the full guide here

Action Items Dashboard

Manage your actions directly from your team dashboard. A great way to get a summary update before your next meeting. Need to set an action not directly related to a board? You can add actions from here too.

Need to edit an action without going into the board? No problem, actions have two way sync with the sticky note you originally created them on.

Read the full guide here

Import Action Items

Insert your team actions to your next meeting board in seconds, removing any clumsy copy/pasting.

Mentions


Type \"@\" in a sticky to mention a team member and notify them.

Communicate across boards with your team, draw attention to content you want to collaborate further on and leave feedback that will get noticed. 

Great for when you need to share an idea or keep your team informed.

Read the full guide here

Updates & Improvements

  • Team Tokens: All team members will now be available in the token drawer, even if they haven’t yet joined the board.

  • Rich text editor for text blocks. Headers, lists, bold, italics.

  • Admins can search and sort members in the ‘people’ screen for easier member management.

Bug fixes

  • The dateline in the timeline frame is now showing the correct day
  • Scroll function on Jira import function now working correctly
  • Jira issues imported to the board are now aligning correctly (no overlap)
  • Connector arrows render properly in Safari browser
Have an awesome day 💪

Catch you in the next update.

Kit, Jamie, Steve and Steve - the Metro Retro team


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Try the new Thanksgiving retrospective template - a celebration of gratitude!

Enjoy a 3 course meal together, no expenses spared, and reflect on your latest release, sprint, or last quarter of work. Positive vibes only please. 

Don't forget to share some pie with your team mates. 🎉 

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We hope you enjoy our latest themed template and for all of those who celebrate, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Catch you in the next update.

Steve, Jamie, Steve and Kit - the Metro Retro team.


", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/express-gratitude-with-the-new-thanksgiving-retro-4gGXbW", "title": "Express Gratitude With The New Thanksgiving Retro 🥧", "summary": "Try the new Thanksgiving retrospective template - a celebration of gratitude! Enjoy a 3 course meal together, no expenses spared, and reflec...", "date_modified": "2024-11-19T15:26:07.686Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "399344", "content_html": "

Well hello there! We're back with another \"snappy\" update. There's a themed template for Halloween, quicker ways to group stickies, object snapping for board builders, and a sneak preview of the upcoming Mentions and Actions features!

Halloween Retrospective 👻

We've got a Halloween-themed treat for you - go check out the new Trick or Treat retrospective template!

Brand New Features

The Topic Tool gets a Powerup!

Hopefully you already use the Topic tool to group similar stickies and visualise themes... right? Well, now you can also:

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm2dgsch6000203jjh6y4556x/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Snapping!

Object snapping and guidelines are now available in Design mode when you drag or move layout objects around. Perfect for obsessive board builders.

If for some reason you don't like it, you can disable Snapping from the Grid Settings in the bottom left.

<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://www.tella.tv/video/cm2ddjqzk000003mpdymsd61n/embed?feature=oembed\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"></iframe></div>


Coming Soon...

Mentions (Coming Soon)

Tag a colleague in a sticky or comment and they will be notified!

Actions (Coming Soon)

Create actions from your stickies and track them in your team space, or send them to your work tools.

Tip - you can already send actions from Metro Retro to your Jira project - and vice versa - with our Jira integration!

That's all for now, my beauties and beasts. Until next time!

Steve, Jamie, Steve, and Kit - the Metro Retro team.




", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/trick-or-treat-4oBfos", "title": "Trick or Treat? 🎃", "summary": "Well hello there! We're back with another \"snappy\" update. There's a themed template for Halloween, quicker ways to group stickies, object s...", "date_modified": "2024-10-17T12:45:42.930Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "391811", "content_html": "

Here's the latest from Metro Retro in this update:

New Templates!

From product discovery to project planning, and of course, activities for more engaging retros:

Draw Our Sprint
One big shared easel for the team to creatively share how their sprint went!		What Could Kill Our Project?
Starting a new project and want the team to evaluate risks? Use Tigers, Paper Tigers, and Elephants to produce an action plan together.		Impact Mapping
Visually connect your product features to business goals with an Impact Map.
Product Discovery
Use the Opportunity Solution Tree to visualize product discovery findings.
Experiment Planner
Planning a product experiment? The Experiment Planner helps you plan and run effective tests!
Project Timeline
Plan your project roadmap on the Timeline Frame. Pick your dates, add swimlanes and arrange your project! (We’ll all agree not to mention the “Gantt” word here).

Jira integration updates

Updates to the new Jira integration from your feedback:

Jira integration is available to all teams on a paid plan!

Bugfixes


", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/six-new-templates-jira-integration-improvements-2pQyIw", "title": "Six new templates & Jira integration improvements", "summary": "Here's the latest from Metro Retro in this update: New Templates!From product discovery to project planning, and of course, activities for ...", "date_modified": "2024-07-12T09:49:33.678Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "386934", "content_html": "

Hello there! This update combines the playful with the practical. A music player, connector arrows, and Jira integration are the highlights. Dive in to discover all the latest features!

Gadgets

First up, we bring you five fun gadgets to make your sessions even more interactive. Consisting of a Jukebox, Counter, Spinner, Timer, and a Buzzer, that can all be placed on the board:

The gadgets are simple to use, but see the Gadgets Help for full details. A quick summary:

Jukebox

Choose from 49 handpicked tracks across 7 genres to set the scene for your next workshop. Your team might argue over the song choice, but trust us - try the Space Jazz collection. 

Tip - volume control

Each person now has their own volume control, including mute, in the bottom-left corner. It controls all sound effects and music played on the board:

Counter

The counter is for… counting. Use it for tracking score in team games or to track how many times “it depends” is said in your estimation session.

Spinner

Take the hassle out of making a decision and let the spinner decide!  Simply add your options and spin the wheel. You could use it to choose who talks next, or perhaps which feature to release - just don’t tell your stakeholders.

Timer

Add a timer to your board as a draggable object. Position it, set the time, and press play.

Buzzer

Use the buzzer to play sound effects. You could use it to signal when time is up or celebrate when the team make a decision.

Connector Arrows (Beta)

We’re pretty excited about the new Connectors. Link your stickies and cards with connecting arrows to show relationships and build diagrams.

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeqo-prod-app-static.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2FConnecting%2520arrows.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>

Connectors are found in the left toolbar:

You can add a label to Connectors and customize the color, width, and style:


See the Connectors help for full details. The arrows are smooth to use, but as this is the first version there may be some interesting edge cases we haven't found yet.

Jira Integration (Beta)

Connect to your Jira projects and import your backlog as cards. Or send issues to Jira directly from your sticky notes.

See the Jira Help for the full details, but here is a summary:

Functionality and Limitations

With this first version you can view and edit these Jira fields: the issue title, priority, status, assignee, sprint, story points, issue type.

This is a beta version, so not everything we want to deliver is in yet. In future updates you will be able to view and edit more fields, including the description and comments. And we want to do some cool stuff with Metro Retro's tools - we see Metro Retro becoming the \"playground\" for your Jira backlog.

New Planning Poker Template

There’s also a new interactive Planning Poker activity template to use with the Jira integration. It has a new interactive workflow for speeding through those estimation sessions. Contact us to get access and a quick demo.

Other Updates

Hide Other Users

This neat little setting in your Preferences will hide everyone else while they are moving around the board, making for a calmer visual experience. Useful in larger workshops!

Take Over a Meeting

If there is a Meeting running on a board and the Host is no longer present, after 10 minutes any team member on the board can add themselves as the meeting Host:

Remove Workspace Members

Workspace members can now be removed from inside the workspace:

Text Tool Improvement

And in perhaps the most boring way to end an exciting update, here’s a small change to the Text tool.  You can now drag the Text tool to create a Text box, with scaling text. The Text box behaviour can also be set with the “Toggle Auto Height” option: 

If you have any questions on anything we’ve shared in these updates, please contact us. We love a chat! 😊

Cheers,

Jamie and Steve

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/gadgets-connector-arrows-jira-integration...-v2.58-2b0c1y", "title": "Gadgets, Connector Arrows, Jira Integration... (v2.58)", "summary": "Hello there! This update combines the playful with the practical. A music player, connector arrows, and Jira integration are the highlights....", "date_modified": "2024-05-23T19:56:27.379Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "373031", "content_html": "

Hi everyone - we are back with one of our biggest-ever updates. Below is the full changelog with preview videos where appropriate.  If you have any issues or feedback please get in touch with us on Intercom or at contact at metroretro dot io.  In other news we've also recently joined TinySeed! Their accelerator program will help us grow so we can keep improving Metro Retro.

Frames

We've added a Frame element for containing large layout areas or activities.  Frames are now under the Zones & Frames drawer which replaces the Zone icon in the toolbar.  Frames currently come in 3 flavours:

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs.metroretro.io%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2Fv2.57-activity-frame-a2.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>


Frame Layouts (beta)

Grid Frames and Timeline Frames support \"Layout Modes\"; a new way to automatically organize stickies and cards within frames.  Currently there are two layout modes:

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs.metroretro.io%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2Fv2.57-layout-modes.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>


Tags (beta)

Tags are a new method of annotating Stickies and Cards with extra structured information:

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs.metroretro.io%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2Fv2.57-tags-a2.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>


Roadmap Cards

The Roadmap Card is an element for building roadmaps and swimlanes:

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs.metroretro.io%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2Fv2.57-timeline-frame-a2.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>


Shapes

This release includes a bunch of new shapes for creating designs:


Zones


Other Improvements:

Bug Fixes:


That's your lot!

Cheers all,
Steve & Jamie

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/frames-tags-and-roadmap-templates-v2.57-J46hq", "title": "Frames, Tags, and Roadmap Templates (v2.57)", "summary": "Hi everyone - we are back with one of our biggest-ever updates. Below is the full changelog with preview videos where appropriate.  If you h...", "date_modified": "2024-01-23T15:47:17.570Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "351298", "content_html": "

Hey everyone,

With this mini-update, it's now easier to build multi-template boards and export your board to PDF after your session has ended.

Add Templates to a Board

You can now add templates directly to a board with the new \"Object Tool\". No more copy/pasting templates across boards!

How The \"Object Tool\" Works

Export Board to PDF

You can now export your board to PDF from the board name in the top-left. You will be emailed a copy of your board once it is ready.

This is the first version of this feature, so please let us know any feedback!

New Illustrated Templates Coming Soon

Keep an eye out for a range of new templates being published soon:

That's all for now. If you have any feedback or questions, please use the live support chat in the bottom-right of your boards.

Jamie & Steve

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/templates-pdf-export-v2.56-1dlpaE", "title": "Templates & PDF export (v2.56)", "summary": "Hey everyone, With this mini-update, it's now easier to build multi-template boards and export your board to PDF after your session has ende...", "date_modified": "2023-08-03T14:29:45.611Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "345505", "content_html": "

Hi everyone,

This release brings improvements to the guest experience, as well as six beautifully-designed templates for you to get stuck into.

New Invite Options: Team Member or Guest

\"The

A guest can only see the boards they have joined

General updates

New Templates


Feedback

That's all for now - please let us know any feedback in the support chat, and if you're really having a great time, please consider writing us a short testimonial!

Cheers,

Jamie and Steve

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/improving-the-guest-experience-other-updates-v2.55-2X6Etq", "title": "Improving the Guest Experience + Other Updates (v2.55)", "summary": "Hi everyone, This release brings improvements to the guest experience, as well as six beautifully-designed templates for you to get stuck in...", "date_modified": "2023-06-20T16:04:14.882Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "333684", "content_html": "

Greetings all,

We're back with another round of updates for Metro Retro.  This update focuses on improving the in-board user experience for designing boards and running meetings!  The most important changes are covered in the video below:

<div><div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs.metroretro.io%2Fsite%2Fvideo%2Fannounce-kit%2Fv2.54.mp4&key=43a3be12f7061a5b091eebd789f9ecef\" style=\"top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"encrypted-media *;\"></iframe></div></div>

Terminology Update

Before we begin, we would like to highlight that from this release forwards, we will be referring to meeting \"facilitators\" as meeting \"hosts\".  \"Host\" is a simpler term to read and write and is more broadly understood in industries that are not as familiar with Agile and facilitation.

Structured Meeting Removed

The Structured Meeting feature would have required significant updates to support the new editor mode changes in this update, and since we have plans to vastly improve the way structured meetings work, we’ve elected to temporarily remove the functionality in this build.  However, if you need to use Structured Meeting to run a meeting you already have planned, we’ve provided the ability to use the old version temporarily at: https://v53.metroretro.io. Please read the docs page before doing so: https://docs.metroretro.io/technical/using-v53-for-structured-meeting

Design Mode & Meeting Mode

The most significant change in 2.54 is the return of distinct editor modes (like Build Mode and Play Mode in Metro Retro V1).  Originally in V2, we moved away from this model as we were worried it would limit where we could go with the app in the future.  In hindsight, this was an error; it doesn't limit us and added a lot of confusion for new users.  

So, leaning back in the other direction, we've introduced Design Mode & Meeting Mode into V2 to create a distinction between board building and meeting participation activities.  Design Mode is for building board layouts and Meeting Mode is for working on board layouts with your team.

Design Mode has:

Meeting Mode has:

Meeting Hosts can freely switch between modes during a meeting to make changes to the board layout if required.

Host Menu Rework

As part of the Design / Meeting mode changes, we’ve significantly reworked the Host Menu to improve its usability:

In-App Help

We’ve added an in-app help panel with some initial tutorial videos covering basic features and some of the gestures  This will serve as a framework for us to add help content as we roll out releases.  Expect to see more videos here soon!

Hide Identities (previously Anonymous Mode) out of Beta

Hide Identities is now out of beta and includes:

General Improvements:

Finally, here is a list of miscellaneous changes in this release (at least the ones we can remember):

New Templates:

There are four new beautifully-illustrated templates to use in your next meeting, plus a handy Weekly Status template.

P.S. Did you know you can suggest templates for us to build? If you have one to share, let us know!

Icebreakers

Retrospectives

Project Management

\"Weather

Weather Report Check-in

We've also written a short guide on how to be a great virtual facilitator: 10 tips to help you run great virtual meetings.

Lastly (I promise), if you've got this far we'd really appreciate if you can tell us what you like and don't like about Metro Retro in this short survey. Your responses are used to help us plan the next updates!

And as always, if you have feedback or questions, you can find us:

Steve & Jamie

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/design-mode-meeting-mode-v2.54-27OcOk", "title": "Design Mode & Meeting Mode (v2.54)", "summary": "Greetings all, We're back with another round of updates for Metro Retro.  This update focuses on improving the in-board user experience for ...", "date_modified": "2023-05-17T23:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] }, { "id": "325855", "content_html": "

Hey everyone!

This update brings the ability to comment on your sticky notes with the new Comment Tool, as well as a couple of smaller updates and seven new templates.

Comment Tool

You can attach comments to sticky notes, task cards, and index cards. 

Comments allow you to add extra detail to your stickies while keeping your boards nice and neat.

How comments work

The rest of the updates

  1. New templates - There's an assortment of new activities and exercises for your team sessions: Niko Niko Calendar, Risk-taking Retro, Team Skills Retro, Waste Snake, Kudos Tree, Mind Map, and the Meeting Agenda template.
  2. See voting results - click the vote count on a sticky or group to see who voted.
  3. Import Legacy Boards - if you still have boards in v1, the import process is much faster, and comments are now included.
  4. New concept: checkbox on index cards - because you can never have enough to-do lists, we've added mini checkboxes on index cards. To add a checkbox, type [ ] at the beginning of a new line, and when you finish editing the index card, it magically turns into a checkable item:

Tip: how to import legacy boards

For those of you who have been around here a while - if you want to use your legacy v1 boards in your v2 dashboard, use the dropdown at the top of the \"All Boards' screen:

We hope these updates help you stay organized and on top of progress. May your discussions be fruitful and your projects on time ✌️

Let us know what you think about the updates below!

Jamie and Steve

", "url": "https://updates.spreo.io/announcing-the-comment-tool-v2.53-46ioq4", "title": "Announcing the Comment Tool (v2.53)", "summary": "Hey everyone! This update brings the ability to comment on your sticky notes with the new Comment Tool, as well as a couple of smaller updat...", "date_modified": "2023-02-23T20:44:25.032Z", "tags": [ "product update" ] } ] }