How to Use ClickUp for a Rose, Bud, Thorn Exercise

ClickUp can power a simple Rose, Bud, Thorn exercise that helps teams reflect, spot opportunities, and uncover issues quickly after meetings, projects, or sprints. This guide walks you through exactly how to run this activity and turn insights into action.

The Rose, Bud, Thorn method is a structured reflection technique that separates positive highlights, emerging opportunities, and problems into clear categories your team can discuss and improve.

What Is the Rose, Bud, Thorn Method?

Before you configure anything in ClickUp, it helps to understand the basic idea behind Rose, Bud, Thorn. The activity is a lightweight, visual way to review an experience, project, or timeframe.

Each category represents a different type of feedback:

Rose: Positive moments, wins, and things that went well
Bud: New ideas, opportunities, or things with potential that are not fully developed
Thorn: Challenges, blockers, or anything that felt confusing or frustrating

Teams can run the activity individually first and then share, or complete it together in a collaborative setting to build a shared understanding of what happened.

Why Run Rose, Bud, Thorn in ClickUp?

Running Rose, Bud, Thorn with ClickUp helps your team move beyond sticky notes or offline whiteboards and into a shared digital workspace that is easy to revisit and refine.

Benefits of using ClickUp for this exercise include:

Centralizing feedback where your work already lives
Connecting insights to tasks, projects, and goals
Keeping a history of past reflections to track improvement over time
Making it easier for remote or hybrid teams to participate equally

Instead of collecting feedback and then losing it, you can use the same platform to record, analyze, and execute on the insights you gather.

Preparing Your ClickUp Space for Rose, Bud, Thorn

You can adapt your existing workspace or create a new area dedicated to retrospectives and feedback. The specific structure is flexible, but a simple setup helps people participate quickly.

Step 1: Create a List in ClickUp for the Session

Create a new Folder or choose an existing one used for retrospectives, meetings, or team health.
Add a new List and name it something descriptive, such as “Rose Bud Thorn – Q1 Review” or “Rose Bud Thorn – Sprint 12.”
Set sharing and permissions so everyone in the session can add and edit items easily.

This List becomes the container for all feedback items during your session.

Step 2: Add Custom Fields or Tags for Rose, Bud, Thorn

To capture each type of reflection clearly, configure ClickUp so every item is labeled as a Rose, Bud, or Thorn. You can do this in different ways depending on your preferences.

Common options include:

Dropdown custom field with options: Rose, Bud, Thorn
Label tags for each category
Task statuses configured as Rose, Bud, Thorn if the List is only for this activity

A dropdown or tags usually work best because they keep your task status free for follow-up work such as “To Do,” “In Progress,” or “Complete.”

Running a Rose, Bud, Thorn Session in ClickUp

Once your structure is ready, you can guide your team through the exercise. The overall flow is simple and works for in-person or remote workshops.

Step 3: Clarify the Focus of the Session

Start by clearly defining what you want to reflect on. This keeps feedback specific and actionable.

Common examples include:

A completed sprint or project
A recent product launch
A team offsite or workshop
A trial period for a new tool or process

Share the focus in the List description in ClickUp so participants see it as they add items.

Step 4: Capture Individual Roses in ClickUp

Ask each participant to think about the focus and list everything that went well.
Have them create one task in the List per positive observation.
Use the custom field or tag to mark each task as a Rose.

Examples of Roses might include successful collaborations, clear communication, completed goals, or a new workflow that saved time.

Step 5: Capture Buds and Opportunities

Next, invite everyone to consider potential ideas or areas with promise that are not fully realized.
Create a task in ClickUp for each idea and mark it as a Bud.
Encourage speculative thinking and keep judgment low during this part.

Buds might include experiments that showed promise, tools that could be used more, or new features customers requested during the period.

Step 6: Capture Thorns and Challenges

Finally, ask participants to identify points of confusion, friction, or frustration.
Create tasks in the same List for each issue and set the category to Thorn.
Frame this step as problem-finding, not blaming, to keep the conversation productive.

Thorns could include unclear handoffs, missed deadlines, repeated bugs, or communication gaps.

Reviewing and Organizing Feedback in ClickUp

After everyone adds their items, you can use views inside ClickUp to make sense of the feedback collectively and prioritize what matters most.

Step 7: Group Items by Rose, Bud, Thorn

Set up a view that groups tasks by the custom field or tag you created:

Group by Rose to see all positives in one column
Group by Bud to scan new ideas and opportunities
Group by Thorn to review issues together

Walk through each group with your team and allow time for clarification and discussion. This helps align everyone on what really happened, not just individual perceptions.

Step 8: Vote or Prioritize Key Items

Not every point deserves equal attention. Use ClickUp features to highlight the most impactful items.

Options include:

Using custom fields like Priority or Effort
Adding comments to discuss impact and urgency
Assigning owners to investigate or expand on specific tasks

Focus especially on Thorns that block progress and Buds that could become high-value initiatives.

Turning Insights Into Action in ClickUp

The real value of a Rose, Bud, Thorn workshop comes from what happens after the conversation. ClickUp makes it easy to convert insights into specific next steps.

Step 9: Create Action Items from Thorns and Buds

For high-impact Thorns, convert tasks to actionable work with clear owners and deadlines.
For promising Buds, create follow-up tasks or sub-tasks to experiment or validate the idea.
Link these action items to related projects or Docs inside ClickUp for full context.

Be explicit about what you will do now, what will be parked for later, and what you will not pursue. Recording these decisions directly in your workspace increases accountability.

Step 10: Schedule the Next Rose, Bud, Thorn Review

Use ClickUp reminders or recurring tasks to plan your next session. Regular cadence builds a culture of reflection and continuous improvement.

For example, you might:

Run a quick session at the end of every sprint
Review major projects once they close
Hold a quarterly retrospective across entire teams or departments

Because all feedback lives in the same platform, it becomes easy to scan past Lists and compare how Roses, Buds, and Thorns change over time.

Tips for Better Rose, Bud, Thorn Sessions in ClickUp

To get the most from this method, keep your sessions structured but lightweight.

Timebox each phase to keep energy high and avoid overthinking
Encourage everyone to contribute at least one Rose, one Bud, and one Thorn
Use clear, short task titles so Lists remain scannable
Capture key discussion points in comments so context is never lost

You can also integrate your reflections with goals, dashboards, and reporting to see how improvements affect performance over time.

Learn More About Rose, Bud, Thorn

To dive deeper into the concept behind this activity and explore additional examples, visit the original guide on the Rose, Bud, Thorn method. Applying that framework inside ClickUp simply makes the practice more repeatable and actionable.

Next Steps and Additional Resources

If you want help designing repeatable workflows or scaling your use of ClickUp for retrospectives and strategy, you can explore consulting resources such as Consultevo, which focuses on process optimization and tooling.

By combining the Rose, Bud, Thorn technique with a flexible productivity platform, your team gains a reliable ritual for reflection and a clear path to implement what you learn.

Need Help With ClickUp?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

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