replying to myself because this is near and dear to my heart:
we also do individual team retros as part of sprint planning, which are
just teams. (lead, engineers, product manager)
Stuff that comes up in these can get promoted to the all-engineering retro. If it's a controversial topic, discussing it in a small group is super helpful because 1, you can clarify your thinking before bringing it up in front of 30 people and 2, your team has your back and can support you if it becomes a heated discussion.
