Playable in RetroRally

Start, Stop, Continue retrospective template

A balanced retrospective format that protects useful habits while identifying one behaviour to begin and one to leave behind.

A practical RetroRally guide · Updated August 2026

Availability: This format is playable inside RetroRally now. The team adds private reflections to its visual board, places up to three private dots across the whole board, discusses the selected signal, and leaves with a chosen, owned action. Contribution authors are hidden by default or named when the host chooses at room creation. Start a free room.

When to use Start, Stop, Continue

Teams that want a familiar, practical reset after a normal sprint.

When not to use it

The team first needs to reconstruct a serious incident or resolve an unsafe interpersonal conflict.

Suggested timing

25–45 minutes. Reduce the number of themes before shortening private writing or action design.

Preparation

Create three clearly labelled columns.
Choose one sprint or delivery period as the boundary.
Prepare a private writing method before the group discussion.

Exact prompts

What should we start doing next sprint?
What is slowing us down and should stop?
What already works and must continue?

Step-by-step facilitation

Set the boundary — 3 min. Name the sprint being reviewed and remind everyone to describe observable work patterns, not personalities.
Write privately — 7 min. Ask for one idea per note. Quiet writing prevents the first speaker from setting the agenda.
Clarify and group — 8 min. Read themes without naming authors. Combine duplicates only when their meaning is genuinely the same.
Prioritise — 5 min. Give everyone equal votes and select one high-impact theme, not one winner in every column.
Choose an experiment — 10 min. Turn the selected theme into a small change with an owner, target date, and review signal.

Example answers

Start pairing on risky database migrations.
Stop accepting stories without testable acceptance criteria.
Continue the ten-minute release readiness check.

Remote and hybrid adaptations

Use a silent timer and simultaneous reveal.
Let participants type before anyone speaks.
Keep the three columns visible on the shared screen while voting.

Common mistakes

Treating every column as a commitment list.
Writing vague items such as ‘communicate better.’
Stopping after voting without an owner.

Turn the discussion into action

Choose the smallest change the team can observe within one sprint. For example: ‘Mina will add a reviewer during refinement for every risky story next sprint.’

Review the action at the start of the next retrospective. Mark it complete, partially complete, or blocked, then use the evidence to decide whether to keep, change, or stop the experiment.

Explore related resources

Compare every retrospective template, browse questions by team situation, or learn how to run the complete meeting.