Facilitation · 30-60 minutes

Start, Stop, Continue Retrospective

A streamlined, action-oriented retrospective framework designed to facilitate team-based continuous improvement. It encourages participants to reflect on the previous work cycle to identify new behaviors to adopt, ineffective processes to abandon, and successful habits to maintain.

When to use Start, Stop, Continue Retrospective

Ideal for Agile sprint retrospectives, project post-mortems, or team health checks where the goal is to generate concrete, actionable steps for the next iteration.

How Start, Stop, Continue Retrospective works

Facilitators can integrate this model at the conclusion of a learning module or project phase to bridge the gap between reflection and future application. It serves as a structured debriefing tool that converts subjective experiences into a prioritized backlog of improvements.

Phases of Start, Stop, Continue Retrospective

  1. Preparation
  2. Setting the Stage
  3. Private Ideation
  4. Grouping
  5. Dot Voting
  6. Discussion
  7. Action Planning

Key principles

  • Action-oriented outcomes
  • Balanced perspective (looking back and looking forward)
  • Mitigation of groupthink through private ideation
  • Collective prioritization
  • Timeboxed efficiency

Best for

  • Agile team retrospectives
  • Process improvement workshops
  • Post-project evaluations

Considerations

  • Requires a high level of psychological safety for participants to honestly identify 'Stop' items
  • Effectiveness depends on the facilitator's ability to drive the discussion toward specific, measurable action items
  • Grouping phase requires active consensus to ensure themes accurately represent the group's intent

Attribution & sources

Commonly attributed to various organizational development practitioners within the Agile and Management communities; popularized by facilitators like Phil Daniels.

Primary source

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