Retrospective template
Start / Stop / Continue retrospective template
Start / Stop / Continue is the simplest structured retrospective format: three columns asking what the team should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Its strength is speed — every card is already framed as a behavior change, so the distance from feedback to action is one step.
When to use it
The default format. Use it when the team is new to retrospectives, when time is short, or when the last few retros drifted into discussion without decisions. Its action-oriented framing makes it the easiest template to leave with owned follow-through.
Prompts
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What should we start doing that we aren't doing today?
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What should we stop doing because it costs more than it returns?
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What's working well enough that we should keep doing it on purpose?
Facilitation
Timebox each column — five minutes of silent writing, then group and vote. Push back on vague cards ("communicate better") until they name a behavior. Reserve the final fifteen minutes for converting the top-voted themes into actions with owners; a Start column full of unowned wishes is the format's signature failure.
Where it goes wrong
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Start items are aspirations, not behaviors — nothing is checkable next sprint.
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The Continue column becomes filler applause instead of deliberate practice worth protecting.
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The same Stop card returns sprint after sprint because nobody owned it the first time.
From format to follow-through
SmartRetro turns the format's feedback into owned follow-through: every Start and Stop that the team commits to becomes an action item with an owner and a status that carries into the next retro — and if the same theme returns, it arrives labeled with its history.