Start, Stop, Continue
Three columns. Action-oriented. Done in half an hour.
Everyone names one thing the team should start, one to stop, one to continue. That's the whole format. Its strength is that nobody gets stuck on the rules, so the time goes on the content.
When to use
Healthy team, regular cadence, no specific incident to dig into. The default sprint retro for teams that don't want to think about format. Skip it after a release or a project — use 4Ls or Sailboat for that.
How it runs
Set up the columns
Three columns: Start, Stop, Continue. On a board, in a doc, on a wall — doesn't matter.
Silent write
Five minutes. Everyone writes their own cards before they see anyone else's. Without this step the loudest person frames the conversation.
Cluster and read out
Group duplicates. Each person reads their cards aloud — even the ones already on the board, so people own them out loud.
Vote, then pick one
Dot-vote the Stop and Start columns. Pick one of each as a commitment for next sprint. Don't try to fix three things at once.
Why it works
Two of the three columns force a decision. Stop is harder than it looks — naming a thing to stop means somebody has to admit a habit isn't working. That's where the value is. Continue is the warm-up; the work happens in the other two columns.
Variations
- More / Less / Keep — softer phrasing for a new team that isn't ready to call things out by name yet.
- Add a fourth column: Wishes. Captures things outside the team's control so they don't pollute the action columns.
- Run it weekly with a 10-minute timebox — fast cadence catches problems before they compound.
Facilitator notes
Run the silent-write phase as silence, not as 'while we chat.' If a Stop card targets a specific person, take it offline — the retro is for systems, not for performance reviews. The senior person on the team should write last and speak last; otherwise their cards anchor everyone else's.
Pitfalls
- Continues that read like a victory lap — 'continue being a great team' is filler, drop it.
- Vague Stops that nobody will actually stop ('stop having so many meetings') — push for the specific meeting.
- Skipping the vote because everyone agrees. They don't. The vote surfaces the disagreement.
Remote tips
Async-first: open the board 24 hours before the call and ask people to add cards in their own time. Live-only retros punish slower thinkers. On the call, share screen with the board sorted by votes so the loudest voice can't redirect to their pet card.
Example outputs
- Start: writing tickets the day before refinement, not during it.
- Stop: triple-booking the team during release week.
- Continue: the Tuesday sync. It's the one meeting people defend.
FAQ
- How long should it take?
- Thirty minutes for a team of 5-8. Add ten if the team is bigger than ten people, or if there's a topic everyone's been avoiding.
- Should I use Start/Stop/Continue or 4Ls?
- Sprint cadence: SSC. End-of-project, end-of-quarter, post-incident: 4Ls. SSC pushes for action; 4Ls pushes for understanding. Different tools.
- What if the team always picks the same Continues?
- That's fine for a few sprints — it's the team noticing what works. If it goes on for months, drop the Continue column and run it as Start/Stop only. The format should serve the team, not the other way around.