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Start, Stop, Continue Retro

Start, Stop, Continue

What is a Start, Stop, Continue retrospective workshop?

A Start, Stop, Continue workshop is a great way to get balanced, actionable feedback on a topic, project or team.

This tactic provides a productive way to encourage a group to optimise and improve a situation with clear actions. It can be used midway through a project, or at the end, and can also be used for giving personal feedback.


Start, Stop, Continue Miro Template


How to run a Start, Stop, Continue retrospective workshop

1. On a large surface, create three columns with ‘Start’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Continue’.
Start Stop Continue Retro template

Start: "What should we start doing?"

Stop: "What should we stop doing?"

Continue: "What should we continue doing?"

2. On sticky notes, ask each person to spend five minutes writing answers to: "what should we start doing?”.

3. In turn, have each person post their sticky notes in the 'Start' column, and briefly talk through each one. Theme Sort as you go.

4. Do the same for the next two columns.

5. Save some time at the end of the meeting for discussions. This is a chance to reflect on all the input.

6. Prioritise the top three things to action with Secret Vote. Consider using Who, What, When to ensure there is commitment to the actions.

Origin: Unknown.

Not sure if this is the right approach for your team at the moment? Try a different discussion tactic to help facilitate your team’s progress together. 

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Start, Stop, Continue Retro is one of 54 workshop recipe cards inside the Workshop Tactics card deck.

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