How To Improve With The Start Stop Continue Retrospective

The Start Stop Continue routine has been around for decades. It is commonly used as a ‘retrospective’ activity in Agile development and Scrum meetings.

Our development toolkit is filled with templates, activities and protocols for reflection, but often the simplest tool can be the most effective.

In this post, I explore the fundamental components of the reflection, how you can use it and the benefits. I also share an extended version that gives you some new options to try in your next review session.

Before you finish make sure you grab a copy of the editable PDF resource for the Start Stop Continue extended version. You can use it in your next meeting.

Start Stop Continue

In its simplest form, the protocol explores the three actions of its namesake. When you are reviewing the development of your project or even your own teaching practice, ask these three simple questions.

What should I stop doing?
What should I keep doing?
What should I start doing?

What are the benefits?

Provides a clear and comprehensive structure for agreeing on and setting actions.
Helps teams explore different types of improvements, using three different triggers.
Makes it easier for individuals to talk about what is not working and clarify issues.
Simple and memorable enough to be conducted quickly with little preparation.
Flexible enough to be valuable for individuals or large teams.

How do I facilitate the Start Stop Continue?

The first thing to do is grab a copy of the editable PDF resource for the Start Stop Continue. All of the sample questions below are included in the download.

This retrospective model will help you and your team explore what is working, what is not effective and what might be useful to try.

To support this and make it easier for participants, use some of the example questions below:

Start

What practices do you need to START doing?
Outline some of the new ideas that you want to start?
What are the habits you want to start?

Stop

What negative practices do you need to STOP?
What are the low-impact processes which need to stop?
What do you need to stop investing in?

Continue

What established practices do you need to CONTINUE doing?
Which aspects of your work need to be maintained?
What needs continued investment to maintain the impact you want to see?

A useful hack from Sarah Beldo, Head of Content and Communications at Miro, is to switch the order a little:

I’ve found that people find it easier to think about what already exists – both the good (“continue”) and the bad (“stop”), before venturing into uncharted territory (“start”).
Sarah Beldo, 7 retrospective templates we love and use at Miro

Extend Your Reflection

Beyond the core Start Stop Continue routine, we can extend the reflection protocol in a few different directions. I think these provocations offer some much-needed nuance to the activity.

For example, the option to Pause, and not just Stop, is a useful distinction. The addition of shifting the thinking frame forward and back in time helps us to consider some important strategic modes of reflection.

I have developed the following additional provocations to complement the core trio and help you facilitate a comprehensive reflection.

Improve

What aspects of your practice can you IMPROVE?
Which parts of your project have room for growth?
What changes can you make to increase the impact?

Pause

Which elements of our work need to be PAUSED to allow resources to shift elsewhere?
Which projects would benefit from a short developmental hiatus?
Which projects are a priority and would benefit from other elements being PAUSED?

Fast Forward

Which aspects of this project would benefit from an increase in pace?
How might we increase the speed of development?
In the future what might be a block or challenge to the success of this?

Rewind

What have we learned from the story of development so far?
If we returned to the beginning of this project what would we start with?
What can we learn from how this problem was handled in the past?

Challenge

Which assumptions do we need to CHALLENGE?
What bias do you need to talk about and better understand?
What will you do to disrupt and challenge the status quo?

Download your editable PDF

If you are interested in this extended version of the model you can download an editable PDF. Just subscribe to my weekly newsletter and I will send you a copy.

Potential Uses and Applications

You have reached the end of a teaching placement, and you want to capture your reflections.
Your team is making progress with the implementation of a new programme prototype and you want to refine the approach.
You want a simple structure to use with your coach to reflect on the past few weeks.
During a weekly catchup with one of your team, you want to implement a simple structure for personal/professional mentorship.
At the beginning of the term, you want a framework for some collective reflection for your class.
You have moved into new learning spaces and need a tool to review what is working and what needs changing.

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