The "Keep Stop Start" retrospective incl. direct access
The Keep Stop Start retrospective is a deliberately positively framed retrospective format for teams that want to quickly arrive at a concrete improvement.
Retrospective Keep Doing, Stop Doing, Start Doing – the three questions you should ask
The Keep Stop Start retrospective consists of three questions. The special advantage of this order: you begin with what is already working well, and end with new ideas for concrete actions.
- Keep Doing: [Optional: Looking at the last sprint…] What should we keep doing?
- Stop Doing: What should we stop doing?
- Start Doing: What should we start doing?
You are welcome to give the team more context (e.g. by saying “looking back at the last sprint or the last few weeks”) when you ask these questions.
By the way, you can also open the Keep-Stop-Start retrospective directly with our Retro Tool Echometer and run it online with your team (no registration):
Keep stop start retro: How the retro works
Random Icebreaker (2-5 minutes)
Echometer provides you with a generator for random check-in questions.
Review of open actions (2-5 minutes)
Before starting with new topics, you should talk about what has become of the measures from past retrospectives to check their effectiveness. Echometer automatically lists all open action items from past retros.
Discuss retro topics
Use the following open questions to collect your most important findings. First, everyone does it themselves, covered. Echometer allows you to reveal each column of the retro board individually in order to then present and group the feedback.
- Keep: What should we maintain?
- Stop: What should we stop doing?
- Start: What should we start doing?
Catch-all question (Recommended)
So that other topics also have a place:
- What else would you like to talk about in the retro?
Prioritization / Voting (5 minutes)
On the retro board in Echometer, you can easily prioritize the feedback with voting. The voting is of course anonymous.
Define actions (10-20 minutes)
You can create a linked action via the plus symbol on a feedback. Not sure which measure would be the right one? Then open a whiteboard on the topic via the plus symbol instead to brainstorm root causes and possible measures.
Checkout / Closing (5 minutes)
Echometer enables you to collect anonymous feedback from the team on how helpful the retro was. This creates the ROTI score ("Return On Time Invested"), which you can track over time.
Keep stop start retro
Why the Keep Stop Start order is helpful
If you ask last what the team wants to start, you elegantly lead into the last phase of the retrospective the transition: to the potential actions.
By the way, here you can find 7 tips for great action items in retrospectives.
Are you looking for the general “Start Stop Continue” method with examples, a template, and a complete process? Then read our Start Stop Continue guide.
Example responses in a Keep-Stop-Start retrospective
The following responses are meant to inspire you. They are most valuable when you relate them to your specific collaboration, the last sprint, or the past few weeks.
Keep Stop Start Retro: Example responses in remote teams
Keep – What should we keep doing?
- Keeping our daily check-ins short while openly addressing blockers.
- Recording decisions and tasks directly in the shared board after the meeting.
- Working on complex topics together via screen sharing instead of writing long messages.
Stop – What should we stop doing?
- Starting meetings without an agenda or a clear desired outcome.
- Contacting colleagues spontaneously outside their agreed working hours.
- Making important agreements only in private chats.
Start – What should we start doing?
- Using a dedicated channel and a consistent format for asynchronous updates.
- Scheduling regular informal virtual meetings to strengthen personal exchange.
- Sharing a brief written preparation before larger meetings.
Keep Stop Start Retro: Example responses in agile teams
Keep – What should we keep doing?
- Preparing small, clearly scoped work packages together during refinement.
- Validating new ideas early with users or stakeholders.
- Openly showing in the Sprint Review what is not yet finished and why.
Stop – What should we stop doing?
- Starting too many tasks at the same time.
- Taking tickets into the sprint whose goal or acceptance criteria are unclear.
- Postponing improvement measures from retrospectives.
Start – What should we start doing?
- Consciously limiting our work in progress.
- Defining a concrete action item with a responsible person for each retrospective.
- Checking assumptions through small experiments before implementation.
Keep Stop Start Retro: Example responses in Scrum teams
Keep – What should we keep doing?
- Sharpening the Sprint Goal together at the start and keeping it in mind throughout the sprint.
- Focusing in the Daily Scrum on progress toward the Sprint Goal instead of purely status updates.
- Refining Product Backlog items together in good time.
Stop – What should we stop doing?
- Taking on new work during the sprint without discussing the impact on the Sprint Goal.
- Using the Daily Scrum for detailed problem solving with the whole team.
- Ending retrospectives with general intentions instead of concrete improvements.
Start – What should we start doing?
- Following up on the most important improvement from the retrospective visibly in the next sprint.
- Purposefully gathering feedback on open product decisions in the Sprint Review.
- Regularly reviewing the Definition of Done and adjusting it together when new insights arise.
Conclusion - Retrospective Keep Doing, Stop Doing, Start Doing: Simple and extremely effective
The “Keep Stop Start” retrospective is one of the most common retrospective methods, which is very easy to understand and at the same time leads very effectively to improvement measures. This is precisely what makes it so popular across the board.
Nevertheless, I generally recommend surprising your team regularly with a different set of retrospective questions as well. We have a blog post with 32 kickass retrospective ideas for beginners and professionals. written - feel free to check it out!
Or take a direct look in our retro tool at which retro formats we offer here:
