Which sprint retrospective format is the right one for you, and which will generate you and your development team the most value? Is it the Start-Stop-Continue the right one for your team?

What is the Start-Stop-Continue Sprint Retrospective?

This is an action-oriented retrospective which allows dev team members to come up with collaborative ideas for sprint improvement. By using this format, your team can look at their progress from previous sprints and put that to use for upcoming sprints.  This retrospective format is broken down into three sections.

‍Start: Team members should come up with a collective list of activities that they should start doing in the next sprint.

‍Stop: Similarly, the team should collaboratively think of things they should stop doing in the next sprint. These should include things that did not prove to be profitable or helpful during the previous sprint.

‍Continue: This list should include the activities that were successful and productive from the past sprint that the development team believes they should continue doing.

By using these three steps, your team is able to set a definite plan of action for the next sprint.

What are the Start-Stop-Continue sprint retro uses?

This retrospective format is used to give the team an opportunity to discuss and review their progress from the last sprint, to pinpoint issues with the past sprint, and to come up with an action plan for the upcoming sprint.

When can the Start-Stop-Continue sprint retro format be used?

This sprint retrospective format is great to be used in sprint reviews or program reviews once a cycle has finished and before another begins. It is also a good format to use for performance reviews, both for the company and the team. By taking a look at past sprints and assessing how the activities aided the productivity of the company or not.

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