Keep Doing
Preserve effective habits at their current level.
Example cards
- Keep the release checklist.
Keep in mind: Name what works rather than writing generic praise.
Continuous Improvement, Team Habits
Starfish Retrospective Template
Go beyond start, stop, and continue. Use five focused prompts to decide which habits to keep, increase, reduce, stop, or introduce.
30–45 min5 columnsRemote friendly
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See it in action
Drag example cards between columns or try voting to explore the format.
5 example cards · changes stay in this previewDrag cards between columns
Keep Doing1
Preserve effective habits at their current level.
Keep our release checklist.
More Of1
Increase something that is already useful.
More pairing on unfamiliar code.
Less Of1
Reduce frequency or scope without removing a practice entirely.
Fewer status meetings during focus time.
Stop Doing1
Remove practices that no longer provide enough value.
Stop manually copying release notes between tools.
Start Doing1
Propose a new habit or a small experiment.
Start testing migration scripts in staging.
The prompts behind the format
What goes in each column?
Use these prompts and example cards to start a focused conversation.
More Of
Increase something that is already useful.
Example cards
- More pairing on unfamiliar code.
Keep in mind: Do not duplicate Start Doing ideas for practices you have never tried.
Less Of
Reduce frequency or scope without removing a practice entirely.
Example cards
- Fewer status meetings during focus time.
Keep in mind: Explain what a useful reduction would look like.
Stop Doing
Remove practices that no longer provide enough value.
Example cards
- Stop manually copying release notes between tools.
Keep in mind: Check dependencies before eliminating a practice.
Start Doing
Propose a new habit or a small experiment.
Example cards
- Start testing migration scripts in staging.
Keep in mind: Avoid starting more experiments than the team can evaluate.
Timeline
How to run it
Starfish takes about 30–45 min. Here's the flow.
5
01
Explain the five prompts
Clarify the difference between More Of, Less Of, and the other columns.
10
02
Reflect individually
Add specific observations and ideas. There is no requirement to fill every column.
15
03
Vote and discuss
Prioritize cards, group related ideas, and explore why people placed similar topics in different columns.
5
04
Choose experiments
Agree on one or two changes, assign owners, and define when to review the results.
Best practices
- ✓Explain More Of versus Start Doing before reflection.
- ✓Discuss conflicting cards with curiosity.
- ✓Use votes to prioritize discussion rather than force agreement.
- ✓Review the chosen experiments at the next retro.
Common mistakes
- ✗Expecting an equal number of cards in every column.
- ✗Treating Less Of and Stop Doing as interchangeable.
- ✗Committing to a change in every column.
About this template
What is a Starfish retrospective?
A Starfish retrospective gives teams five ways to talk about how they work: Keep Doing, More Of, Less Of, Stop Doing, and Start Doing. The extra nuance helps when a practice is useful but happens too often, or when something works well and deserves more attention.
Keep Doing protects effective habits. More Of and Less Of adjust the frequency or scope of existing practices. Stop Doing removes waste, while Start Doing introduces an experiment. In LetRetro, each prompt is a separate column with its own color, making the distinctions visible while the team adds cards.
Choose Starfish when Start/Stop/Continue feels too binary or familiar. Ask for specific observations before proposing changes, then vote on the most useful experiments. If the same topic appears in conflicting columns, use that disagreement to understand different needs rather than deciding that one card is wrong.
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Explore templateFAQ
Frequently asked questions
What are the five Starfish retrospective columns?
Keep Doing, More Of, Less Of, Stop Doing, and Start Doing.
How is Starfish different from Start/Stop/Continue?
Starfish adds More Of and Less Of. These prompts help teams adjust a useful practice without treating keeping or stopping it as the only choices.
What if the same topic appears in different columns?
Ask what each participant experienced. Different placements can reveal different needs, and the team can agree on a more specific experiment.
Is the Starfish template free?
Yes. Starfish is a built-in template available on the Free plan, subject to board and member limits.
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