Retro template
Starfish
Starfish sorts change by degree. A team does more of a practice or less of it, rather than only stopping.
Keep doing
What works and should stay?
- Standups of 15 minutes
- A design note before larger work
Less of
What should we do less?
- 3 people in refinement, not 7
- 2 tickets in progress each
More of
What should we do more?
- Pairing on unfamiliar code
- Pull requests under 200 lines
Stop doing
What brings no value?
- Maintaining the unused staging environment
- The Monday status call
Start doing
What should we try?
- A 15-minute bug triage each morning
- A failing test before each fix
- 5 lanesPrefilled the moment you start.
- Writing timer 10 minSuggested for the preparation stage.
- Best forTeams tuning a process that works, not repairing one.
- OriginPatrick Kua published the retrospective starfish on his blog in 2006.
How it runs
Preparation
Everyone writes in private for 10 minutes.
Grouping
Drag duplicates from More of and Start doing together.
Voting
3 votes each picks what gets discussed.
Discussion
Take a Keep doing item early, before the changes.
Finished
Turn the top Start and Stop items into action items.
Column by column
Keep doing
What works and should stay?
Practices already at the right level, worth protecting from change.
- Standups of 15 minutes
- A design note before larger work
Less of
What should we do less?
Things worth keeping in smaller amounts. Say how much less.
- 3 people in refinement, not 7
- 2 tickets in progress each
More of
What should we do more?
Practices that already happen and deserve more time.
- Pairing on unfamiliar code
- Pull requests under 200 lines
Stop doing
What brings no value?
Work to end outright rather than shrink.
- Maintaining the unused staging environment
- The Monday status call
Start doing
What should we try?
Experiments for the next sprint, small enough to begin on Monday.
- A 15-minute bug triage each morning
- A failing test before each fix
Best for
- Teams tuning a process that works, not repairing one.
- Sprints answered with more of this, less of that.
- Larger teams, because 5 lanes spread the cards out.
Pick another template when
Tips
- A card the team would miss at zero is Less of.
- More of needs an example. Start doing does not.
- Pick at most 2 Start doing items per retro.
Questions
Who invented the Starfish retrospective?
Patrick Kua published it on his blog on 9 March 2006.
How is Starfish different from Start, Stop, Continue?
Starfish adds the More of and Less of lanes.
How long does a Starfish retro take?
About an hour for up to 8 people, with 10 minutes of writing.
Can we run Starfish anonymously?
Yes. Retree creates retros with anonymous cards on by default.