What is Start Stop Continue?
Start Stop Continue is a structured retrospective technique that asks each team member to reflect on three questions: what should the team stop doing, what should it start doing, and what should it continue doing. The three-part structure keeps the conversation balanced, making it easier to surface both problems and wins without the discussion drifting into a complaint session or a praise loop.
The method works in any context where a group needs to improve how it operates: agile sprints, project debriefs, team check-ins, or end-of-program reviews. It is one of the most widely used retrospective formats because the questions are easy to understand, the output is immediately actionable, and the whole activity can run in under 30 minutes.
How this interactive Start Stop Continue template works
This template uses two Questiory features: the categorized answers interaction and the board visualization.
With categorized answers, each participant writes one or more ideas directly into one of the three categories from their own device. The categories use Questiory brand colors for instant readability: Stop in coral, Start in green, Continue in teal. Everyone responds simultaneously and privately, which means quieter team members contribute as much as the most vocal ones.
The board visualization displays every response as a card organized in three columns. The group sees the full picture at once and can start noticing patterns before the discussion begins, instead of building that picture one comment at a time.
When to run a Start Stop Continue retrospective
- Sprint or project retrospectives: a fast, structured way to close a cycle and decide what changes in the next one.
- After a training or workshop: ask participants what the team should change about how it runs these sessions.
- Regular team check-ins: run it quarterly to track how team dynamics are shifting over time.
- Manager feedback: a low-pressure format for a team to give their manager honest, structured input.
- End-of-quarter reviews: surface what is and is not working across a team or department before planning the next period.
Use this template
Create your free account, click the Use template button, search for "Start Stop Continue" and click Create. A copy is added to your account instantly. From there you can adjust the category labels, add a warm-up slide, or include a closing question asking the group to prioritize one action from the Stop and Start columns.