The Starfish Retrospective

The Starfish is a powerful agile retrospective template where each arm of the starfish represents a different category for reflection: Keep Doing, More Of, Less Of, Stop Doing, and Start Doing. This structured approach helps development teams capture a comprehensive view of their processes, making it ideal for sprint retrospectives and continuous improvement initiatives.

What Is The Starfish Retrospective?

The Starfish retrospective uses a visual starfish metaphor to guide team reflection across five distinct dimensions of work. Unlike binary "what went well/what didn't" formats, the Starfish offers a spectrum of responses that encourages nuanced thinking about team practices.

Each arm of the starfish represents a different category:

• Keep Doing: Practices that are working well and should continue
• More Of: Positive elements that should be amplified or expanded
• Less Of: Activities that provide some value but are overused or inefficient
• Stop Doing: Practices that are counterproductive and should be eliminated
• Start Doing: New ideas or approaches worth implementing

This format helps teams identify both immediate pain points and opportunities for incremental improvement, making it particularly effective for agile development teams committed to continuous refinement.

Benefits & When to Use

The Starfish retrospective is especially valuable when:

• Teams have been working together for several sprints and have enough context to evaluate patterns
• You need to balance appreciation for what's working with constructive criticism
• The team needs to prioritize among multiple potential changes
• You want to encourage incremental improvement rather than drastic overhauls
• Teams feel stuck in a rut and need to identify both problems and potential solutions

This template excels at generating practical, actionable insights while maintaining team morale through its balanced approach to feedback.

How to Run a Starfish Retrospective Session

Time needed: 60-90 minutes

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

   • Explain the Starfish metaphor and the purpose of each section
   • Set a positive, constructive tone for honest reflection
   • Emphasize that this is about improving processes, not criticizing individuals

2. Individual Reflection (10 minutes)

   • Have everyone silently add sticky notes to all five areas
   • Encourage specific examples rather than general statements
   • Aim for at least one contribution to each section

3. Group Discussion and Theming (25-35 minutes)

   • Work through each section in this order: Keep Doing, More Of, Less Of, Stop Doing, Start Doing
   • For each section, have participants explain their notes
   • Group similar items together to identify patterns
   • Use reactions to show agreement or to highlight important points

4. Prioritization (5-10 minutes)

   • Have the team vote on the most important items across all sections
   • Focus on identifying 3-5 key themes that emerged

5. Action Planning (15 minutes)

   • Create specific, measurable follow-up actions for the top-voted items
   • Assign owners and deadlines for each action
   • Document decisions in the Actions section of the board

Tips for a Successful Session

• Book-end your session with the more positive sections (Keep Doing, Start Doing) to maintain momentum and energy
• Use the participant highlighting feature to ensure everyone's voice is heard during discussion
• If you have a large team, consider having people add notes to all sections at once, then discussing them in sequence
• Keep an eye on the time for each section to ensure you address all five areas
• For remote teams, use the reaction tools to show agreement rather than having everyone speak on every point
• Look for connections between sections—sometimes a "Less Of" item directly relates to a "More Of" opportunity
• Focus on systemic issues rather than individual performance
• Emphasize small, incremental improvements over wholesale changes—this aligns perfectly with agile principles

The Starfish retrospective provides a comprehensive framework for reflection that balances appreciation with critical analysis, making it an excellent choice for teams committed to continuous improvement in their agile processes.