Starfish
Dial practices up or down instead of only starting and stopping them.
Five columns instead of three, because most practices aren't on or off. A team can ask for less of something without having to argue about abolishing it.
Reach for it when
- Decide how much of something to do, not only whether to do it
- Adjust practices that basically work but are set at the wrong level
- Give a team that's past all-or-nothing changes somewhere to say 'a bit less of this'
Pick something else when
- The team is new to retrospectives and five columns will overwhelm them
- The session is short. Five categories need the time
- The answer really is yes or no, and gradation is just hedging
The board
What your team sees during Collect. Everyone writes on their own device, and nobody sees anyone else's Notes until the stage closes.
Keep Doing
Already at the right level
Less Of
Useful, but you're doing too much of it
More Of
Working, and you want more of it
Stop Doing
Not worth doing at all
Start Doing
Not doing it yet, but should be
How the session runs
The facilitator moves the room from one part to the next, so nobody has to remember what comes after what.
Collect Notes
Add your notes. Everyone writes at once.
Read-out
Everyone reads their own notes aloud, one at a time
Group Similar Notes
Pull related notes into the same pile
Vote on Topics
Pick what the group should spend its time on
Discuss
Work through the topics in vote order
Session Summary
Check what came out of the session and export it
Prompts that open it up
The facilitator can drop any of these into the room when it goes quiet.
Run Starfish with your team
Share a six-digit session code. Everyone joins from their own screen, and nobody needs an account to take part.