🔥🧯 Fire Fighting Squad
Suit up as brave firefighters! Let's douse the flames of challenges, fire up great practices, and keep the team running like a well-oiled machine. Together, we'll extinguish issues and keep progress blazing.
Template Columns
🚨 Fire Alarms (Start)
Identify and sound the alarm on new practices or actions to start that can help prevent or address fires early.
Base column: Start🔥 Wildfires (Stop)
Point out the uncontrolled wildfires—practices or habits that should be extinguished immediately to avoid damage.
Base column: Stop💡 Fireproofing (Continue)
Highlight the effective fireproof measures—processes or practices that are working well and should be continued.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
Fire Fighting Squad is a dynamic retrospective format that helps teams identify ineffective practices to 'stop', initiate valuable practices to 'start', and recognize successful systems to 'continue' for streamlined team collaboration.
When to use this template
Use this template during times when the team is tackling several challenges or dynamic changes, and you want to prioritize actionable improvements and maintain momentum.
How to facilitate
Welcome the team and explain the 'Fire Fighting Squad' theme, setting an engaging tone for the discussion.
Introduce the three columns: Fire Alarms (Start), Wildfires (Stop), and Fireproofing (Continue), detailing their focus areas.
Allocate time for individual reflection where participants silently add their thoughts to the respective columns.
Review the contributions together as a team, clustering similar ideas and ensuring clarity on all points listed.
Create actionable next steps by discussing how to address the specific 'Fire Alarms' and extinguish 'Wildfires', while reinforcing 'Fireproofing' practices.
Prioritize actions collaboratively and assign team members to follow through, scheduling any needed discussions or meetings.
Close by summarizing key agreements and celebrating the team's openness and commitment to improving processes.
Pro Tips
Encourage contributing specific, actionable items to clarify intentions.
Enhance thematic engagement by using related team warm-ups or props to highlight the fire-fighting theme.
Focus the discussion on a recent period (e.g., last sprint) to keep it relevant and manageable.
FAQ
What if the team struggles to come up with ideas?
Prompt thinking with examples or ask about recent challenges that could fit into each column.
How can you ensure productive discussions in the 'Wildfires' column?
Focus on issues actionable within the team’s scope and avoid unproductive blame discussions.
At a glance
- Duration
45 minutes
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective