🎭🕊️ Venetian Carnival
Step into the vibrant masks of Venice! Let’s celebrate our sprint’s triumphs and challenges, dancing through the canals of agile, and chart a dazzling path forward.
Template Columns
🎉 Begin the Revelry
Identify new practices to kick off our project's festivities.
Base column: Start🛑 End the Masked Missteps
Highlight behaviors to drop to keep the carnival smooth.
Base column: Stop💃 Keep the Dance
Celebrate ongoing actions that keep our team in rhythm.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
Mask the sprint’s highs and lows with the Venetian Carnival retrospective, using start, stop, and continue columns to celebrate successes and identify improvements.
When to use this template
Ideal after a high‑energy sprint or when the team needs a fresh, fun perspective to surface hidden issues and reinforce good habits.
How to facilitate
Gather the team in a virtual meeting and set a festive tone, perhaps with a carnival background or music
Explain the three columns: Begin the Revelry (Start), End the Masked Missteps (Stop), Keep the Dance (Continue) and the goal of each
Give each participant 3–5 minutes to write their ideas on virtual sticky notes under the appropriate column
Collect the notes, group similar items, and discuss each column, focusing on why each item matters
Vote on the top items in each column using dot voting or emoji reactions
Turn the top Start and Stop items into concrete action items with owners and due dates
Close the session by thanking the team and highlighting the next steps
Pro Tips
Use a colorful virtual board template that mimics carnival masks to keep energy high
Limit discussion time per item to keep the session brisk and prevent over‑analysis
Encourage participants to think in terms of behaviors, not personalities, to keep feedback constructive
Capture action items directly in your sprint backlog to ensure follow‑through
FAQ
What if the team is unfamiliar with the start‑stop‑continue format?
Briefly introduce the three columns, give a quick example, and let the first round be a practice run to build confidence
How do we keep the fun vibe without it feeling forced?
Allow team members to choose a mask emoji for their notes and keep the music low‑key; the theme should enhance, not distract, the discussion
What if we have too many items in a column?
Cluster similar ideas together and use dot voting to surface the most important ones, then focus discussion on the top three per column
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-12 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective