--- title: "Pizza Retro" description: "Team members sort sprint reflections into five pizza-themed columns: Start Doing, Stop Doing, Keep Doing, More Of, and Less Of. The group reviews the inputs and selects concrete action items for the upcoming cycle." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/pizza-retro/" --- # Pizza Retro Team members sort sprint reflections into five pizza-themed columns: Start Doing, Stop Doing, Keep Doing, More Of, and Less Of. The group reviews the inputs and selects concrete action items for the upcoming cycle. **Time:** 45 minutes. UWT suggested baseline for a full retrospective cycle; sources list no strict timer. **People:** 4 to 24. Individual silent reflection followed by full-group review and small-group or whole-room action drafting. ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Categorize team sprint feedback across five actionable dimensions to identify specific process adjustments. **Use it when:** At the end of a sprint or project milestone when the team wants a visual, structured review of working habits. **Skip it when:** When a team is navigating high-conflict interpersonal issues or needs a deep root-cause analysis rather than a broad process scan. ## Materials and tools - Wall space or whiteboard with five marked columns - Sticky notes in at least 2 colors (approx. 10 notes per person) - Fine-tip markers (1 per person) - Dot stickers for voting (3 per person) - Timer ## Before participants arrive 1. Draw or post five distinct columns on the board labeled: Start Doing (Fresh Ingredients), Stop Doing (Take Off the Pizza), Keep Doing (Favorite Cheese/Sauce), More Of (Extra Toppings), and Less Of (Lighten Up). 2. Draw an optional pizza circle in the center of the board if visual theme decoration is desired. 3. Place sticky notes and markers at each participant seat. ## Say this to open Welcome to our retrospective. Today we are using the Pizza Retro to look at how we worked during our last sprint. We will evaluate our habits using five categories: Start, Stop, Keep, More Of, and Less Of. You will draft your own notes silently, post them under the right topping category, and then we will select specific items to put into action. ## How to run it ### 1. Warm up and frame (5 minutes) Open the session. Ask each person to name their preferred beverage or snack after finishing a major sprint. Keep responses to one sentence per person. Explain the five column categories on the board. ### 2. Silent card generation (8 minutes) Set a timer for 8 minutes. Participants work silently to write observations on sticky notes, one thought per note. Participants may place notes directly under the five columns as they finish them, or hold them until time expires. ### 3. Cluster and clarify (12 minutes) Read through the posted notes column by column. Merge exact duplicates with the authors' consent. Clarify ambiguous wording without debating solutions yet. If working with 15 or more people, review the columns in pairs of related categories. ### 4. Prioritize with dot votes (5 minutes) Give each participant 3 dot stickers. Participants place their dots on the cards or clusters they believe are most urgent to address in the next sprint. Silence is encouraged during voting. ### 5. Draft action items and debrief (15 minutes) Take the top 2 or 3 cards with the highest votes. Facilitate a brief discussion to define a concrete action item, an owner, and a completion date for each. Close with the debrief questions. ## Debrief questions - Which change on the board will have the most immediate impact on our next cycle? - Where did we disagree on whether to keep, reduce, or stop a specific practice? - What is one thing on the Keep list that we should actively protect? **Finished output:** A documented retrospective board with prioritized cards and two to three assigned action items for the upcoming sprint. ## Remote Replicate the five columns on a digital whiteboard (such as Miro or EasyRetro). Use a shared countdown timer for silent writing. Participants create and drag digital sticky notes into the five columns, use built-in voting features for prioritization, and document agreed action items in a dedicated table on the board. ## Hybrid Remote participants write in the shared digital workspace while in-person participants either use their own devices on the same board or have an in-room scribe transcribe physical notes onto the digital board in real time. Project the digital board in the physical room so all participants view the exact same layout during voting and discussion. ## Access and participation choices - Allow typed or verbal contributions as an alternative to hand-written physical sticky notes. - Participation in posting notes is optional; team members may choose to contribute silently or pass on verbal comments during the review step without justification. ## If the session gets stuck **Participants write vague cards like 'better communication' that cannot lead to concrete action.** Ask the author or the room for a concrete example: 'What specific meeting, tool, or moment felt miscommunicated this sprint?' **The Stop column turns into a venting session without constructive next steps.** Acknowledge the friction, then immediately ask: 'What concrete change replaces this habit, or what boundary stops it?' ## Terms used here - Sprint: A fixed period of time (typically one to four weeks) during which a team completes a set amount of work. - Dot voting: A quick decision method where participants use a limited number of stickers or marks to prioritize items on a shared board. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in templates published by EasyRetro and Miro. EasyRetro lists the template author as EasyRetro Team and mentions a related template attribution to Tammy Lanius. Retained the core five-category pizza topping taxonomy (Start Doing/Spicy, Stop Doing/Garlic, Keep Doing/Cheese, More Of/Extra Sauce, Less Of/Mushrooms) and the drink warm-up from EasyRetro. Added structured UWT facilitation timing, dot-voting mechanics, concrete action assignment, hybrid rules, and debrief prompts. [EasyRetro](https://easyretro.io/templates/pizza-retro/) [Miro](https://miro.com/templates/pizza-retro-template/) Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/pizza-retro/