KALM retrospective template
Keep, Add, Less, More — the Starfish without the scrap column.
Also known as: KALM retrospective, Keep Add Less More.
KALM is a four-column relative of the Starfish that deliberately drops "stop". Removing the option to delete something changes the conversation: the team has to argue about what a practice is worth rather than whether to keep it at all, which suits groups that have already cut everything obviously wasteful.
The columns, and what goes in each
- Keep
- What should stay exactly as it is?
- Add
- What is missing that we should introduce?
- Less
- What should we do less of without removing it entirely?
- More
- What should we invest more time or attention in?
When to use the KALM retrospective
- Teams with a stable process that needs tuning rather than surgery
- Sessions where you want to avoid a reflexive "cancel the meeting" outcome
- Follow-up retrospectives after a Starfish, to refine what survived
How to run a KALM retrospective
- Write silently for six to seven minutes.
- Read Keep first — it establishes what is not on the table.
- Discuss Less and More as a pair; they are usually a single trade-off argument.
- Turn Add cards into experiments with an explicit review date.
Run this retrospective in RetroCanvas
KALM is built in — pick it when you create a board, or set it to recur automatically every sprint. Free, with no credit card required.