KALM Retrospective Template
Also known as: Keep, Add, Less, More · KALM retrospective · Keep Add More Less
Not everything needs to start or stop. Sometimes you just need to turn the volume up or down.
- ⏱ 40–50 min
- 👥 3–12 people
- 🧩 4 columns
- Free · no sign-up
Keep
What should we keep?
Practices that work well and should stay exactly as they are.
Add
What should we add?
New things to introduce: ideas, practices, tools the team doesn't have yet.
Less
What should we do less?
Things that are useful but overdone. Reduce them, don't remove them.
More
What should we do more?
Things that work and deserve more time, frequency or attention.
What is the KALM Retrospective?
KALM stands for Keep, Add, Less, More. It is a four-column retrospective in which the team decides which practices to keep, which to add, and which to dial down or up. Instead of the binary 'start or stop', KALM lets the team adjust the intensity of what it already does.
That nuance matters. Most team practices are neither good nor bad: code reviews, standups, documentation and pairing are all useful in the right amount. A Start Stop Continue retro pushes the team to keep them or drop them; KALM lets it say 'fewer standups', 'more pairing', 'shorter reviews'.
The calm-sounding acronym is a bonus: the format tends to produce measured, low-drama conversations. It suits mature teams that have already removed the obvious problems and want to fine-tune how they work.
When to use KALM (and when not to)
✅ Use it when
- ▸ When the team works reasonably well and wants to fine-tune, not overhaul.
- ▸ When Start Stop Continue keeps producing 'stop X' cards for practices that are useful in moderation.
- ▸ To review meeting load, review processes or documentation habits.
- ▸ After a few sprints of a new process, to calibrate it.
- ▸ With teams that prefer calm, practical conversations.
⚠️ Avoid it when
- ▸ When something is clearly broken and must stop; the soft 'Less' column can water down the message.
- ▸ After an emotionally difficult sprint (Mad Sad Glad).
- ▸ When you have only 20 minutes; four columns take time to read and group.
How to run a KALM Retrospective step by step
Total time: about 42 minutes for a team of 3–12 people. Adjust the timeboxes to the size of your team and sprint.
- 1
Set the stage · 3 min
Explain each column. Stress the difference between 'Add' (something new) and 'More' (something we already do, but not enough).
- 2
Silent writing · 8 min
Everyone writes in the four columns. Encourage specific amounts: 'Less: standup from 20 to 10 minutes'.
- 3
Keep and Add · 8 min
Read what to keep and what to add. Group duplicates and confirm the keeps with a quick thumbs-up.
- 4
Less and More · 8 min
Read the volume adjustments. Watch for contradictions (one person wants more meetings, another fewer); they make great discussions.
- 5
Vote · 3 min
Three votes each, across Add, Less and More.
- 6
Agree on adjustments · 12 min
For the top items define the new amount, try it for one or two sprints and review it. Assign an owner to each change.
KALM questions and prompts for each column
Read a couple of these aloud if the board stays empty after the first minutes of writing.
Keep
- • What would you defend if someone tried to change it?
- • Which ritual is worth its time?
- • What do new joiners find helpful?
Add
- • What's missing from how we work?
- • What have you seen work in another team?
- • Which tool would remove a recurring pain?
Less
- • Which meeting could be shorter or less frequent?
- • Where are we over-documenting or over-reviewing?
- • What do we do more often than needed?
More
- • What helped so much we should do it more often?
- • Which practice do we skip under pressure but shouldn't?
- • What do you wish happened every sprint?
KALM retrospective example
An established platform team of eight, eighteen months into working together. Here is what their board looked like at the end of the writing phase.
Keep
- Blameless incident reviews
- Weekly tech talk
- Pair programming on complex tickets
Add
- A rotation for dependency updates
- Architecture decision records
- A team dashboard of service health
Less
- Status meetings with stakeholders, every two weeks is enough
- Slack channels, too many
- PR comments on code style (let the linter do it)
More
- Time for refactoring
- Demos to other teams
- Async written updates
Action items they agreed on
- ☑️ Move the stakeholder status meeting to every two weeks (owner: EM)
- ☑️ Start writing ADRs for decisions that affect more than one service (owner: Tomás)
- ☑️ Reserve 10% of sprint capacity for refactoring (owner: PO + team)
Common mistakes and facilitation tips
Confusing Add and More
If it already exists, it's 'More'. If it doesn't, it's 'Add'. Misplaced cards are fine; just move them while grouping.
Vague amounts
'More testing' says nothing. Ask 'how much more?' until the change is something you can check next retro.
Too many adjustments at once
Changing five things at once makes it impossible to know what helped. Pick two or three.
Avoiding hard stops
If something really needs to stop, say so. KALM's gentleness shouldn't hide a real problem.
Variations and related templates
- Start Stop Continue retrospective template: The binary original, more direct.
- Starfish retrospective template: Keep, Start, Stop, More, Less: KALM plus explicit starts and stops.
- Worked Well, Kinda, Didn't retrospective template: Rates practices before deciding how to adjust them.
- 4Ls retrospective template: Adds lessons learned to the review.
KALM retrospective FAQ
What does KALM stand for?
Keep, Add, Less, More. The team decides which practices to keep, which to add, and which to do less or more of.
What is the difference between KALM and Start Stop Continue?
Start Stop Continue is binary: start or stop. KALM lets the team adjust the intensity of a practice with Less and More, which suits teams that are fine-tuning rather than fixing.
What is the difference between KALM and Starfish?
Starfish has five columns (Keep, Start, Stop, More, Less). KALM drops Stop and uses Add for new practices, so it is a bit shorter and softer.
How long does a KALM retrospective take?
About 40 to 50 minutes for a team of up to ten people.
Can I run a KALM retrospective online for free?
Yes. Click 'Use this template' to open a Giftro board with Keep, Add, Less and More columns. Share the link; no account needed.
Run your KALM retro now
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Related retrospective templates
Starfish retrospective template
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Start Stop Continue retrospective template
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Worked Well, Kinda Worked, Didn't Work retrospective template
A three-level retro that adds the missing middle: what worked, what kinda worked and what didn't.
4Ls retrospective template
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I Like, I Wish, What If retrospective template
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