KALM Retrospective
Keep, Add, Less, More — the practical framework for behavior change.
What is it?
KALM stands for Keep, Add, Less, and More. It is a concise agile retrospective format that helps scrum teams identify current practices worth maintaining, new ideas to introduce, things to reduce, and things to amplify. Unlike Start/Stop/Continue, KALM explicitly separates elimination (what to reduce versus stop entirely) and addition (what to amplify versus introduce fresh), resulting in more nuanced and actionable team commitments with less risk of ambiguity.
Keep
Current practices working well that should continue unchanged.
Add
New ideas or practices the team has not tried yet but wants to introduce.
Less
Existing things that have some value but take too much time or energy.
More
Good existing practices the team wants to amplify or invest in more.
When to use it
- ▸Teams wanting a fresh alternative to Start/Stop/Continue
- ▸When you need to distinguish between reducing and eliminating a practice
- ▸Scrum teams focused on precise, measurable process changes
- ▸Retrospectives centered on team process optimization
Facilitation tips
- 1Spend extra time distinguishing 'Less' from 'Stop entirely' — this nuance drives better action items.
- 2The 'Add' column should trigger genuine new experiments, not just wishlist items.
- 3Pair 'More' items with a specific metric: 'More code review — aim for 2 reviewers per PR.'
- 4Vote on which quadrant to focus action items on rather than trying to act on all four at once.
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More Retrospective Templates
Start, Stop, Continue
The classic agile retro format. What should we start doing, stop doing, and keep doing?
Use this template →4Ls
Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for. A nuanced format that surfaces what's missing.
Use this template →Mad, Sad, Glad
Emotion-first retrospective. Great after a difficult sprint or a stressful period.
Use this template →