# Start · Stop · Continue — Debrief Sheet

> 8 questions, 3 failure modes, one rule: the wall photo is the contract.
> Use with `start-stop-continue-guide.md`. Runs 10 min after the owner round.

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## The 8 questions

**1. The pile sizes.**
"Look at the wall: which pile is biggest, and what does the shape say about this team right now?"
→ An all-CONTINUE wall is a team at ease or a team afraid. Ask which.

**2. The hardest card.**
"Which card was hardest to write — the START, the STOP, or the CONTINUE? Why that one?"
→ STOP cards are usually hardest; asking why surfaces the fear behind the behavior.

**3. The echo cluster.**
"Which cluster gathered the most duplicates? What is it like to know five people wrote the same STOP?"
→ Echoes are the team's quiet consensus finally made visible.

**4. The card nobody posted.**
"Was there a card you wrote and pocketed? No need to read it."
→ Heads nodding is enough. The pocketed cards tell you the retro's safety ceiling.

**5. The vote and the silence.**
"Which high-vote card got discussed the least? What's underneath it?"
→ Sometimes the room votes for a card precisely to avoid talking about it.

**6. The daily version.**
"Between this retro and the next one, where will the wall's three verbs show up without a formal retro?"
→ Transfer question. Expect: 1:1s, channel threads, sprint planning.

**7. The three commitments.**
"Read the three owner-plus-date cards aloud. Do all three still feel real, right now?"
→ One may wobble under the room's eyes — renegotiate it on the spot, honestly.

**8. The photograph.**
"Who has the wall photo? When does it get pulled up next — before or after the next retro?"
→ Closing question. The photo is the contract; schedule when it gets audited.

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## 3 known failure modes of the debrief itself

1. **The retro becomes a venting session.** STOP cards get debated one by one, time dies, nothing is owned.
   Rescue: the vote already chose — debate belongs to the top card per pile, nowhere else.

2. **The lead answers everything.** The most senior voice interprets every cluster.
   Rescue: hand the interpretation to the card-writers: "author reads, room listens" as a rule.

3. **Commitments are vague to be safe.** "Improve sync" — owner, date, no verb anyone can audit.
   Rescue: the one-line test: can someone who missed the retro tell if it happened? If not, rewrite.

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If you are running the pre/post measure (`start-stop-continue-assessment.json`), note these observables:

| Observable | Points to |
|---|---|
| STOP pile size vs. CONTINUE pile size | Honesty level |
| Duplicate clusters form without prompting | Shared pain surfacing |
| All three commitments pass the one-line test | Commitment quality |

The report your team receives is a self-comparison across cycles, never a ranking against other teams — keep it that way.