Column 1
Drop
What no longer earns the time or complexity it costs?
Example cards
- Drop duplicate release reports.
- Drop mandatory estimates for tiny fixes.
- Drop the unused approval queue.
Ready-to-use template
DAKI Retrospective
DAKI combines decisive removal and addition with space to preserve strengths and refine practices that are useful but imperfect. That balance makes it practical for process reviews.
- Duration
- 30–40 minutes
- Team size
- 3–12 people
- Best for
- Process reviews, operating-model changes, and improvement backlogs
What each column means
Use the prompts to keep cards specific. The examples show the level of detail that makes discussion and voting useful.
Column 2
Add
What missing practice should the team test?
Example cards
- Add a dependency check in refinement.
- Add a release health review.
- Add customer context to kickoff.
Column 3
Keep
What consistently produces value as it is?
Example cards
- Keep small pull requests.
- Keep the weekly product demo.
- Keep rotating facilitation.
Column 4
Improve
What useful practice needs a targeted change?
Example cards
- Improve refinement with clearer outcomes.
- Improve handoffs with one owner.
- Improve alerts by removing noise.
30–40 minutes agenda
A complete path from framing the room to assigning one concrete follow-up.
- 013 minutes
Frame the review
Name the sprint or project being reviewed, restate the purpose of each column, and remind everyone to describe observable events.
- 027 minutes
Write observations silently
Give everyone uninterrupted time to add one specific observation per card across every column.
- 037 minutes
Share and clarify
Read the cards column by column and let authors add context without debating solutions yet.
- 045 minutes
Group and vote
Combine cards that describe the same pattern, then vote for the themes that would most improve the next iteration.
- 0510 minutes
Discuss the leading themes
Explore causes, consequences, and tradeoffs behind the highest-voted themes while making space for dissenting evidence.
- 065 minutes
Commit to one change
Turn the strongest insight into a small action with an owner, deadline, and signal the team can review next time.
Use this format when
- The team is redesigning its workflow.
- Some practices need refinement rather than removal.
- A process review needs clear categories for decisions.
Choose another format when
- The team first needs to understand why an incident happened.
- Four categories would overcomplicate a short check-in.
- Participants lack control over the process being reviewed.
Facilitation tips
- Define Keep versus Improve before writing.
- Require a reason for Drop cards.
- Treat Add cards as experiments, not permanent policy.
- Vote across the full board.
- Pair each addition with capacity created elsewhere.
Useful variations
Workflow DAKI
Follow work from discovery through release and classify changes at each handoff.
Tooling DAKI
Review tools, automation, alerts, and recurring operational tasks.
Quarterly DAKI
Use a longer time horizon to reset team practices before the next quarter.
Before the retro
Recommended warm-up
This or That
Use a quick, low-pressure choice round before the retrospective begins.
Frequently asked questions
What does DAKI stand for?
DAKI stands for Drop, Add, Keep, and Improve.
How is DAKI different from Start Stop Continue?
DAKI separates useful practices that should stay unchanged from those that should stay but improve.
What belongs in Improve?
Put a practice in Improve when it creates value but needs a specific adjustment to quality, frequency, ownership, or scope.
How many DAKI actions should a team select?
Usually one or two. Prioritize across all four columns and assign an owner and review point.
Related retrospective templates
Run this DAKI Retrospective
Open the ready-made columns, invite the team, collect observations, vote, and leave with an owned improvement.