Let’s Catch Up On Daily Stand-up Meetings

In some modern workplaces, it is common to start the day with a stand-up meeting. They are often called a daily scrum.

The theory behind the agile methodology is based on a manifesto, a set of values and 12 principles.  It’s a collection of beliefs around managing your projects and workplaces.

Stand-up Meetings Pros

Stand-up meetings can be a time-saving tool that allows your staff members to talk through any issues and challenges and encourages collective decision making. It’s best to keep them to 15 minutes and preferably at the same location and time.

Team managers usually take on the role of leading the meeting. If they are absent, then another person can step in and lead a scrum meeting. It’s okay to share the responsibility and take turns. You can include remote staff members via teleconference or phone.

As a general guideline, the agenda for an agile stand-up team meeting is to discuss what they have been working on, any plans for today and if anything is blocking them (aka blockers). A large whiteboard may be an essential tool to prompt and assist with long-term and strategic planning.

I like stand-up meetings as a lazy way to enjoy your coffee and ease into the day. After spending at least half an hour sitting on a train with strangers, it’s good to stand up in the morning and stretch your body.

I found it inspiring to hear the media expert talk briefly and succinctly about what the most important news items of the day were. Other staff members have an opportunity to briefly give a couple of minutes update on how their projects were travelling and share any important successes stories with clients.

You may like to take a notepad or your mobile phone with you when attending scrum, in case you need to remember an important point, or if you have an idea you want to jot down for later.

Stand-up Meetings Cons

Software developers may value attending their own team’s daily stand-up, over the company’s daily stand-up due to their pressing work constraints or their keenness to start problem-solving and getting stuck into their work. The meeting content can get a little tedious if there are no new developments in the workload and it’s just business as usual.

Early agile stand-up meetings may not suit people who like to start work later due to commuting challenges, parenting or caring responsibilities. It’s hard to keep a neutral poker face when someone announces something shocking.

Of course, you can apply the same meeting principles by sitting down at a local cafe and taking your time to discuss the project goals. Each project team will need to adapt and discuss what works best for them as a group.

Stand-up Meetings are designed to help your team adjust their project plans, encouraging team collaboration and allowing the group to make good decisions.

Atlassian Agile Coach

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches. Instead of betting everything on a “big bang” launch, an agile team delivers work in small, but consumable, increments. Requirements, plans, and results are evaluated continuously so teams have a natural mechanism for responding to change quickly.

For more information, you may like to start at the super useful Atlassian Agile Coach website: https://www.atlassian.com/agile