A regular stand-up meeting is the best way to keep each team member updated about what other team members are working on, as well as assessing the project’s progress on a daily basis.
A productive stand-up meeting should complete as quickly as possible.
It should take not more than 15 minutes to complete an effective stand-up.
A daily stand-up is a day-to-day status meeting between all members of the team.
As the name specifies it should be a stand-up meeting, which means the participants would stand instead of sitting, so the meeting gets over quickly.
Each representative will answer three questions in stand-up meetings.
The main problem that arises while having the stand-up meeting is that the team cannot conclude the meeting on time.
The main issues and solution
The stand-up meeting is only meant to let all the team know what each of them is working on, and what are the blockers they found while completing their tasks.
There is no need to explain the blocker for a long time.
A stand-up meeting is not the place to find out the solution for any blocker. The team member should schedule another meeting for discussing such issues.
Before starting the meeting each member of the team should have a clear idea about what they should tell in the meeting. Otherwise, while other members speak the team member will keep on focusing their turn to speak without listening to the member.
The team didn’t have a particular order to speak, so members have doubts about when to speak (in case of absence of any lead or manager).
The team needs to know who to speak first during a stand-up. It is a subtle but definite force against self-organization to have the facilitator decide who should speak first. Without interference, the group should know who talks first.
The stand-up meeting session is not a meeting for planning. The introduction of new plans or ideas would distract attention from reacting to your strict 3-question agenda.
If some employees are working remotely they may be excluded from the stand-up. But by video conferencing or audio calls, they can also be included in the daily stand-up. It will help the remote working employees to stay connected and involved with employees. Everyone stay informed about progress and see how each member of the team contributes to the wider objective.
I think this paper provided some more insight into the subtle details of successful stand-up activities and common measures of problems.
It should be clear that the daily stand-up is not just standing up together. Meetings are an integral part of getting work done but they are met with fear by many workers. Stand-up meetings can help you achieve your goals while maintaining the casual, fun working environment that you are trying to create.
