“Agile, is that where you have those daily stand around meetings?” Daily stand-up meetings are often misunderstood and misrepresented. In most cases, this is due to team members lacking an understanding of its real purpose. Let’s explore …
What is a daily stand-up?
The Scrum Guide proposes a 15-minute time boxed event called the Daily Scrum where the Development Team meets “to synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.” The guide states, “This is a key inspect and adapt meeting.” Since the meeting is short in duration, it is often held in a convenient and nearby informal setting with members standing.
A principle from the Agile Manifesto states that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. The daily stand-up brings team members together on a frequent scheduled basis to meet this principle. A common framework is for team members to communicate what they completed yesterday, what they plan to accomplish today, and indicate any potential impediments towards meeting the iteration goals.
Why have a daily stand-up (not so good answers)?
“Why have a daily stand-up?” I use this simple question to get a quick measurement of the maturity of agile transformations by measuring the percentage of project members who have at least one good answer. The results and answers can vary widely but an example of a bad answer is, “they are wasted time because they take us away from our coding.”
In many cases, team members are simply told to attend this daily meeting. They are given instructions on the “how” to hold the meeting which is to stand around and answer the three basic question from above. They do not have a real understanding of the purpose (the why) of the meeting, and this makes it difficult to gain the value from the meeting. Team members may believe the purpose is to:
- Update status for Scrum Master or Manager
- Create status reports and documentation
- Solve identified problems
- Brag about accomplishments of an individual team member
- Complain about why a task has not or will not be completed
- Frequently adjust the ongoing work of team members
- Drink coffee or eat snacks
Why have a daily stand-up (better answers)?
Technically, the stand-up is not a status or problem solving meeting. It is an opportunity for team members to meet daily on a face-to-face basis to collaborate. The purpose is to unite the team together to better accomplish the work needed to achieve the iteration goals. The meeting should be time boxed with a recommended maximum of 15 minutes for an averaged size team, be held in a convenient location, start promptly, and is typically facilitated by the Scrum Master. The purpose is to:
- Share what work has been done since last meeting
- Share what work will be accomplished for the next meeting
- Ask or offer to help one another
- Identify potential impediments or problems
- Re-focus (if needed) the priorities or work to better meet the iteration goals
Team members should be actively facing, talking to, and listening to each other.
Why the daily stand-up becomes a wasteful event?
An agile skeptic made the statement, “agile adoption fails because time is wasted with those daily meetings where everyone stands around.” One of my students in a Scrum training said, “Agile at my previous company did not work because our stand-up meetings were regularly lasting 2 hours each day”. It is not uncommon for the daily stand-up to morph from being a valuable event to being a waste of time.
Here are some signs that your stand-up meetings are trending towards being wasteful with possible ways to mitigate:
- Meetings stretch out too long. A major failure factor happens when team members use the meeting to solve problems. Most problems should be solved after and outside this meeting. Otherwise the meetings exceed the time limit, and team members are forced to stay longer than promised. Two creative tips to time box the meeting are: (1) chose a room which is booked after the 15 minutes or (2) schedule it right before lunch.
- Meeting does not start on time or team members do not attend regularly. Manager should set expectations of the team members. The team should try to find a place or a time to meet which is the most convenient.
- Team members are giving status to Scrum Master. Team members should be talking to each other.
- Side discussions are occurring. Team members should be focused on the work being done to meet the iteration goal as a team.
- Team members have not understood the true purpose of the meeting. Consider having a short training session or retrospective focused on the daily stand-up.
- Some team members are not co-located and therefore do not attend. Try to pick a time convenient for the different locations and look into using video and web conferencing.
- Managers attend meeting. Even when the “nicest” boss is in attendance, this may inhibit team members from being truly open and honest (referred to as “invisible gun effect”).
- Managers continuously pull team members away during meeting times. Scrum Master can attempt to explain the importance of full attendance to the managers.
Is the daily stand-up daily?
A team member once asked me “why do I need to wait 24 hours for the daily stand-up to bring up an issue?” My simple answer is “You don’t.”
The recommendation is to meet daily for a short period to participate in an open collaborate environment. The daily time period creates a constructive behavior pattern . For team members in different time zones, there may need to be an adjustment, but use of technology can help facilitate the logistics.
My best answer about “meeting daily” comes from organized sports. If you were a member of a sports team, would you ask your coach, “do we will really need to practice every day?”
Finally, if your stand-ups have become wasteful, check with your team members to make sure they understand the purpose of the meeting. And remember, daily stand-up meetings can even work in non-agile development projects.
Your turn: Are your daily stand-up meetings valuable or a waste of time?
Let me know your tips and adjustments for having successful daily stand-ups. Check out our other recent agile blogs.
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