Today, most development teams do not start their day without daily stand-up meetings - a whopping 87%. And why just development teams? Many non-technical teams, such as sales and HR, employ stand-up meetings to align their efforts.
But what is a stand-up meeting?
A stand-up meeting is a brief meeting held every day to update team members on progress and identify blockers.
As unexciting as it may sound, how these daily standup meetings came to be makes for an interesting read.
Understanding standup meetings
So, back in 1993, Jeff Sutherland and his team of computer programmers would regularly watch the videos of the All Blacks, a rugby team from New Zealand. The Haka warrior dance that the rugby team performed, with synchronized chanting and movements, evidently charged them up before the game. Sutherland’s team wondered if they could reproduce the same energy in theirs.
Their search led them to a paper on the Borland Software Corporation's Quattro Pro for Windows project. They discovered that the team of 8 members had written one million lines of software code in 31 months, which was a record fast-paced!
On further reading, they found that the team met every day to discuss their progress. If anyone was stuck, the team ensured that the problem was solved as soon as possible.
Sutherland studied this practice carefully and refined this daily arrangement. He drastically reduced the meeting time and necessitated standing during the span of the meeting. And that is how it came to be called the Daily Scrum or the Daily Stand-up Meeting. He used this refined meeting arrangement with his team and was surprised to see a 400% boost in productivity!
So, what does this refinement that facilitated this high jump in productivity look like?
Key elements of a standup meeting
Daily standup meetings may have different types now as a result of teams wanting to be more flexible. However, the essence of these meetings remains the same - what we call the key elements. Let’s have a look at them.
1. Time and Place
It is conducted daily at the same place and at the same time. The daily stand-up meetings are designed to be held at the same time and in the same place. This is to establish a predictable routine, mitigate scheduling conflicts, and add a standardized structure. To ensure maximum effectiveness and make it easy for all, it is usually conducted at the start of every workday. Doing so ensures everyone is clear about their tasks for the day ahead.
It lasts only up to 15 minutes. A starkly differentiating feature of these daily stand-up meetings is that they are time-bound. They cannot extend beyond 15 minutes. This is done to ensure that the discussions occurring during the meeting are relevant to the agenda. If a stand-up meeting routinely extends beyond the 15-minute mark, it is an indicator that something is not quite right!
2. Meeting participants
Participating members. The daily stand-up meeting must have at most 10 to 15 participants. This includes the core team members - the product owner, the scrum master, and the developers. Today's teams also include designers and other relevant individuals working actively on the project.
Standup meeting facilitator. An individual usually facilitates the daily stand-up meeting or the daily scrum. The person who facilitates the meeting is called a scrum master. The scrum master does not tell the team members how to develop a product. Their primary job is to ensure that the team remains organized and is on track toward the Sprint goal.
3. Agenda
The agenda of the daily stand-up meeting is centered around three mandatory questions. The questions focus on team alignment towards the common Sprint goal. Today, scrum masters like to add check-in questions too. However, anything apart from these questions is not part of the daily stand-up and must not be discussed during this time.
The first question is, ‘What did you do yesterday?’ This question asks the team members to report on the progress they made the day before. This question is crucial to this meeting because it ensures that the team members feel responsible for their daily work, ensuring accountability. Through this, the team members are also aware of the collective progress being made daily towards the Sprint goal.
The second question - ‘What will you do today?’ It facilitates careful planning of the team members’ goals for the day. They decide what microtasks or micro-jobs they must complete today to move forward with their assigned task and eventually towards the Sprint goal. Say, my assigned task as a software designer for this sprint is to redesign the user profile page. I should start by making initial designs for the new user profile page, send them to the team for feedback, and then move on to making the necessary changes, followed by more micro-tasks to complete the major task. For today (which is the first day of the said sprint), I plan to make a few initial designs for the new user profile page and send them to the team for feedback by the end of the day. And that is exactly what I report during the stand-up meeting. So, my team members are aware that today the initial designs for the new user profile page will be in progress from my end.
The third and one of the essential questions of a daily stand-up is, ‘Are there any blockers?’ This question asks the meeting participants to inform the team of any issues blocking their progress. This is important because a team member facing an issue that is hindering his/her part of the responsibility can prevent the entire team from reaching the Sprint goal. The question enables early identification of any obstructions daily so that they can be solved later and smooth the journey towards the goal.
4. Format
The traditional stand-up meetings are conducted standing up. As its name reflects, the daily stand-up meeting is conducted in a standing posture to ensure the discussions do not deviate from the agenda. This was a feature added by Sutherland himself because he believed doing so would ensure active participation. He believed doing the opposite would make the participants slack off and lead to longer and irrelevant discussions, extending the meeting beyond 15 minutes.
The meetings are conducted using the round-robin method. The daily stand-up meetings are run with the objective of self-organizing teams. This is put into practice in another way by employing the round-robin method. During the meeting, each participant speaks in turn, one after the other.
5. Tools
In a traditional standup meeting setup Traditional stand-up meetings, typically held in a physical office environment, do not have explicit tools to run the standup. However, teams can make use of various tools to help manage the meeting’s structure. Task boards like JIRA and Asana can be used to visualize the tasks being discussed, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and can easily track progress and updates. Additionally, visualization, whether of tasks or goals, is crucial in maintaining focus. Teams can also draw inspiration from vision board ideas to foster motivation and clarity in their projects progress. These tools aid in organizing the flow of the meeting and keeping it focused and productive.
In a remote standup meeting setup The pandemic led to teams working virtually, and this work setting has continued for most teams across the globe. This led to standup meetings being conducted virtually. Naturally, video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Google Meet came into play along with the project management tools mentioned above.
In an asynchronous standup meeting setup With teams now focusing on flexibility and productivity, asynchronous meetings are becoming increasingly popular for their ability to accommodate different time zones and work schedules. Asynchronous standup meeting tools like Sup Bot allow meeting participants to share their progress updates, work plans for today, and any issues over a simple text without needing everyone to meet together at a common time. This adds efficiency to the larger workflow and a greater focus on action than words.
A step-by-step guide to implementing stand-up meetings
1. Set a fixed time and place.
Start by setting a time that works for everyone. Ideally, it should be held at the start of every workday, like 9 a.m., so that everyone leaves the meeting with a clear plan for their workday ahead.
Next, decide on the location or platform - whether you want it to be held in a meeting room, over a video conference tool, or an asynchronous tool.
Make sure you decide on both of these with careful consideration since both of them ought to be fixed.
2. Invite everyone who must participate in the meeting and include ground rules.
The second step is to send meeting invites to everyone who must be a part of the daily stand-up meeting - everyone who is actively involved in the project. If the meeting is going to be physical or virtual, send it via email. If the meeting is going to be asynchronous, add all participants to the follow-up, and the stand-up bot will automatically send a notification to the included participants.
With the invite, include the following ground rules so that the purpose of the stand-up meeting is never compromised.
Keep the progress update concise. The fact that the progress update being shared during the meeting should be concise must be effectively communicated. The duration of the meeting is an important factor contributing to its success. Therefore, the time must be maintained.
Ensure the update is focused on the three stand-up meeting questions. The meeting participants must stick to the meeting agenda. This can be done by ensuring that the update shared by each member is restricted to the three standard stand-up meeting questions. Today, some stand-up meetings start with check-in questions to get the team started on a relaxed note. However, it is the three questions that must be the focus.
Avoid deciding or arguing in the meeting. Stand-up meetings are not when problems must be solved. They can only be mentioned during the meeting. Consequently, there must not be any brain-storming, arguing, or decisions being made during this time. As mentioned before, the stand-up meeting is a time to share information on individual progress. However, no comments must be passed on an individual’s progress. On the contrary, the hindrances affecting progress must be identified.
3. Select a facilitator to keep the meeting on track.
The stand-up meeting must be conducted by an individual, like any other meeting. So, appoint a facilitator who will keep the meeting on track, ensuring the meeting sticks to the agenda and does not extend beyond 15 minutes.
4. Summarize the meeting at the end.
After the stand-up meeting has ended, ensure that the facilitator summarizes all the things that need to be taken care of. It must be decided when the issues can be discussed and solved over a separate meeting. The dependencies such as pending code reviews, must also be mentioned so that the team members can start working on their tasks as soon as possible.
Elevate your standup meetings using Sup Bot.
Sup Bot enables you to conduct asynchronous stand-up meetings that compound the benefits of a traditional stand-up meeting and a virtual one. With easy collaboration and enhanced productivity, the automation of daily stand-up meetings saves you tons of precious time and money.
The integrated mood tracking in its stand-ups helps you quickly check in with your team members, while the data stored is displayed as insightful stats. With numerous customizations to tailor your stand-up meetings, your personalized stand-up meetings are only a few clicks away. Join the thousands elevating their daily stand-up meetings with Sup Bot today!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the purpose of a stand-up meeting?
The purpose of a daily stand-up meeting is multifold.
Ensures alignment towards goals: It establishes alignment towards Sprint goals by getting all the team members together daily to update the team on progress.
Promotes accountability of work: The meetings ensure that participants feel answerable for their daily work and thus work responsibly.
Enables effective communication: When team members report to each other daily about their progress and plans for the day, they ensure everyone is updated.
Facilitates early identification of impediments: Daily stand-up meetings ensure that any obstruction to work is highlighted daily for immediate redressal after the meeting.
2. How long is a stand-up meeting?
A stand-up meeting should be at most 15 minutes. If it takes more, it means either your team is too large or discussions during the meeting are not relevant to the agenda. If your stand-up meetings are extending beyond the 15-minute mark because of a large number of participants, consider splitting the team into smaller ones or running asynchronous stand-up meetings using Sup Bot. If the discussions deviate from the agenda, try establishing clear ground rules for what must be discussed, or simply use Sup Bot.
3. How often is the daily stand-up meeting?
The daily stand-up meeting as its name reflects must be held daily. It must also be held at the same time and in the same place to establish consistency and prevent complex schedules. This daily cadence ensures your team meets regularly to inform each other of how much progress has been made towards the Sprint goal and what needs attention to make sure that the goal is reached. In short, it ensures that the team is aligned and blockers are identified early.
4. Is daily stand-up mandatory?
In the Scrum framework, you must hold daily stand-ups to ensure your team remains aligned and focused on achieving the goals set for the Sprint. By addressing the three standup meeting questions daily, the team can make sure that everyone is on the same page, can quickly identify any issues, and make any necessary adjustments promptly to stay on track. This daily meeting enables effective collaboration, increased accountability, and enhanced productivity.
5. What is the best time for stand-up?
Stand-up meetings should be held daily at the same time at the same place. Ideally, they must be held at the start of every workday so that everyone knows what their workday is going to look like. Since the standup meetings promote careful planning and identification of obstacles, holding them early ensures each participant leaves the meeting with the utmost clarity of the tasks at hand that are actively made free of any impediments.
