Comments on: Stopping People From Switching Off During Standups http://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/ For the betterment of the software craft... Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:57:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Preserve Focus during Daily Scrum « Customer Oriented Software Developmenthttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-2659 Preserve Focus during Daily Scrum « Customer Oriented Software Development Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:06:23 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-2659 [...] Stopping People From Switching Off During Standups. [...] [...] Stopping People From Switching Off During Standups. [...]

]]> By: Alan Skorkinhttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-2003 Alan Skorkin Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:39:07 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-2003 Hehe, thats a funny one, on a serious note though. I do believe it is important to actually stand up for stand-up (at least initially). The beauty of it is the fact that noone is too comfortable so people don't want it to last long. I do think that once everyone understands what standup is all about, it is less important to strictly enforce that rule (which does not mean you don't keep an eye on what goes on with your standup), if people have a broken leg it is probably ok for them to remain seated :). Hehe, thats a funny one, on a serious note though. I do believe it is important to actually stand up for stand-up (at least initially). The beauty of it is the fact that noone is too comfortable so people don’t want it to last long. I do think that once everyone understands what standup is all about, it is less important to strictly enforce that rule (which does not mean you don’t keep an eye on what goes on with your standup), if people have a broken leg it is probably ok for them to remain seated :).

]]> By: Michael Merinohttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-2002 Michael Merino Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:36:28 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-2002 One idea is for people to actually stand up. People sit down for all of our stand ups. A little ironic, I'm sure. But a little change like that may go a long way. Already standing up? Sit down. :-) One idea is for people to actually stand up. People sit down for all of our stand ups. A little ironic, I’m sure. But a little change like that may go a long way.

Already standing up? Sit down. :-)

]]> By: Alan Skorkinhttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1973 Alan Skorkin Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:06:01 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1973 I personally am all for that, but like one of the comments above said, if you have a lot of chickens coming along, it can be difficult to do that. I personally am all for that, but like one of the comments above said, if you have a lot of chickens coming along, it can be difficult to do that.

]]> By: David Robbinshttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1963 David Robbins Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:53:42 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1963 Nice ideas in this post. I like the idea of assigning a joke teller for each meeting. One variant could be that a person is chosen at random and all team members should be prepared with a good joke in case it it their turn. For my team I insisted we meet in a different hallway each time. No meeting rooms, no chairs, different person kicks off the meeting. Nice ideas in this post. I like the idea of assigning a joke teller for each meeting. One variant could be that a person is chosen at random and all team members should be prepared with a good joke in case it it their turn.

For my team I insisted we meet in a different hallway each time. No meeting rooms, no chairs, different person kicks off the meeting.

]]> By: Alan Skorkinhttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1885 Alan Skorkin Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:10:04 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1885 You're right in a situation where your standup has a lot of chickens (as opposed to pigs), then it may be somewhat more difficult to move the standup around. It is still possible, (after all the standup is primarily for the developers and you wouldn't dream of moving a standup time if a chicken couldn't come along), just needs more planning since it can be a hard sell sometimes when everyone has gotten used to things. You’re right in a situation where your standup has a lot of chickens (as opposed to pigs), then it may be somewhat more difficult to move the standup around. It is still possible, (after all the standup is primarily for the developers and you wouldn’t dream of moving a standup time if a chicken couldn’t come along), just needs more planning since it can be a hard sell sometimes when everyone has gotten used to things.

]]> By: Mikehttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1883 Mike Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:42:10 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1883 While there are some nice suggestions, there is one that I take issue with: "who says the standup has to be in the same place, or even at the same time all the time" I think a lot of that has to do with the size of the organization and the stakeholders involved. In scrum the daily scrum meeting is not only for the team to sync up but to allow other interested stakeholders to get synced up as well. If the time and place changes frequently, they may not be able to attend or will forget. While the daily scrum is primarily for the team, the transparency provided is very important as well. I do think it's important to talk about your stand up meetings every once in a while to ensure that they are being effective and you've offered some good suggestions on how to improve. Thanks! While there are some nice suggestions, there is one that I take issue with:
“who says the standup has to be in the same place, or even at the same time all the time”
I think a lot of that has to do with the size of the organization and the stakeholders involved. In scrum the daily scrum meeting is not only for the team to sync up but to allow other interested stakeholders to get synced up as well. If the time and place changes frequently, they may not be able to attend or will forget. While the daily scrum is primarily for the team, the transparency provided is very important as well.

I do think it’s important to talk about your stand up meetings every once in a while to ensure that they are being effective and you’ve offered some good suggestions on how to improve. Thanks!

]]> By: Alan Skorkinhttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1827 Alan Skorkin Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:31:26 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1827 You're right if you decide to walk the board, you need to keep an extra level of vigilance . You certainly don't need to change the approach if you don't want to, but there are situations where the walking the board approach actually works better. You’re right if you decide to walk the board, you need to keep an extra level of vigilance .
You certainly don’t need to change the approach if you don’t want to, but there are situations where the walking the board approach actually works better.

]]> By: George Schlitzhttp://www.skorks.com/2009/07/stopping-people-from-switching-off-during-standups/comment-page-1/#comment-1825 George Schlitz Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:20:43 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=907#comment-1825 I enjoyed the Skork :) Some nice recommendations. A comment or two about the "walking the board" approach to standups- just be careful that you don't miss exposing information about things that aren't on the story board (which tend to be obstacles). When we focus on the stories and not the people, it may be easier to forget to talk about things that were not related to those stories, and easier for the meeting to simply become story/task status. I think that your comments about keeping the stand up interesting and adding an element of "focusing the backlog" perhaps to guide team members to provide context for their updates in terms of story completion will help solve the problem, rather than changing the standup approach itself. Another good article on effective standups by Jason Yip: http://martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html I enjoyed the Skork :) Some nice recommendations.

A comment or two about the “walking the board” approach to standups- just be careful that you don’t miss exposing information about things that aren’t on the story board (which tend to be obstacles). When we focus on the stories and not the people, it may be easier to forget to talk about things that were not related to those stories, and easier for the meeting to simply become story/task status.

I think that your comments about keeping the stand up interesting and adding an element of “focusing the backlog” perhaps to guide team members to provide context for their updates in terms of story completion will help solve the problem, rather than changing the standup approach itself. Another good article on effective standups by Jason Yip:

http://martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html

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