Stand-Up Time!

Mike Griffiths is an experienced project manager, author and consultant who works for PMI as a subject matter expert. Before joining PMI, Mike consulted and managed innovation and technology projects throughout Europe, North and South America for 30+ years. He was co-lead for the PMBOK Guide—Seventh Edition, lead for the Agile Practice Guide, and contributor to the PMI-ACP and PMP exam content outlines. Outside of PMI, Mike maintains the websites www.LeadingAnswers.com about leading teams and www.PMillustrated.com, which teaches project management for visual learners.

  Agile   Communications Management   Talent Management  

Stand-up meetings should be a lot more than just 15 minutes. As a project manager or Scrum Master, we should be thinking about the meeting ahead of time to really gather as much information as we can from it. Then afterward, we won’t be able to just let it go and get on with our day--there will likely be important items to follow up on and maybe some pointers to risks, issues and opportunities to give thanks to.

So while there are advantages to keeping the meeting focused and within a 15-minute window, there really is more to the process than the ritual of answering three questions. As a PM of an agile team, here are the things I’m thinking about before and after the meeting. I’d love to hear how other PMs prepare for and then process the outcomes of their Stand-ups.

Five Things to Think About Before Stand-Up:

1. A View of the WIP: A view of the work in progress is critical to understanding the items reported from the team. If you thought invoicing was a focus right now and no one mentions it, chances are we have an issue somewhere. Appreciating the work areas helps oversee new work selection, areas that might be falling behind or where extra help may be required.

2. Yesterday’s Issues: What did people report as issues yesterday or earlier? Have these issues been resolved now, or do we at least have an update on the resolution plan? It…

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