Adrian, this is exactly what I meant in my earlier reply when I said there's something wrong with the standup. Standups or Scrums are not status meetings. It's a chance for the team to discuss their work.
Admittedly, there are days when each person on my team is doing independent work, and the scrum seems like a waste of time (although our standups are succinct so we don't waste much time). More often than not, however, their work is somehow related, and they will either have questions for one another or have some impediment to their work that I can assist them with. Occasionally, we avert a minor disaster because team member A didn't realize team member B was about to do something, and team member B didn't realize her work impacted team member A.
Your other reply saying that everyone has to have a standup because management commanded it and the team must follow orders suggests that the organization has other issues. If the organization doesn't trust their project teams, then agile frameworks like scrum aren't going to work.
I don't have any magic formulas for fixing standups, but I would recommend removing anyone who isn't on the team. Your standup doesn't need a jury. Observers create a Hawthorne Effect; your team needs a place where they can speak openly. If your stakeholders want a daily status report, give it to them yourself.
"Occasionally, we avert a minor disaster because team member A didn't realize team member B was about to do something, and team member B didn't realize her work impacted team member A."
That's why you need a technical lead or architect that has a broad view of the entire solution and understands the interdependence of the tasks. At the beginning of each work session or sprint the lead has to work with the team through the requirements and determine the actual tasks to be completed and then assign the tasks to the team members.
Giving small chunks of requirements to a group of people and expect them to collaborate between them and do it is inefficient and hard to accomplish.
But anyway in my opinion the team should be let to decide how it wishes to communicate and you should not force stand ups but instead let the team decide.
I don't know about Agile in general but I find Scrum very rigid not allowing the team members to decide how to work. Is quite the opposite of what it claims to be. At least this is my opinion. Saving Changes...
Priya PatraDelivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services LtdMumbai, India
Dec 11, 2019 11:07 AM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
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Priya
As per Scrum, and many Agile approaches, it is mandatory but in real life, everything is optional and you can really customize those meetings to suit your project needs especially if you’re working in a hybrid environment.
RK
Awesome tailor it as per your project requirements ! Saving Changes...
Priya PatraDelivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services LtdMumbai, India
Dec 11, 2019 11:14 AM
Replying to Luis Branco
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Dear Priya
Interesting your question
Thanks for sharing
Not long ago I put in this group a reflection on the daily meeting.
A stand-up meeting is simply a tool to gather information. If you have an alternate way of getting the information, then the meeting is not required. The advantage of the stand-up meeting is that it is an efficient way to gather and disseminate information in a very short time frame.
Stephane thank you for your response. I have seen teams using slack - slack bot for standups. That could be the way to gather information, I doubt if that can replace the daily standup. Saving Changes...
Priya PatraDelivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services LtdMumbai, India
Dec 12, 2019 1:36 PM
Replying to Peter Ambrosy
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The daily stand-up is a minimum requirement to synchronize on your integrated team work. Not doing this minimum requirement of synchronization will lead to gaps in communication, shared understanding, adaption needs and finally in project risks.
Thanks Peter for your response. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Priya
After so many participations in your reflection what are the main conclusions you can draw?
What is the opinion of team members about daily meetings?
Is it a sustainable practice in the medium and long term? Saving Changes...
Priya PatraDelivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services LtdMumbai, India
Dec 13, 2019 5:35 AM
Replying to Gaurav Dhooper
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Priya,
In my opinion Daily standup should not be done just for the sake of doing it. The purpose is to inspect the progress toward the Sprint goal and adapt accordingly. However, if the situation demands a tweaking no one actually stops you. The key is the collaboration in a continuous manner so that no surprises come across or depedencies discovered late during Sprint cycle.
Gaurav
Thank you Gaurav for your response. Collaboration to ensure we uncover inter dependencies. Saving Changes...
Clara LeeProgram Manager| Edgewater Federal Solutions Inc.Mitchellville, Md, United States
The daily stand-up has been a vital component in our current remote posture; it is so easy to become disjointed while working from disparate locations. This is not to say the work is not getting done...but at what rate and is everyone on the right path. The daily stand-up has been the best way to ensure all sprints remain on track and all involved are constantly aware of the big picture. Without this organized check-in, we could easily get to the end of a sprint and be on completely different pages. Saving Changes...
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