One of the most trusted and accurate knowledge sources in the world — Wikipedia (sarcasm intended) defines a stand-up as ‘a meeting in which attendees typically participate while standing. The discomfort of standing for long periods is intended to keep the meetings short.’ This is a very generic definition.
When it comes to a software development environment, I define it as:
A short and regularly held meeting in which all attendees stand up and update each other on what they did since the last stand-up meeting, what they are currently working on, what they intend to accomplish till the next stand-up meeting, and if anything is blocking their workflow.
It’s as simple as that. It is not complicated at all… except the fact that this definition is probably longer than a stand-up meeting!
Unboxing my long definition
Stand-up meetings are usually done in an Agile work/project environment. Let’s break the definition to understand how it’s done.
“A short -”
A stand-up meeting has to be short. If you are wondering how long a stand-up meeting should last, my suggestion would be to multiply the number of attendees by 2 minutes and add 2 minutes to the total. For example, if there are 5 members attending the stand-up, the ideal time should be 12 to 13 minutes. The reason why I suggest adding two minutes in the end is for the team leader to summarize and conclude the meeting.
“- regularly held meeting -”
This meeting should be held regularly. A common practice in the industry is daily. If your team doesn’t meetup very often then make sure that you have it at least thrice a week. Regularly conducting this meeting will help you estimate the work which needs to be done and the time that needs to be invested more accurately. It will help the team keep their work and deliverables balanced and organized.
“- in which all attendees stand up -”
The intention of making everyone stand-up in this meeting is to make sure that no one speaks more than required and that the meeting doesn’t go on for too long.
“- and update each other on what they did since the last stand-up meeting, -”
Each attendee has to give an update on what they did since the last stand-up meeting and not provide a detailed explanation of what they have been working on since the beginning of the project. Remember, every member has a maximum of 2 minutes to speak.
“- what they are currently working on, -”
Each attendee needs to speak about what they are working on at the moment. For example, if you have recently picked up a new task or have run your code to compile, mention that. Just mention and do not try to explain everything. A separate meeting can be arranged with the relevant members to discuss the details if required.
“- what they intend to accomplish till the next stand-up meeting, -”
Finally, every member needs to specify what they intend to achieve by the next stand-up. There is no need to explain how it will be achieved.
“- and if anything is blocking their workflow.”
While mentioning what they are working on right now and what their next action is, each attendee must also mention if something or someone else’s task is blocking them to finish their work. This is quite common in a project environment. There can also be things which are not under the team’s control, for example, the client needs to respond to your important request but they are on vacation at a remote location where there is no access to the internet or cellular network. This is the perfect time to mention that. The team leader must quickly make notes of these dependencies and maintain a temporary list of them. A detailed discussion regarding that should be held outside the stand-up meeting between the team leader and the members involved in the dependency.
In the end
The team leader now has two minutes to quickly summarize what the status of the project is, how are the tasks looking and if any improvements are required. That’s it! The end! The meeting is successfully over!
Importance of Stand-ups
Although they are small in size, stand-ups have a big impact on the overall project management.
Here are a few reasons:
- As a member of a software development team, imagine yourself chasing almost every team member to know the status of their task since your work depends on it. First of all, you will need to figure out who is doing what. Once you know that, chasing up that person just to get a quick update is frustrating; especially in the virtual world of Microsoft Teams and Slack. Stand-ups come to rescue.
- Members might be unaware of their work dependencies or the risks to their tasks till they hear someone else in the team talking about their tasks.
- The team leader comes to know exactly how much more time is required and what tasks, if necessary, need to be shifted to the next iteration. All this, in a very short period of time.
- Regularly conducting this meeting enables all team members to be on the same page.
- External dependencies of tasks can be highlighted and addressed early, and appropriate measures can be taken before it explodes into a risk or a poor-quality end-product.
- Each team member gets to see and talk to other team members when they attend this meeting. There are fewer chances of conflicts due to regular communication.
- Based on the amount of time each member is taking to complete each task, a correction in the effort and resource estimation can be done at an early stage.
- Attendees can quickly ask for help from other teammates if they are stuck somewhere in their task. This will provide the team leader with an idea as to how much buffer time needs to be allocated to the helping member.
Some important rules
- The sequence of members speaking must be in one direction. It can be clockwise or anti-clockwise.
- All members must be standing till the meeting is over. You should not sit down as soon as your turn is over.
- Only one person should speak at a time.
- This meeting is not meant for internal conflict resolution. So no such issues must be raised during this meeting.
- All topics which might take a while to discuss must be taken outside of the meeting.
- The meeting must be held regularly.