Standups ... how do you do yours?

These are happening on most software projects on a daily basis now, and have been our standard for a good few years now. I always thought that we were pretty good at them, we covered the questions, people were engaged. Sure, they went off track a bit the odd time…

• Sometimes they would go on too long
• You have the developer who thinks it’s a competition, and tries to cram in every little detail of their day; including, but not limited to, the tea rounds
• You have the product owner on, who when asked if there is anything they would like to add, will rack their brains to come up with something, just so that they are talking.
• Individual clients and developers might get drawn off on a tangent that doesn’t really belong there.

These things were not the norm though, and usually quickly corrected with a quiet word. Generally they were good though, we even had a bit of craic sometimes. Knowing what everyone else was doing was the name of the game, right? So we were doing it well, aye?

So what’s it all about

Recently I was on a training course that forced me to question what it was we were all actually doing. At some point over the last few years, I was either told or I summised what a standup should be, i.e. get everyone standing around in a circle and ask the “3 questions”.

I’d never asked why we were doing this, where exactly this thing came from?

One history claims it came from the latin “Carpe diem” - “Seize the day”. Envisioned like a huddle in a sports match, to quickly communicate the plan around the team, and to talk out the crucical things that need to be sorted, i.e. Get through the current play as best the team can. It’s done to help the team be clear about their goal for the day, and only that day. To help the team have the most effective day they can.

This ritual was not created to torture people into feeling the need to validate their own jobs day in, day out. Probably some developers out there actually feel this way about it.

Any difference?

Armed with the sports based analogy above, are the standups now any better? Dunno yet unfortunately. I’m in transition between projects right now, so haven’t had the chance to try to ‘re-energise’ my team’s stand-up sessions so far. I’d really like to everyone in the team going into our next standup with their minds concentrated on achieving a good, challenging goal for the day - not only thinking individually, but as a team unit.

Thanks!