The Daily Stand-Up
A stand-up meeting is a simple communication tool where members stand up as a group and discuss the status of a project. There are a number of names for this meeting (e.g., standup, scrum, huddle) but the concept is the same. The meeting should not exceed 15 minutes. Everyone in the group takes turns talking. Variations of three questions are usually asked (and answered) during the stand-up meeting:
- What did you do since the last time we met?
- What do you plan to do today?
- What barriers are preventing you from doing your work?
The answers to these three questions can help determine project status, help update diagrams, help remove roadblocks, keep the team informed, motivate, prevent duplication of work, and a host of other benefits. The stand-up should be held daily at the same time and in the same location. If the meetings are taking longer than 15 minutes, make sure that the three questions above are asked, any further discussions should be moved to a different meeting, or consider breaking the meeting into smaller groups. A good size is around seven people.