How to run effective daily stand-up meetings?
The task of a long-distance team is like a fishing community, when everyone leaves in their boat at first light to bring their catch to town in the evening so that everyone can rejoice. We've put together tips on how to effectively run a meeting and what questions to ask. These tips have been tested in the real world and don't take much time or money to put into practice.
Explanation of daily phone calls
During the virtual meeting, each team member analyzes the results of the day, takes part in the present and acknowledges any problems in the team work. Evaluation of the company's performance and recommendations for improving performance are given in offline or online daily stand-up.
In other words, a daily or weekly stand-up is a daily meeting of important team members, product owners, and business developers. A remote team stand-up can be built around three simple questions, but the team sets the agenda for this meeting.
- What did I do yesterday?
- What project will I be working on today?
- What issues are preventing me from moving forward?
These queries help identify progress and help the team identify roadblocks with a virtual meeting on the free iMind video app. Relationships within the team are also strengthened when everyone expresses their contribution to the achievement of a common goal. Team members are encouraged to report daily on their accomplishments and goals so that everyone can be proud of the team's overall impact on the life of the organization.
Why do we need virtual stand-up meetings?
Private meetings help resolve issues quickly, assign tasks to teams, and ensure everyone is working towards the same goal. However, not everyone knows how to plan and conduct meetings. As a result, they often turn into a waste of time. Understanding the four basic steps of getting started, planning, meeting, and documenting results will help you avoid this.
Every morning, you do a quick work stand-up to communicate the priorities of the day to the team and to each individual. By the time you leave the meeting, you should know the team's main goal for the day, what each team member did the day before, what they want to do today, and what's stopping them from reaching their goals.
What makes a stand-up meeting productive?
The meeting will last 10-15 minutes if you are going with the flow. The timekeeper will keep track of how fast each speaker is speaking and whether the agenda is being followed. This is a support position that can change from day to day among team members.
Use the "parking lot" technique to capture additional ideas or topics that need to be discussed in the meeting, but that should not detract from the team's focus on the main task. The team has the opportunity to rotate the position of a parking attendant.
Create a board online with the categories Planned, In Progress, and Done. The group can interact during stand-up meetings, review the responsibilities and priorities of the day, and work with other groups to create an aspect. Trello, Board, Asana and other tools are best for creating boards.
The main problems that arise during virtual daily stand-ups
Impressive methodology. Each participant must understand their tasks, area of responsibility and the common goal followed by the whole team. It is a huge mistake when a leader seeks to introduce know-how or any other management method as soon as possible and does not consult other specialists on this matter.
Not all team members participate. Some employees mistakenly believe that their answers to the three main questions should be simple. The rest of the team members should pay close attention to the speaker and help him solve the problems that have arisen. The initiative encourages greater cooperation.
How to successfully conduct it with a remote team?
It is imperative that everyone who participates in the daily stand-up knows their prepared speech before the meeting. At this point, stand-up will be active, so no one can get bored.
There is no benchmark that can be used to compare all stand-ups. Each team performs stand-ups according to its own model, taking into account the unique characteristics of the team in order to maintain a constant level of activity and involvement of all participants. No two stands are the same.
Top tips for making your daily meetings productive:
- Pick a time that's convenient for everyone. From about 9:00 to 10:00, most team stand-ups take place. There is no need to organize a squad of "larks", as everyone has enough time to complete the day's tasks at once. Teams, whose members are scattered throughout the country, get a convenient time for everyone.
- Make stand-up productive. To avoid losing focus and ensure the effectiveness of the stand-up, many up teams determine the length of their stand-ups individually.
- Consider stand-ups that don't happen in real time. As long as team members' work hours don't conflict, asynchronous stand-ups are useful.
One of the components of an effective Agile program is stand-ups. It only takes a few iterations to perfect stand-ups, just like other meetings such as sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Feel free to modify the meeting to suit the needs of your team and program. Also, don't forget to have fun!