What I struggle with is that any blockers or delays that I may have, I’ve already signaled in our team chat.
And the social pressure against saying “I didn’t do much” is tremendous, and it’s hard for anyone who cannot completely abandon worrying about what others may think of them to admit that, even if they have a reason to do so.
An actual progress report meeting 1-2 times a week is so much better.
This is an example of when Daniel Kahneman said that people don’t believe in something because there are arguments but believe the arguments because they believe in something. Here’s why I think so:
> syncing plans and priorities for the current day
Most of the work developers do require syncing multiple times a day, either by slack messages, GitHub comments or pair programming, etc. Waiting for the daily to sync is not realistic and would waste tons of time.
> signaling blockers early so the team can help
If you have a blocker and you wait until the daily to mention it, you have a bigger problem. Blockers should be notified right away and most teams do this over slack or other messaging platforms they use.
> encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing
Teams are usually small, and if you don’t already know what someone is doing, you wouldn’t care what they have to say during the daily, and if you care what they have to say, you already know what they are doing.
> building a sense of team ownership and support.
Just go for a coffee break.
If you believe daily standups are useful, chances are you’re actually part of the problem.
I like the suggestion to look at the system status.
One thing I’d suggest you try is to switch from people-centric to work-centric standup. Instead of going person by person, pick your rightmost “in progress” column and get an update on that issue. What’s needed? Who needs to help? That sort of stuff.
I find this moves through the standup fairly quickly and puts the focus on how to get things done. It also highlights when something isn’t clear for the team and you can follow up after.
My teams daily standups are focused around raising issues and blockers, not as an individual status update. Sometimes nobody raises their hand and after 2/3 mins we go our merry way. Sometimes someone raises something that ends up being a 15 min. discussion (if there were no other hands raised, raised hands have priority).
I feel so strongly about this topic that I recorded a podcast episode on it with my at the time business partner[1]. I think that maybe the only relevant reason to have a synchronous standup is to align on the biggest problem to solve in the next workday.
A standup of this model goes something like this: what is the goal for the day? What support is needed to make it happen? etc.
After almost 3 decades in the industry I can definitively say that if someone paid me 9-figure salary which came with daily standups I would politely decline
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[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 39.0 ms ] threadAnd some of it is not as timely as it could've been, because it was held back for the standup.
> Here is my attempt to improve such update:
> > Yesterday, I fixed a sidebar flickering bug.
> > Please review my PR soon as it is annoying for customers.
> > I started a video player story that we discussed at the last refinement.
> > Since it’s my first time working with the player module, I’d appreciate pairing up or any tips from someone familiar with it.
> > Today, my focus is on wiring up the play/pause functionality. Happy to sync after stand-up if anyone’s available.
What are you up to today? Any blockers? What do you need help with?
• Status (good and bad — things done and left undone)
• Plans (incl. contingency plans)
• Uncertainties (untested assumptions, upsides/downsides, etc.)
• Reports? (e.g., document any agreements reached)
And the social pressure against saying “I didn’t do much” is tremendous, and it’s hard for anyone who cannot completely abandon worrying about what others may think of them to admit that, even if they have a reason to do so.
An actual progress report meeting 1-2 times a week is so much better.
A cornerstone of micro-management, at best.
Daily stand-ups can work when there is no manager present and it's just the people working on what they need to get done.
Yesterday is history, can't change it, and it's documented in commit messages or bug tracker notes. No point in rehashing it for the group.
We report what I am planning for today and any blockers.
> syncing plans and priorities for the current day
Most of the work developers do require syncing multiple times a day, either by slack messages, GitHub comments or pair programming, etc. Waiting for the daily to sync is not realistic and would waste tons of time.
> signaling blockers early so the team can help
If you have a blocker and you wait until the daily to mention it, you have a bigger problem. Blockers should be notified right away and most teams do this over slack or other messaging platforms they use.
> encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing
Teams are usually small, and if you don’t already know what someone is doing, you wouldn’t care what they have to say during the daily, and if you care what they have to say, you already know what they are doing.
> building a sense of team ownership and support.
Just go for a coffee break.
If you believe daily standups are useful, chances are you’re actually part of the problem.
One thing I’d suggest you try is to switch from people-centric to work-centric standup. Instead of going person by person, pick your rightmost “in progress” column and get an update on that issue. What’s needed? Who needs to help? That sort of stuff.
I find this moves through the standup fairly quickly and puts the focus on how to get things done. It also highlights when something isn’t clear for the team and you can follow up after.
- what have you done
- what are you doing next
- are you blocked?
It works well, and any manager can see the output and follow up if needed.
A standup of this model goes something like this: what is the goal for the day? What support is needed to make it happen? etc.
[1]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-stand-ups/id163... -- skip to about 10:00 to hear the above.