Thoughts on daily stand up meetings?

Anonymous

September 5,2022 at 2:25PM UTC

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Thoughts on daily stand up meetings?

My company has a daily stand up in the AM, however, it seems like its not done properly. Instead of stating road blocks, etc., everyone just says what they're working on for the day. Half the time, people aren't paying attention and aren't sure who already spoke. I've had stand ups at other companies where we stated barriers and such. What are your thoughts on these?

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Leigh JonesSeptember 5,2022 at 2:39PM UTC
Normal daily thing in construction, but everyone is an active participant. Constraints, completed work, schedule and access are discussed and buy-in is expected by all attendees.
Some of my projects have been weak, but when meeting minutes are taken, distributed and attendees are held to account, the meetings move quickly and are productive.
Unfortunately this sounds like the meeting organizer/leader doesn’t know how to run a meeting so it isn’t effective or useful to the attendees or participants.
AnonymousSeptember 7,2022 at 12:40PM UTC
Yup. They just "heard" they should do "it" and have no idea what the function or structure would be or how it applies to their industry/project.
AnonymousSeptember 5,2022 at 4:19PM UTC
It has varied based on my different jobs. Some places it is just for mgt to tell us new info bc it is too short to address any real problems. Other, places it is more of an after thought where there are inconsistencies. If it urks you that much, during your next 1 on 1 with your boss, pitch some helpful ideas to make it beneficial to everyone. Now it is up to your leadership as to whether they want to incorporate your idea or not. And if not, let it go and just focus on ensuring you have a way to obtain the info you need to do your job.
AnonymousSeptember 5,2022 at 5:12PM UTC
Thanks for the comments everyone. We are fully in the office 5 days a week, so sometimes it feels like maybe it can be cut down to 3 or 2 times a week and not everyday. I'll suggest to management.
Fiona EdatSeptember 5,2022 at 5:47PM UTC
Meetings of any kind need structure - agenda, outcomes, and risks (at minimum). If the current method isn't driving value, be empowered to change the tone and ask pointed questions to get the roadblocks and other meaningful data. Something like "okay, thanks for sharing what you plan on working on today - are there risks in getting this done on time or within the project's timeline? Are there other activities or projects that are dependent on this? What are some of the known impacts this could have if not completed?". Start from there and try to keep things succinct if possible.
AnonymousSeptember 5,2022 at 9:16PM UTC
This is a tool of Agile project management. Done properly in the right setting, it is effective. It has gotten diluted by those who don't understand the method and want to seem current.
AnonymousSeptember 6,2022 at 1:11PM UTC
Done right, a daily huddle is a really effective lean tool. Done wrong, it is a colossal waste of time. It sounds like the huddle owner has not been trained and/or is not receiving any coaching on how to make this effective. Do they have a huddle board to help them?
AnonymousSeptember 6,2022 at 2:53PM UTC
Is there a way for you to discuss with the leader of the meeting? Maybe they are just not sure how the meeting should be run?
AnonymousSeptember 8,2022 at 12:28PM UTC
This sound just the company I work for, I decided not to attend a couple of morning meeting and I got called to the office. Your post was spot on for me everyone at my company is just so tuned out and not paying attention, just throwing out numbers just to speed the meeting up. My opinion the morning meeting is a waste of time.
AnonymousSeptember 8,2022 at 3:05PM UTC
As a consultant work at various clients with different maturity levels around the agile process...If you have to say anything...maybe you can set the tone...working on this expect to complete this and no blockers.. if you don't have to speak and you need to know the status ask the person do they have any blockers and help to make it a better meeting.