Three Indicators Your Daily Stand-Up is Ineffective and How to Solve It

Daily standups (DSU’s), Daily Scrum, Dailies or even Sync’ies. However you call them, I’m talking about these fifteen minute meetings with the team every day. For me as a Scrum Master it is a critical touchpoint, since the sessions offers me insights into the team dynamics, how team members are collaborating, and sometimes their tendencies towards procrastination. The vibe of the stand-ups often mirrors the team’s collective well-being — energetic and goal-oriented in certain cases, but scattered and aimless in others. In the first, I find myself interested in what they are sharing, in the second I often got distracted and lost on what they’re talking about.

If your stand-ups feel like this, then you probably need my suggestions. In this article, I’ll share three indicators to find out if your stand-ups are effective and goal-oriented, or not. If they’re not, don’t worry! I’ll help you and your team to overcome these pittfalls and get more out of these daily sessions. Even though they (should) just take fifteen minutes, these minutes can totally make or break your team’s success. I’ll focus on three universal areas, so you’ll know where to discover these indicators: Process, Content, and Time.

Daily Scrums improve communications, identify impediments, promote quick decision-making, and consequently eliminate the need for other meetings.
- Scrum Guide (2020)

Process: The ‘Dutch Birthday’ Syndrome

The Symptoms:

I call the first indicator the ‘Dutch Birthday’ Syndrome. The Dutch are known for these static birthday parties, where attendees sit in a circle and take turns speaking. Conversations are often superficial, focusing on polite, general topics. In stand-ups, this turns into a monotonous update session, lacking real interaction or collaborative spirit. Team members may only listen passively when it’s not their turn to speak, reducing opportunities for spontaneous ideas and collaborative problem-solving. Just as guests at a birthday party may not engage deeply with each conversation, team members in a DSU might not feel encouraged to offer feedback or ask questions, leading to missed opportunities for collaboration.

The solution:

Introduce a more flexible format where team members are encouraged to interact organically. This can be achieved by prompting direct responses to your sprint work or asking team members to relate their work to the updates of others, thus creating a web of conversation rather than a linear sequence. Allow team members to jump in with their updates when it feels natural, especially when their work directly relates to what has just been discussed. Encourage team members to identify opportunities for collaboration during their updates, fostering a sense of teamwork and collective problem-solving.

Content: The Deep Dive Dilemma

The Symptoms:

The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.
- Scrum Guide (2020)

Some team members tend to go into details during the stand-up. I call this the Deep Dive Dilemma. No, I won’t abbreviate this one. Detailed discussions, particularly technical ones, consume a disproportionate amount of the limited stand-up time (more on that in the third indicator). When team members delve into the details of their tasks, the primary objective of the stand-up — to provide high-level updates and synchronize the team’s efforts towards the Sprint Goal- is sidetracked.

The meeting can veer off into topics that are better suited for separate, focused discussions. Furthermore, detailed conversations about specific tasks or challenges may only be relevant to a part of the team. This can lead to disengagement or confusion among other team members who cannot contribute to or benefit from the discussion.

The solution:

Implement a ‘Parking Lot’ System. When discussions become too detailed, ‘park’ these topics for a post-stand-up discussion. If a team member starts veering into details, gently guide them back to a concise summary and suggest a follow-up meeting if necessary. This ensures the stand-up stays on track while still acknowledging important issues. You can also set clear guidelines, by reinforcing the purpose of the stand-up as a high-level check-in, not a problem-solving session. If necessary, remind team members to keep updates brief, high-level and relevant to the entire team.

Time: The Endless Time Trap

The symptoms:

Okay, I know the Scrum Guide is quite strict on its time constraints. This often leads to questions from team members. But hear me out. They are there for some solid reasons. Stand-ups are capped at fifteen minutes to maintain focus and energy. This time constraint encourages participants to communicate concisely, ensuring that only critical information is shared efficiently. Additionally, the stand-up prioritizes effective interaction over lengthy meetings, helping to prevent meeting fatigue and promoting better team coordination. This leads to a lower need to meet during the rest of the day and a higher productivity.

Common causes for Stand-ups exceeding their time limit is the absence of a clear structure. Without this, meetings can meander, covering topics haphazardly and inefficiently. Similar to the ‘Deep Dive Dilemma’, when discussions become too granular, they take up valuable time, causing the meeting to extend beyond the intended duration.

The solution:

First, Introduce a visible timer to keep track of the meeting’s duration. This serves as a constant reminder to keep updates brief and to the point. Even though I believe the stand-up to be session for the developers, a Scrum Master should facilitate actively when the team is exceeding the time limit. As a Scrum Master, actively manage the flow of the meeting. Redirect conversations that are veering off-topic and ensure everyone’s voice is heard within the time constraints. For topics that require more time, schedule separate, focused meetings. This keeps the stand-up crisp and relevant to all attendees. Lastly, if the reason your stand-ups take so long is the amount of team members, then please, consider to split up your team.

Other indicators:

While the three indicators above are my key signals I need to take action and discuss the matter with the team, below I have noted some other indicators that sets off my alarm bells:

• The screen-staring team: Everybody waits for the Scrum Master to start the stand-up. When the Scrum Master is not available, the stand-up is cancelled. This shows a lack of ownership of the team.
• The ‘Who’s gonna share the board?’ team: Even though this is a valid question to ask, we only have fifteen minutes and the team is wasting time if the first two minutes are lost on logging into the tool and finding the right view for the board. I’d suggest the team makes a plan for screen sharing (Pro-tip: when your team uses slack, you can automate the process and randomly select a team member for each stand-up).
• The ‘I had five meetings with X and we talked about Y’ team member: This is a funny one, since having meetings frequently decreases focus and the meetings are probably not related to achieving the sprint goal at all. Furthermore, it often leads to more unrelated work into the sprint. This indicates a lack of commitment to the team and the product.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mastering the daily stand-up is vital for any team’s success. Recognizing and addressing issues like the ‘Dutch Birthday’ Syndrome, the ‘Deep Dive Dilemma’, and the ‘Endless Time Trap’ can transform these stand-ups from mundane or inefficient into dynamic, focused, and productive sessions.

1. Combatting the ‘Dutch Birthday’ Syndrome: By fostering a flexible, interactive format, you encourage organic participation and collaboration, moving away from monotonous, linear updates in your stand-ups. This enhances team engagement and encourages a more cohesive problem-solving approach.
2. Solving the ‘Deep Dive Dilemma’: Implementing a ‘Parking Lot’ system ensures that your stand-ups stay on course, with detailed discussions reserved for later, more appropriate times. Setting clear guidelines about the purpose of the stand-up keeps the content relevant and high-level, catering to the whole team.
3. Avoiding the ‘Endless Time Trap’: Using a visible timer and having a structured agenda helps in keeping the stand-ups concise and focused. Active facilitation, whether by the Scrum Master or team members, is crucial in maintaining the flow and ensuring every voice is heard within the set time frame.

In essence, these fifteen minutes of daily interaction can be a catalyst for your team’s efficiency and morale, shaping the future of your product. By keeping these sessions crisp, focused, and engaging, you cultivate a strong, collaborative, and goal-oriented team culture. Lastly, My question for you:

How will you transform your next stand-up into a vibrant, goal-driven session that not only aligns with your team’s objectives but also enhances collaboration and innovation?

Please let me know in the comments below. And if you liked this article, you might like my other articles, so subscribe to my newsletter! It’s up to you!