Daily Scrum / Stand-up meeting vs Status meeting — what's the difference?

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Why are DailyScrum/Stand-up meeting and Status meeting not the same things? What's the difference between them? You may find a comparison of a proper Daily/Stand-up and a typical abstract Status meeting below. Unfortunately, some Stand-ups look more like a Status meeting. Hence, try to avoid the flaws mentioned.

If you prefer a table view to compare these 2 approaches, please, refer here skillscup.com/daily-scrum-stand-up-meeting-vs-status-meeting/

“Only Godzilla or tsunami can prevent me from performing my tasks”

For whom

• DSM/StandUp is for the Developers(ScrumGuide citation).
• Status meeting is for the boss, the manager, or the host.

Goal

DSM/StandUp is an opportunity to:

• Plan work for the next 24 hours.
• Optimize team collaboration and performance by inspecting the work since the last Daily Scrum and forecasting upcoming Sprint work.
• Improve communications, eliminate other meetings, identify impediments to development for removal, highlight and promote quick decision-making, and improve the Developer’s level of knowledge.

Status meeting is held to update the status, the fact-part of the plan, or collect information about who is behind the schedule.

Who is responsible to conduct

• DSM/StandUp is conducted by the Developers.
• Status meeting — by the manager/host.

Information is shared with / reported to

• DSM/StandUp: shared with each other, everyone in the team.
• Status meeting: reported to the manager, the host, or even to the Scrum Master (the latter is a common mistake).

Start time

• DSM/StandUp starts on time the whole team has chosen.
• Status meeting is usually scheduled by the host.

Self-organization

• DSM/StandUp helps to promote a team’s shared accountability. The Developers define how to achieve the Sprint goal — determines the plan. Team members inspect their progress and adapt the plan.
• Status meeting requires to update information to somebody else. The Developers don’t feel like they can decide. Manager may question their decisions and tell them what to do.

Commitment

• Team members commit to each other on a DSM/StandUp.
• Status meeting: participants respond to some far-away boss, customer, or salesperson.

Transparency

• DSM/StandUp maximizes transparency — the Developers know everything that is happening and adapts based on new information. The empirical process helps to deal with complexity and unpredictability.
• If the status is reported to someone external, the DevTeam is not fully open — people conceal their problems when feel unsafe. Therefore, the team loses transparency and cannot adapt. Usually, the owner of the plan intends to update only the current state, but not the future work.

Getting the work done

• DSM/StandUp focuses on achieving tangible results by discussing the issues that may endanger the Sprint goal. The plan is updated whenever is needed to meet the Goal.
• Status meetings focus on updating the current status, e.g. “the task is 80% complete”. Whether we can deliver business value by the end of the Sprint or we can’t is unclear.

Gadgets are typically…

• Not allowed on DSM/StandUp.
• Status meetings usually last longer than 30 minutes and some participants are not interested in what others are focused on, therefore, phones or laptops are allowed. This, in turn, decreases the level of collaboration.

Collaboration

• DSM/StandUp: team knows what everyone is focused on. The team has a shared goal and accountability, therefore they are interested in collaboration. The whole team owns a plan. They help one another in removing impediments and completing the work faster.
• Status meeting: someone external owns a plan for the team and coordinates their work.

Meeting minutes

• DSM/StandUp usually doesn't have any Meeting minutes as an outcome, because this event is an opportunity for the Team to self-organize in achieving their shared Sprint goal. Otherwise, people feel micromanaged and demotivated, and shared accountability is being undermined. (Actually, on the one hand, the Scrum Guide doesn't explicitly prohibit Meeting minutes, on the other — this would be another artifact that is not specified in the Scrum Guide.)
• Status meeting minutes are taken to control the execution afterward.

Wastes

• DSM/StandUp minimizes wastes. This is “a 15-minute time-boxed event”.
• Status meeting usually lasts 30-minutes or longer, meeting minutes are taken, following email with MMs attached is distributed, some people read them.

Other differences?

Do you know any other distinguishing attributes of the Daily Scrum meeting, Stand-up, or Status meeting? Please, write them down in the comments below.

References

• 11 years of management and consulting experience DBlinov.com/about-me-eng
• ScrumGuide
• “Scrum Myths: Daily Scrum Is a Status Meeting” by Stephanie Ockerman from Scrum.org
• “The Daily Scrum is a Planning Meeting… Not a Status Meeting” by Jeremy Jarrell
• “Daily Scrum Meeting” on MountainGoatSoftware.com
• “7 Mistakes During the Daily Stand-up Meeting” by Rajeev Kumar Gupta from ScrumAlliance.org