Your Meetings Suck. This is why
During a daily stand up meeting my boss asked us to give a status update and without thinking I said “Why are we doing this?” Honestly, I do not know why I said that because I was more preoccupied that my Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwich was getting colder by the moment. I glanced around and saw the awkward yet annoyed look of my boss and blank stares from my co-workers. “Excuse me Denise, what did you say?” my boss replied.
“I just think that it is kind of embarrassing for us to come up and something say something every workday.” I said.
More silence in the room.
“Okay,” my boss said. “Let’s end this meeting now and get back to work.”
Later I received an email message from my supervisor about my tackless and insubordinate behavior during the meeting.
But I never did get an answer from my boss or supervisor regarding the purpose of the daily stand up meetings. I knew intellectually that the meetings were designed to be short (hence the standing), and that it was designed as a form of knowledge transfer within the office. But I still do not understand the purpose. Day after day, week after week, I noticed the body language of my co-workers and even myself. We fidgeted, stared at our coffee cups and we hemmed and hawed about how to make our work seem interesting and worthwhile. Half the time I did not even really listen to others, and I know that they did not listen to me. The only one who seemed to enjoy the moment was our boss.
And maybe that was the rationale, because it was for the direct benefit of my boss to command attention.
But I have seen other disastrous stand up meetings like this one:
I am not saying that stand meetings or any other meeting are worthless. However, it is a serious problem if you (you the boss) are the only one who is enjoying a ritual, practice or procedure. It does not matter if your boss, or the latest manager success book or SCRUM class taught you that. It is worthless and it is time to stop. It is time to go back to the drawing board and ask yourself, “how can I disseminate information in the best format?”
One way is to enjoy the benefits of modern technology. There are numerous ways to keep people updated and abreast of current activities. Here is a (partial) list collaboration tools, connecting staff near and far.
- G Suite by Google. https://gsuite.google.com
- Geekbot. https://geekbot.io
- Limibot. Limibot
- Olaph. https://olaph.io
If all that technology is too scary, convert a write board into a status board. Each team is responsible for populating a certain section. As information is changed, the board is updated. The secretary or office administrator can also be responsible to update the status board for each team member.
As a group, try either the low or high tech solution for at least 30 days. Get staff feedback and adjust accordingly. But doing it the old way is not the solution.
Got feedback? I’d love to read it! Please drop me a note in the comment section below.
