iDoneThis + Slack + Talko

How we do daily standup meetings at TalkoTeam

Our Slack integration is essential to how our team operates as a distributed (and often mobile) product development team. Since we released it last week, it’s been wonderful to see many teams come onboard and give it a try!

Several people have asked for more information about exactly how we use these and any other tools to drive our daily standup meetings. Here it is, in one simple photo:

What you see:

• We use iDoneThis to log what each team member has done and will do. We’ve used and loved it for years now. By the time we do standup, we know that everyone has seen “just the facts” regarding dones and to-dos. So we focus our standup time exclusively on issues, blockers or questions. It’s efficient.
• We’ve integrated iDoneThis with Slack, bi-directionally. We have a “#dones” channel. Anyone can enter a done in here with the simple “/done” command. Additionally, for those who prefer to log their dones via the iDoneThis tool or via their email notifications, we pump those back into the Slack #dones channel. So all activities end up being shown in the #dones channel.
• Every morning at standup time, we start the call with with the “/talko” command in the #dones Slack channel. Everyone’s device rings, and as you can see in the photo each team member can answer and enter in the most natural place — on the web if they’re at their desk, on their phone if they’re mobile.

In this way, the #dones channel in Slack ends up being a holistic log of all team members’ activities, along with the standup conversations that are about them.

It’s a beautiful thing! We love it, and we hope you’ll give something like it a try and let us know what you think.

Get Talko — try it with your team!