The Daily Stand-Up: Stay Focused & Get Stuff Done.

If you’ve been part of my network, you know that I’m a big fan of productivity tools and practices. I’ve had the opportunity to build high-performance teams at small and growing startups, mid-size companies before their IPOs and large enterprise software outfits that looked to disrupt an industry (and themselves) by entering new markets.

I’ve encountered loads of organizational effectiveness tools over the years but one of my favorite one is the daily “Stand-Up”.  Daily Stand-Ups are not a new idea. Wikipedia defines them as “meetings in which attendees typically participate while standing. The discomfort of standing for long periods is intended to keep the meetings short”.

"Stand-Ups are meetings in which attendees typically participate while standing. The discomfort of standing for long periods is intended to keep the meetings short”.

Stand-Ups are typically fairly tactical. Developers gather daily to answer 3 questions: 

• What did you do yesterday that helped the development team meet the sprint goal?
• What will you do today to help the development team meet the sprint goal?
• Do you see any impediment that prevents you or the development team from meeting the sprint goal?

This type of practice allows teams to make sure “the trains run on time”.  The point is not that your practices are better because everyone's standing as the Dilbert feature of this post would suggest it though!

Stand-Ups are great because they help develop good team habits through daily transparency and accountability. I call them "daily acts of leadership".

If, like me, you believe that “leadership is a daily habit”, you will like what my team has done to transform the standard “Stand-Up” formula.

What We Believe In

I am fortunate to lead a team of leaders who are highly motivated to drive our organization to deliver the best analytics experience for our customers and community.  The team is distributed across the globe so communication needs to be clear and effective. 

?Stand-Ups are great because they help develop good team habits through daily transparency and accountability. I call them "daily acts of leadership".

The team is highly collaborative (inside our walls and outside our company) and they value high levels of transparency. They believe that working off of the same level of information and context is key to maintain our momentum.

How We Organize Ourselves...and our work

We also believe in structure and ownership. Our motto is “Run It Like You Own It”. I learned about this 6-word adage from a customer I interviewed for one of my books: “Drive Business Performance”.

Our design principle is simple: drive your project as if you were the CEO of it. Ownership is your engine. Accountability is your fuel. 

Our design principle is simple: drive your project as if you were the CEO of it. Ownership is your engine. Accountability is your fuel. 

• That’s why, every day at 8:30am PST, my team gets on a conference call for our daily Stand-Up. We have structured our team in 5 key business areas so that each area gets to talk and lead a Stand-Up every day of the week.
• Monday is area 1. Tuesday is area 2...etc. Area of coverage doesn't change. Presenters might.  
• The point is here to drive predictability on a weekly cadence and give everyone the opportunity to “exercise leadership” on a daily basis.

Give everyone the opportunity to “exercise leadership” on a daily basis.

Running the “Stand-Up”

The Stand-Up meeting itself lasts 30 mins. And we have a formula that allows us to make sure we don’t detract the main presenter and follow through on the key outcomes of each call.

1. We open with “Top of Mind” topics. Everyone can chime in for no more than 5 minutes. The “owner of the day” manages timing. We have a “scribe” for each standup (they rotate and are typically assigned to the presenter for next day’s Stand-Up).
2. The “owner of the day” updates the team.  He or she presents uninterrupted. This is critical. It’s designed to let them run through their entire update and keep focus.
3. Questions are held at the end.  The scribe wraps up and closes.

Running scorecards and checklists

Organization effectiveness comes from repeatability and predictability. That is why each Stand-Up presenter is asked to use the same 1-page scorecard or checklist every week. Their 10 minutes will not be wasted explaining new mental models to the rest of the team. The scorecards and checklists are well known. The team can focus on substance, rather than format.

"Organization effectiveness comes from repeatability and predictability"

See below what a scorecard might look like. It consists of program descriptions, owners and status. The bottom of the one-pager has two key highlights: “Need to Know” and “Need to Do”.  These are key items the day owner wants the rest of the team to know and do. The model is based on participation across the board.

Who’s invited?

The Stand-Up meeting is a way for my team to drive the execution of their projects. As a consequence, the participants in the projects are invited and have an active role in the Stand-Up: this means that a VP and a junior product manager will be in the Stand-Up. 

This is not meant to restrict information flow to only certain levels in the organization. On the contrary: this is about transparency, accountability and execution.

Stand-ups are not meant to restrict information flow to only certain levels in the organization. On the contrary: they are about transparency, accountability and execution at all levels.

Finally, you don’t have to work in my organization to be in the Stand-Up. We have numerous Stand-Up members who do not work in my organization present, ask questions and suggest improvements. This is a key point: this tool is designed to be inclusive of all the roles and levels that participate in the success of our common goals.

Now what?!

I hope you’ll find that the above can help you in your daily work.  We are constantly improving our method so I’m sharing this in the hope that you have suggestions that can help us get better.  

If you have tips and tricks, please let me know!