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This is what makes standups shitty. I couldn't care less to know if you are still working on something. If that's all anybody ever says, then I'd agree. But,
by alistairSH 5y ago
This is what makes standups shitty. I couldn't care less to know if you are still working on something.
If that's all anybody ever says, then I'd agree. But, in practice, with my team, there might be one person with nothing much to report, but several others who needs assistance, want to demo something they've built, are ready to transition something to QA, or something else. If you aren't getting any of that in your stand-up then the team is "broken" and could likely use an open conversation about the meeting's purpose and value.
- randomdata 5y ago> If that's all anybody ever says, then I'd agree. If it gets said at all, you should also agree. If the goal if your standup is simply to hear people talk, talk about what you did on the weekend instead. That will actually provide value to the team in building a better relationship with teammates. "I did X yesterday, I will do X today" provides no information potential or bonding potential. It is flat out worthless. More realistically, if all you have to say is "I did X yesterday, I will do X today" it is best to not say anything at all. The goal shouldn't be to hear someone speak, but rather to achieve a business objective. Sometimes people won't have anything to contribute towards that objective and that's okay. Other times they will. They can speak then. Team meetings can be beneficial. Having the team meet so that they can utter practically-gibberish canned messages to each other is not beneficial. On the bright side, I see (from the parent comment and many others) that we have finally dropped the equally useless "no blockers" routine. We're making progress here!
- robertlagrant 5y agoIt's not best to skip saying ten words that explain you're fine. It takes 10 seconds.
- randomdata 5y agoThat works if you are saying it to yourself in front of a mirror, perhaps. If there are other people listening in, it will take another five minutes just to wake them all up.
- robertlagrant 5y agoYour objection seems entirely fictional at this point.
- randomdata 5y agoLet's hope "I worked on X, I will work on X" goes the same way.
- robertlagrant 5y agoPerhaps when it's someone's turn to speak they could instead be silent for ten seconds so people knew they had nothing to say. That sounds cool.
- randomdata 5y agoUnless someone has something to say, why would they be given a turn? That is completely nonsensical.
- robertlagrant 5y agoHow do you know if they have something to say to decide whether or not to give them a turn?
- randomdata 5y agoSame way humans have always figured it out? They say it.
- robertlagrant 5y agoBut you're against them saying it?
- 5y ago
- alistairSH 5y agoThe problem I have with saying nothing is that the act of saying "still working on X" can be a trigger for more conversation. Is X taking longer than expected by the rest of the team? Let's dig into that. Did somebody else's work unexpectedly intersect with X yesterday? Now they have a mental trigger to mention that. Etc. But, in practice, I'd prefer somebody gave a little more context than a simple "working on X" (assuming X isn't trivial - if it was, you would have finished it already) - what part of X... Design? Coding? Testing? Any roadblocks? Do you expect to turn it over to QA today or tomorrow? Nobody is working a vacuum and all our work intersects at some point.