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We routinely have standups less than 5 minutes unless someone has something they want to discuss with the team. Our EM doesn't even want status updates since th

We routinely have standups less than 5 minutes unless someone has something they want to discuss with the team. Our EM doesn't even want status updates since that's already shown on the JIRA board. "No blockers" is a fine verbal contribution to standup. This business of hour-long standups sounds insane and so wasteful. If it's taking devs that long, it sounds like something is missing elsewhere. Here are some questions that might help identify the problem. Are you using a good ticket/issue tracker? Are devs talking/collaborating during the day? Is there a sense of group ownership of work done? Is there a tech owner/point person for each epic/larger unit of work? Are you breaking tickets down into small pieces (no more than a few days of work each)? Do devs discuss implementation plans regularly? Are business requirements clearly communicated? Do you practice continuous delivery (release each ticket directly to production when done - if need be, behind a feature flag)? Does the business optimize for DORA metrics? Do dev teams own decoupled vertical slices of technology?

randomdata 3y ago
> This business of hour-long standups sounds insane and so wasteful. The media has been proclaiming "Agile is dead" recently. I wonder if all these tech layoffs have come simply because that hour was gained back for productive use?
- TimTheTinker 3y ago
  I think most of what people call "Agile" (big A) is a cargo-cult where they try to imitate and prioritize the very things the original manifesto[0] devalues -- especially processes and tools and following a plan. All that while devaluing or ignoring the power of individuals and interactions and responding to change. It turns out that who you hire, how they interact, and how productive you allow them to be have far more power to create value than applying certain "Agile" processes and tools. [0] https://agilemanifesto.org/ https://agilemanifesto.org/
balderdash 3y ago
I think creating a culture where it’s ok to not have to justify yourself is so hard but important. Being able to say “nothing of note to update the team on” or “still focused on X,y,z at the moment” is great. If team members or leaders want to dig in / ask questions great. So many organizations create dynamic where people feel they need to demonstrate all the work they’re doing (and some people just have an innate need to do this as well (often the least productive people)). Obviously leaders and managers to need to be connected to that - but standups don’t seem to be the right place for that
- bongodongobob 3y ago
  This is a problem created by management though. So many meetings are just reiterating data. Managers feel the need to say "ok everyone, here is the data we all have access to. I will now read it aloud to you." or "Please give me all the information that is already in our ticketing system and read it to me." And that justifies their paycheck. There's just no fixing that.

randomdata 3y ago

> This business of hour-long standups sounds insane and so wasteful. The media has been proclaiming "Agile is dead" recently. I wonder if all these tech layoffs have come simply because that hour was gained back for productive use?

TimTheTinker 3y ago
I think most of what people call "Agile" (big A) is a cargo-cult where they try to imitate and prioritize the very things the original manifesto[0] devalues -- especially processes and tools and following a plan. All that while devaluing or ignoring the power of individuals and interactions and responding to change. It turns out that who you hire, how they interact, and how productive you allow them to be have far more power to create value than applying certain "Agile" processes and tools. [0] https://agilemanifesto.org/ https://agilemanifesto.org/

balderdash 3y ago

I think creating a culture where it’s ok to not have to justify yourself is so hard but important. Being able to say “nothing of note to update the team on” or “still focused on X,y,z at the moment” is great. If team members or leaders want to dig in / ask questions great. So many organizations create dynamic where people feel they need to demonstrate all the work they’re doing (and some people just have an innate need to do this as well (often the least productive people)). Obviously leaders and managers to need to be connected to that - but standups don’t seem to be the right place for that

bongodongobob 3y ago
This is a problem created by management though. So many meetings are just reiterating data. Managers feel the need to say "ok everyone, here is the data we all have access to. I will now read it aloud to you." or "Please give me all the information that is already in our ticketing system and read it to me." And that justifies their paycheck. There's just no fixing that.