E4IT STARTER - MODULE 10.pdf

1. English For IT:Starter
Module 10

2. What you will learn
Vocabulary
Standup meetings
Grammar Pronunciation
1 3
2 4
Soft Skills
Should (giving advice) th Polite English

3. WARM UP
Can you explain what the
following terms mean?
Kanban, Agile, Standup

4. Kanban is a workflow tool that visualizes
work progress and divides tasks into
categories
Vocabulary. Kanban and Agile
Agile is a popular approach to software development. It
focuses on producing a working product (a demo),
collecting feedback from the client and making necessary
changes on the fly. You can picture Agile as a loop

5. Questions
Do you have daily
standups at work?
What are they like?

6. Vocabulary
In Agile, a stand-up meeting (or a “standing meeting”) is a short meeting between a team. The goal is to go over
important tasks for the day.
They are very typical for software development teams but are gaining popularity in other fields of work such
as marketing, project management, product development, and many others as well. This is because holding a
short stand-up meeting provides a fresh and effective alternative to typical meetings that people usually can’t
stand.
In fact, research published by the MIT Sloan shows that, on average, meetings in companies take up to 23
hours per week.
The problem, however, is not only with the length of these meetings but also with the fact that they can easily
go off course, even if there is a solid agenda. This results in wasting time, energy, and nonetheless, reduced
productivity.

7. How to Run a Daily Stand-Up Meeting?
You should keep the standup meetings concise and to the point.
Tip: We advise you to aim for a length of 10 minutes, but anything between 5 and 15
minutes is perfectly fine.
At the beginning of the meeting, gather around your Kanban board. Here you need to
understand that there are 2 typical approaches to the stand-up meeting format:
● Focusing on the process – more popular in Kanban;
● Focusing on the people – widely adopted with other Agile methods/frameworks.

8. How to Run a Daily Stand-Up Meeting?
If you want to focus on the team, during the daily meeting each person, with no exception, must be able
to answer 3 fundamental questions regarding their workflow:
1. What did I accomplish yesterday?
2. What will I do today?
3. What obstacles or blockers are keeping you from making progress on your tasks?
It is important that all stakeholders participate, even if there are remote employees living around the
globe. Keep this in mind when you choose the time for the stand-up.
Everybody must understand that the stand-up meeting doesn’t wait for anyone. For example, if you
schedule it for 9:15 am, you should start at this very minute.
Last but not least, always wrap up your standup with a list of action items. Everyone should be clear
on which tasks they should tackle and the order of those tasks’ priority.
https://kanbanize.com/blog/running-a-better-stand-up-meeting/

9. Questions 1. According to this article, what
should you do to have productive
meetings?
2. Do you have any tips on how to run
effective meetings? Is there anything
that you don’t like about your
company’s way of conducting
meetings?

10. Grammar: should
You should be more careful
You shouldn’t give up your dream
“Should” is another modal verb which we use to:
1 Give advice
After restarting the app, it should work just fine
I fixed the bug. Everything should be ok now
2 Comment on the proper way of things

11. How would you tell someone to do the following things?
Use “should” in every sentence
Have a clear agenda for the standup
Spend more time with the family
Take a vacation
Be more outgoing
Not be lazy
Not argue with the coworkers
Apply for a new job
Offer help to people
Practice

12. Think of a problem you need some help with.
Describe your problem to your peers and wait for them
to give you advice.
E.g. I spilled coffee on my laptop - You should throw it out
and buy a new one
Practice. Discussion Time

13. Soft skills
When you need to ask someone to do something
without being pushy (rude), there are some very
handy phrases you can use.
Would you mind … (shutting the door)?
*this phrase needs an -ing form after it
Is there a chance …. (we can start the meeting later)?
Could you possibly….(help me with this)?
Is it ok if ….(we postpone the meeting)?
Are you ok with …. (working on a different part of the
project)?
* this phrase also needs an -ing form
I (really) appreciate it / I appreciate the help = a
common way to thank someone. It is much more polite
than saying “thanks in advance”

14. Speaking
practice
Make polite requests using the phrases from
before
You are working on a new project and you are not
clear on some requirements. Ask you colleague for
clarification
You don’t know how to solve a problem and you
need somebody’s input
Your colleague has a very annoying habit that is
making you mad. Ask them to stop it (politely)
You want to interview someone for your blog. Try to
set up a meeting with them

15. That’s a wrap!
🌯