what does a dream agile stand up look like, some do's and dont's

1. The Dream Agile Stand Up

2. The Dream Stand Up Model - origins
Stand ups are not
unique to I.T.

3. The dream stand up model
Having a stand up each
day does not mean you
are agile
Stand ups are
not
management
updates

4. Commitment and Communication
The Stand up
meeting is purely
about
commitment and
communication
Example, feeling good
on a Friday morning
because its the
weekend, and making
commitments you cant
deliver to on a Monday

5. Mechanics
• Everyone stands, no one sits (including observers /
managers)
• Congregate around the work board
• 15 minutes or less, and the same time day every day
• Talk to the board – focus on the board
• Mix up the order so it keeps people on their toes
• Avoid questions that can lead to diversions, stop them by
bringing the group back into focus e.g. “that’s interesting,
can I catch up with you afterwards on that”
• Prepare before the meeting – this helps the “oh no, I’ve
frozen”
• Answer the 3 questions only (Yesterday, today, blockers)

6. Mechanics - accomplishments
Focus on accomplishments, not activities;
• attending a meeting is an activity, not an accomplishment
• mentioning that you attended a meeting is like saying I worked at
my computer for 4 hours
• what was accomplished via your attendance at the meeting
• what was accomplished via the convening of the meeting
• If you can not think of an accomplishment from the meeting then
you should really consider why you attended
• In the future consider this before attending a meeting, “Tomorrow
morning what will I say was accomplished?” If you can’t come up
with anything then skip the meeting.
• Caveat: of course there are some meetings that you just can’t skip,
like those you are required by management to attend.
– Just don’t mention those.

7. Mechanics - Commitments
• The Stand up is about standing before the team to make a
promise
• The feeling should be “I don’t want to let the team down”
• Example:
– “Today I will complete the story I pulled last evening”
– “Today I will assist with the grooming of the backlog”
– “Today I will help Bernard complete the updates to our wiki page
cataloging our client api”
– “Today Jeffrey and I are going to pair on the story Genghis pulled
while working with Gertrude yesterday afternoon.”
• Don’t overcommit yourself, be realistic, maybe even a little
pessimistic

8. Mechanics - blockers
• What’s the blocker and what it is blocking?
• Who can help clear the block?
• If you don’t know what to do next, ask to talk more about the
blocker at the end of the meeting
• The SCRUM Master is there to facilitate blocking issues –
they may not know how to personally unblock them, but
should help in finding someone that can

9. Tips
• Rotate responsibility of kicking off standup
– if you’re the leader stand up but don’t say anything, see
how long everyone else stands there before self
organizing. they quickly get the hint.
• if everyone keeps looking at the scrum master/lead you
should step back or stand in a place that makes it hard to see
you
– A suggestion maybe standing behind or out of the person’s
visual field.
• use a little plastic toy as a team mascot and let everyone pass
it around like a hot potato. the person holding the toy is the
one to speak next.

10. Tips
• Make it a team norm or stand up rule that anyone can suggest
that we quickly end a discussion that is taking too long
– In standup we want speed over verboseness
– “Let’s discuss this further after stand up.”
– Invite anyone that wants to participate in the conversation
to stick around
• People arriving late for standup, implement a stand up rule
that you have to sing your countries national anthem if you
arrive late.
• Be wary of the same update day after day. this is indicative of
problem the team needs to address.
• Ask someone to summarize the teams accomplishments and
commitments for the day

11. Biggest tip 
The Daily Scrum is intended to disrupt old habits
of working separately. Members should remain
vigilant for signs of the old approach. For
example, looking only at the Scrum Master
when speaking is one symptom that the team
hasn’t learned to operate as a self-organizing
entity.