Ways to make the daily standup/morning meeting more fun

veryangryman

So these can be quite dreary, especially if your waiting a long time to give your own update while others are working on unrelated things.

Couple of ideas...

1) Get a random word and somehow try to put it into your update without sounding like a madman

2) Play waank word bingo where you circle the business words as theyre said and shout BINGO if all the words are used. Muting optional

https://www.hobotraveler.com/wankwordbingo.htm

Mrs OBumble

Both of those are so very 1990s.

Surely we've at least got an early 21st century version sith emoji in the chat or suchlike.

For Forks Sake

Cancel it, problem solved for all

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119759897#Comment_119759897

This, everyone just emails their input. So much time is wasted on pointless meetings.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119759897#Comment_119759897

A cromulent idea that would probably embiggen morale.

mojesius

Change it to weekly.

Mrs OBumble

If you project tracking is done in email still, you have bigger problems than meeting.

There's a lot of value in facing up to colleagues admitting things, it's too easy to obscure the truth in online formats.

gameoverdude

Yep. Blame the person who quit. My herculaneum effort at sorting it out will be appreciated. Ctrlc ctrlv.

HerrKuehn

It's fun if it's short, keep it to 5 min and nobody will dread it.

veryangryman

Lot of anti-socials here. If your can't tolerate a 15 (max 30) minute quick check up and cross-confer with colleagues, you really should probably wear a condom.

I usually get help or find that I can help someone much quicker from these quick updates. Not sure about the above boardsies but I get some job satisfaction when blockages get sorted. Helps that I work with pals but even if I didn't, I think they're overall a good thing. Even when the 10-minute ranter comes on, the trusty affore-mentioned bingo game comes in handy!

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058267990/ways-to-make-the-daily-standup-morning-meeting-more-fun

A daily standup should take no more than 15 mins.

Plenty of tools make status updates very easy e.g. The simple Kanban board should speak for itself.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119761941#Comment_119761941

To be fair you have shown yourself to be one of the most outdated people managers on Boards with your WFH objections and management style. Your advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. People aren't robots.

dotsman

It's not a stand-up if you are doing it remotely.

It doesn't need to be "fun". And it certainly won't be fun if "forced fun". Keep the updates brief and on point. The "fun" comes from having the right people/personalities working together as a team in a friendly and sociable environment/atmosphere.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119759897#Comment_119759897

BINGO

lawred2

There's no better fun than organised fun

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119762081#Comment_119762081

Twould be like working in Nettles Kelly's shop in the film Brooklyn i'd say

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119762081#Comment_119762081

I haven't been a people manager for about 14 years. And I have no desire to be again.

Kinda funny to be called "outdated" on thread which started with someone suggesting buzzword-bingo and a dictionary-challenge as a way to make meetings fun. Yawn. It's about 30 years since I played games like that.

veryangryman

It's called wankword bingo. Click the link for God's sake

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119762043#Comment_119762043

30 minutes is way too long. If 2 or more people need to discuss something in more detail, break off to a separate meeting at the end of the stand up. It should really just be a quick update on what you are working on and if anything is blocking or you need help. Certain people can have a tendency to waffle on a bit given the chance, so the lead needs to make sure it is kept short.

Thelonious Monk

Pass around a bottle of poppers and hold it in until it gets back to you?

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764468#Comment_119764468

It's a good idea, but how can we make it work if some/all people are remote? I guess the company could send out a bottle to everyone.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764479#Comment_119764479

lol yeah get the remote people to join in on teams

Ray Palmer

They are badly managed by so many is the problem. Often over taken by the scrum masters interests. I just stopped going to certain meetings run by certain people as they were basically a meeting for them to have information spoon fed to them. Why somebody wants me at a meeting to read out an online report is just annoying. My boss used me as a gauge to if a meeting had a point and said if I didn't see a point don't go. I had 6 different daily scrum meetings at one point and eventually went to just one.

If you manage a team you do not need those team members to attend your update meeting to your boss. The who point of them is to be quick and point out the unusual.

Strumms

The way to make standup meetings more fun. Is to sit down. And enter into a professional discourse and interchange of ideas like professionals in comfort and an organised fashion with respect for all attendees.

some gobdaw tried to implement them in the job, probably read all about it on the internet 🤪 we had about 4 of them before it was reverted back to people walking into a room, pen, paper, desk, chairs, let’s go.

if it has to be in the office as opposed to a meeting room… ALL phones to busy, sign on the door.. ‘DAILY MEETING UNTIL 9.30 **DO NOT DISTURB**’

more fun ? Start and end with a joke… if they are funny everyone gets a five minute extended lunch that day 🤯

BraveDonut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764359#Comment_119764359

This.

Stand up meetings should not be a forum for detailed discussions. The team manager and the scrum master should shut these down and focus on where help may be needed. Max 15 minutes

Strumms

What the hell is a scum master ? Ok I’ve just read. Jesus… corporate Ireland really is a shameless place.. a fûckin scum master 🤪

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764816#Comment_119764816

It isn't an Irish thing

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764818#Comment_119764818

It is if it’s being used in an Irish office 🥶

veryangryman

Whoever invented Agile used the phrase "scrum master" and "scrum meeting". Likely some notions pricck. Rubgy references in any walk of life (including sport) should end in a mass shooting.

In laymans terms its a team leader who reports team status to manager in most cases

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764649#Comment_119764649

Years ago I was sent on a managerial training course, just a couple days. The guy giving the training had a lot of experience and main thing I took away from it was what he said about meetings. Meetings should only have people who need to be there, they should have an agenda and a fixed time. He said you should think about meetings as a cost, count up the salaries of the attendees for the length of the meeting and decide if it is worth it. Certain characters like to have meetings because they like to talk about what needs to be done rather than, you know, doing it.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764649#Comment_119764649

The best advice I got from a manager was to never attend a meeting that didn't have a bulleted agenda in the invite. It worked a treat. I would decline invites with those exact words - "Declined - No agenda".

She also told me to stop going to regular meetings that didn't have written minutes and actions coming from them each week. Those are just talking shops.

It worked a treat, I cut my meeting attendance significantly and was able to do some 'deep work'.

If anyone complained about my non-attendance, I sent them up the line and she always had my back. Her actions instilled a culture of meeting best practices which I continue to endorse.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119762860#Comment_119762860

Definitely, needs a strong committee that thinks outside the box in a holistic way that will lead to a paradigm shift in the future of fun.

SuperBowserWorld

SCRUM is like getting battery hens to report each morning on how many eggs they are going to lay today, how many they layed yesterday and why they are blocked.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119764816#Comment_119764816

It's not an Irish thing

HBC08

For whatever reason I clicked on this thread and now I feel a bit dead inside.

Everyday I thank the Lord Jesus that I don't work in an office environment.

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119767419#Comment_119767419

Where do you work, in a church? Agile/Scrum is most suited to software development but there is no reason why agile methods could not make worship more efficient.

veryangryman

"Talking shops" just wow. God help that you might learn something or build a rapport with people

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119767419#Comment_119767419

I don't think you are getting any knowledge here to pass any judgment. Each to their own but having worked in construction I know that being around builders with their limited interests is much more unpleasant than getting an update from somebody you work with

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769473#Comment_119769473

Long meetings with no direction, no agenda, no action items don't really provide much value. It also involves pulling people away from productive work.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769442#Comment_119769442

I have two jobs,I'm a care assistant and I also run a small business.

In the care industry without doubt the most empty,unless and pointless time is spent in meetings,luckily I don't have to go often and they stopped during Covid and haven't really reappeared.Kinda proves the point.

In my own business we don't have time for this kind of nonsense,we just bring in the money while we can as its seasonal.

I worked in an office for a year after college and swore I'd never do it again.I had to work in another office 10 years later after arriving home from living abroad.It was the recession and I was happy to be working but it reaffirmed my belief that most of the time was just sh1te talk and a waste of time.

Maybe if we had a dedicated scrum half or whatever it might have been more worth while.

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769873#Comment_119769873

In software development there needs to be communication and collaboration on projects that can be quite complicated. So, some level of meetings are definitely required. The issue is that there are certain types of people that like the sound of their own voice and "busywork" rather than doing actual work. That is the kind of meeting I was talking about. Thankfully, we have a 5 min meeting each afternoon and then just the odd longer meeting with a small number of people who need to be there.