Why Have A Daily Standup - Agile Practices

One of the most common practices you'll see in an Agile team is the daily standup meeting, but why? Can we improve our daily standup by better understanding the principles behind the practice? If you'd like a free book on this topic, please see below...
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[@jszalewski1]

All great points. In addition, a daily standup, when done with appropriate discipline (Yesterday/Today/Impediments), helps the team hold each other and themselves accountable. For example, in Monday's standup, I report that I plan to complete something on the board 'today'. In the next day's standup on Tuesday, expectations are that I will report that I completed that item 'yesterday'.

[@krisakfoxer9062]

In a company that I have worked in (currently not existing) there were everyday "face to face" meetings with the team. The thing is that these meeting were used from the management as a chance to scold people. The management wanted to follow the agile principles so badly , without knowing their essentials. Thanks for the info you are giving. Your videos helped me to fill in some blank spots.

[@MarkShead]

Yes that isn't what the standup meetings are supposed to be used for. Some teams ban management from the standup meetings just to keep them focused on letting the teams find the best way to work.

[@ThePersonalDevelopme]

This is a great channel thank u so much

[@MarkShead]

Glad you enjoy it and found it useful!

[@GenoppteFliese]

Daily standups are the biggest hassle I have with Agile|Scrum. 1) why in the morning, so everybody has to drive in rush hour? 2) Some stuff is complex. User Story: "User needs to search with regular expression". Coding a RE module from scratch with proper TDD test cases takes months, not days. 3) Daily standup in the same room will break my flow.4) What if the information given in the Daily was important and I need it at 22:00 - where is it written down, so I can look it up? Stuff should be documented, not spilled out in some meeting where nobody takes notes.BTW: I liked a manager who always did the meeting minutes himself to recap stuff and as he was sometimes the only one understand all the discussed topics.

[@MarkShead]

Agile itself doesn't say anything about daily standups. It says we need to get the devs working with the software users every day and we need to prioritize face-to-face communication. Many teams find the daily standup is a good way to do that, but it doesn't mean there aren't other ways to follow the principles.

[@carlyhawken1695]

Learning so much from these vids, thanks!

[@VinodKumar-ec2ug]

Your videos are really awesome with the clear explanation 🙂👍

[@MarkShead]

Thanks Vinod! Are you the same Vinod that was so incredible helpful when I was helping a company get their online store connected to Avalara?

[@VinodKumar-ec2ug]

@@MarkShead No 🙂

[@veronicaolivares9150]

Thank you for sharing!

[@GabrielaSanD1ego]

Great video!! I completely agree talking face to face is more productive than emails, web calls, and messaging. Unfortunately most of the team I work with is in Vietnam which is a 12 hour difference. This is common I noticed working with offshore teams. What do you suggest for better communication?

[@MarkShead]

If you can get some overlap that is at the end of the day for some and the beginning of the day for others, you may be able to do a short daily meeting with video. It is challenging, but with a bit of experimenting, you can find what works best for your team given the constraints you have to deal with.

[@AE-lu3ox]

Thank you Mark! Subscribe for sure!!! I am learning a lot from your videos!!! from Seoul, Anna

[@MarkShead]

Media AE: Thanks for the feedback! Glad to hear that my videos are useful to people outside the US. Thanks again!

[@brucewang9057]

Start with Why!

[@ruixuesun5617]

Really enjoy your video, and now I am also confused by the concept of scrum, could you please explain it a little bit, thanks for your work.

[@MarkShead]

Ruixue Sun SCRUM is a methodology that prescribes specific ways to work together that can help teams follow the Agile principles. Some people prefer to call scrum "framework" because it can be applied to different types of work...not just software development. Anyway SCRUM takes some of the Agile principles and specifies ceremonies that can be used to follow those principles. For example, Agile says you need to regularly reflect on how to improve so SCRUM defines retrospect. Agile says to try to meet face-to-face so SCRUM specifies the process for holding a daily standup meeting. SCRUM is a really great way for teams to start implementing Agile principles and values as long as you don't forget that the reason for using it is to follow Agile. Does that help?

[@ruixuesun5617]

Thanks so much for your reply, so can I consider SCRUM is just like the methodology or the details of how to follow the principles of the agile? moreover, the valuable user story is used to represent the slice of work and the progress of the work?

[@MarkShead]

> can I consider SCRUM is just like the methodology or the details of how to follow the principles of the agile Yes, but I think it is important to point out that SCRUM *can* be used to follow Agile, but it is possible to do things that get called SCRUM that miss the entire point of Agile. So don't assume that just because someone says they are using SCRUM that they have actually achieved Agility. Agile says that you should deliver working software on a regular basis. To do that you need to be able to work in small units of functionality that the user can actually use. User stories are a good way to do that. But you can't just assume that writing something that you call a user story will automatically let you achieve those Agile goals. You have to be intentional about following the Agile principles and use your tools (SCRUM, User Stories, etc.) to achieve those goals. Does that help?

[@ruixuesun5617]

Thanks again!! you explain it clearly, I am the new leaner of this area, so sometimes I will be confused about the concept.

[@MarkShead]

Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions. Also there is a link to a free copy of my book in the video description that is written exactly for people in your situation, so you might go ahead and get a copy of it if you haven't already. Also check out this playlist of all my Agile cartoons. They are somewhat organized in order for people wanting to learn about Agile: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGq0k4yQnZaMjrs

[@judas1337]

I like these videos from Mark but I think this one missed to tell about the purpose of the Daily Standup. It focuses more on why the meeting is face-to-face in accordance with set values and principles but not why the attendees announces what they have done and are about to do. It does not tell that the purpose of the daily standup is in accordance with the principle of welcoming change even late in development by gathering everyone each day to communicate important things that has happened and decide the road forward until the next standup. That it is more of a blitz planning meeting which only focuses on the closest essentials where change can come in the form of for example someone being sick and their work has to be covered or cut from the closest delivery, stories being set on hold or stories being cut all together due to projects being shut down.

[@MarkShead]

Daniel - Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The reason I didn't focus too much on of going around and having everyone answer the questions: What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? Do you have any blockers? is because that isn't something that is specified in Agile. Scrum says you should answer those questions and for a lot of teams, it works really well. There are other formats too that work better for some teams. For example, I prefer to see teams go through the stories on the board starting at the right-hand side and do a story centered standup rather than a developer-centered standup. The fact that I didn't mention a lot of other ways that teams use stand-up meetings to follow Agile values and principles is a fair criticism and would make a good follow up video. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I appreciate the constructive criticism!

[@judas1337]

@@MarkSheadalso thank you for commenting and just not linking to your next video where you talk about the things I found missing in this and also adding to my perspective compared to my own comment above.

[@tomperry4570]

@@MarkShead This is a great thought "I prefer to see teams go through the stories on the board starting at the right-hand side and do a story centered standup rather than a developer-centered standup". Too often I see teams just "go around the room" to get a quick status or answer questions. The stories drive the development of the product and so it makes sense for them to be front and center during conversations.

[@raguilem]

I really enjoy your videos Mark, easy way to learn...Saludos desde Chile.

[@MarkShead]

Thanks for the comment! Great to hear from someone from Chile! My aunt uncle and cousins lived down there for many years. I never made it down to visit them, but it sounded like a beautiful country with great people.

[@ExploreNoidaWithSurya]

We are also doing daily standup call but only skype audio call? Are we not following agile?

[@MarkShead]

Agile doesn't say that you have to do a daily standup. Agile *does* say that the most effective way of communicating is face to face. So if you have a daily meeting and everyone is just sitting at their desk in the same building instead of coming together face to face, then Agile says that isn't the most effective way for you to communicate. If you want to become more effective, you may want to find a way to do more of your communication face-to-face.

[@biatchmasta8692]

Nice video for NPC's

[@ETYMF2003]

Can we get english subtitles instead of chinese?

[@MarkShead]

Thanks. Someone did Chinese subtitles for me. I think this was one where I lost the script and that is why it doesn't have English. I'll have to see if I can find it somewhere or type it up again.

[@driesverboven4902]

When did he grow eyes?

[@Black_Cat_brazil]

u dont said why to have daily meeting, just said that its better, and why teams failure on that but didnt explained why to do that

[@GLORYZONE92]

But why so much reverb?

[@MarkShead]

We're constantly playing around with the sound to see if we can improve it. This may be one of the ones where we didn't get it right. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate feedback.

[@GLORYZONE92]

By all means use reverb for speech to fill the empty space, I would just try and ensure it doesn't sound like your talking in a concert hall by bringing the release and or decay down to a reasonable level 🤣

[@Yellowhousenet]

With respect, it is incorrect to say "Agile doesn't specify a daily stand-up." at the 44 second mark. Scrum includes a Daily Scrum, 15 minutes, stand-up, development team. It is one of the five Scrum events.

[@MarkShead]

Yes. Scrum specified a daily standup. Agile, as defined in the Agile Manifesto, does not. It only specifies that everyone should work together daily and that face to face communication is the best way to communicate information.

[@frankwilliams8682]

Mark, I am surprised at this video. There is nothing in the Agile manifest that discusses a daily stand up. This is a function of Scrum. Your videos are awesome but this one......

[@MarkShead]

Did you hear the part where I say, "Agile doesn't say anything about having a daily standup meeting." Then I went ahead and talked about what principles might support having a daily face-to-face meeting. So I agree with daily standup not being in the Agile manifesto. I thought I made that clear in the video. I find most teams benefit from a short daily face-to-face meeting, but only to the extent that it lets them better follow the Agile principles. At least that is what I was trying to convey. Does that not come across very well in the video? (Thanks for your feedback!)

[@andreranulfo-dev8607]

You wasted a great opportunity to stay quiet.

[@rjhornsby]

first

[@MarkShead]

Way to go Rick! :)