{"id":3000008038,"date":"2020-01-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=3000008038"},"modified":"2021-08-13T14:24:28","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T18:24:28","slug":"what-is-a-standup-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/management-leadership\/what-is-a-standup-meeting","title":{"rendered":"Nine tips for effective stand-up meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fact: Most employees hate meetings. Not only do they take up a large amount of time\u2014the average professional spends three hours each week<\/a> in a conference room\u2014but they’re often not terribly productive<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 55 million meetings<\/a> every day in the United States alone. Many items on meeting agendas could be accomplished in a daily or regular stand-up meeting, which quickly gets your employees aligned and focused on overall goals. Not only do stand-up meetings reduce time spent in meetings by 34 percent<\/a>, but they’ve also been shown to boost group productivity<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a stand-up meeting?  <\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stand-up meetings are regularly held gatherings\u2014typically daily\u2014during which team members share status reports on their work. They are often held while attendees stand, which helps ensure a short check-in rather than a lengthy discussion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stand-up meetings (also known as daily scrum meetings) have long been popular in Agile software development processes like Scrum<\/a> and Kanban<\/a>, but they are starting to be embraced by all sorts of teams, from marketing to project management to product development.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine rules for running a productive stand-up meeting  <\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Effective stand-up meetings are more than just team members taking turns talking about what they’re working on<\/a>. These rules will help you to make the most out of your brief team gatherings.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Choose the right meeting cadence for your team <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many teams have stand-up meetings every day, while others opt for every other day or once a week. Every team is different, and choosing how often to meet depends on a variety of factors, including individual availability, workload, and deliverables. Request input from everyone who will be attending the meeting to get a sense of the cadence that would be most productive.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Schedule the stand-up meeting for a recurring time <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No matter what your meeting cadence, it’s important that your stand-up meeting be at the same time whenever you do meet, so your team is able to plan around it. It\u2019s also important to choose a time when everyone involved is generally available. Many teams opt for having stand-up meetings first thing in the morning, but if you have remote employees in different time zones, you may have to schedule it for later in the day.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Give all team members ample ways to participate  <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even if all team members are in one location, there may be days when they need to work from home or while traveling. Ensuring that there is a way for employees to join by telephone or video conference will ensure that no team members feel left out. If you have a distributed team<\/a> and getting everyone on the line is difficult, you could even choose to hold the stand-up meeting online using a platform like Slack.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Have clear meeting leadership <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Someone should always be in charge of keeping the meeting productive, and all attendees should know who the leader is. It may be the head of the department, a project manager, or a stakeholder. Some teams prefer to rotate leadership to improve engagement and gain different perspectives. Soliciting ideas from your team on how leadership should be structured is a great way to get everyone invested.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Keep it short <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Most experts agree that stand-up meetings should last no longer than 15 minutes, and that each team member should plan to speak for up to one minute, but no longer. Depending on the size of your team, your stand-up meeting may be shorter or longer.  It’s a good idea to set a timer for each speaker or to designate someone to be the timekeeper, to ensure that everyone has equal time to speak.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Clearly define the goals for the meeting <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stand-up meetings are generally informal, but it’s important that they still have structure<\/a>. Most stand-ups consist of each team member sharing three key pieces of information:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n